Howard Eskin out at WIP in sudden departure

Howard Eskin, a fixture of Philadelphia sports talk radio for nearly 40 years, announced his sudden departure from 94.1 WIP on Friday on social media.

Eskin said he was “moving on” after 38 years with the station, but didn’t give a reason for the abrupt exit after such a long career.

“I leave the station with great affection for the listeners who have made the work I do so fulfilling during my time there,” Eskin wrote. “I’m looking forward to what comes next career-wise. I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

A spokesperson for Audacy, the parent company of WIP, said in a statement: “WIP and Howard Eskin have parted ways. We thank Howard for his years of contributions to WIP.”

Neither Eskin nor station manager Rod Lakin could be reached for comment.

Eskin also serves as the sideline reporter during WIP’s broadcasts of Eagles games. It’s unclear who will replace him Sunday.

Eskin’s son, Spike, hosts WIP’s afternoon show alongside Ike Reese and Jack Fritz and addressed his father’s sudden exit from the station on the air Friday.

“I didn’t think there would be a world where Howard Eskin was not on WIP,” Spike Eskin said, praising his father without revealing details about his departure from the station.

“Without him, first of all, WIP is not where it is today,” Spike Eskin added. “But specifically for me, I would not be here … I am appreciative of him. I’m glad for the time he spent while he was here. I’m glad for the knowledge I picked up of what to do and what not to do over the years, and that’s about it.”

» READ MORE: Howard Eskin exits WIP with a complex legacy and unanswered questions | Marcus Hayes

Howard Eskin had been banned from covering the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park by the team after he made an unwanted advance toward a female Aramark employee at the ballpark in May. He apologized on air in July, telling listeners, “I’m truly sorry that this did occur.”

Eskin, a graduate of Northeast High School, hosted WIP’s first sports talk show in 1986, and has been an outsized presence at the station ever since. He took a reduced role in 2011, but still appeared regularly on the station and hosted a Saturday morning show, often from the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Over the years, the city’s fans, reporters, and sports media personalities have had a love-hate relationship with the bearded host, often referred to as “The King.” His brash, direct style — regularly insulting callers as “morons” and railing against the city’s athletes — helped define sports talk radio in Philly to a generation of fans and aspiring hosts.

“We all stole from him,” said former WIP morning show host Angelo Cataldi, who retired from the station last year on much different terms. “The entire next two generations of hosts evolved out of his work at WIP. He really gave us all the template for how to do sports talk in Philadelphia.”

But it also meant Eskin often was in the center of controversies of his own making.

He was sued by the Miss America Pageant in 2000 and suspended by the station after claiming the competition was “fixed” and the judging was “phony.” Then-WIP owner Infinity Broadcasting Corp. settled the lawsuit, and Eskin was forced to apologize for his remarks.

Eskin also was suspended in 2004 and forced to apologize as part of a legal settlement after falsely accusing Richard Sprague, then a lawyer for Allen Iverson, of tampering when the former Sixers star faced charges stemming from a domestic dispute that later were dropped.

There was also a beef with former Phillies manager Charlie Manuel that nearly ended with fists flying following an ugly loss in 2007, as well as contentious relationships with several former cohosts and colleagues.

“I literally wanted to kill him every day,” 97.5 The Fanatic host Mike Missanelli said in 2022 after spending three years as Eskin’s broadcast partner.