Veteran Philly radio host returns

More than two years after Mike Missanelli was unceremoniously let go from 97.5 The Fanatic, the longtime Philadelphia sports radio host has returned.

With a sports radio career spanning more than three decades, Missanelli spent 15 years as The Fanatic’s most successful host, with most of that tenure coming in afternoon drive. The Mike Missanelli Show that once controlled The Fanatic’s afternoon timeslot for more than a decade will now be heard in middays, airing from 10am – 2pm on beginning Monday, Aug. 12.

“The station is near and dear to my heart,” Missanelli said Friday during an appearance on the station’s morning show hosted by John Kincade and Andrew Salciunas. “And the way I look at it now is that in my last contract I had a two-year three-month vacation.”

Missanelli departed The Fanatic on May 31, 2022 after the station decided not to renew his contract. In the years since, Missanelli launched a BetRivers podcast, the same platform that houses Mike Francesa’s digital show. While Missanelli enjoys his podcast, he admitted to missing the callers.

“A lot of things happened after I left. A World Series happened, a Super Bowl happened, a collapse in an NLCS happened and a total collapse for an Eagles season,” Missanelli said of his two-year and three-month vacation. “I remember getting up saying, ‘Boy, I’d really like to get into it today with callers.’ That’s the thing I miss, the action and the reaction of people and the perception of what went on has always been interesting.”

There have been rumblings about Missanelli’s potential return to 97.5 for nearly five months . The general manager who decided to move on from the station’s most successful radio host two years ago is no longer with The Fanatic. And last March, the station shuffled its lineup, moving Andrew Salciunas to mornings and Bob Cooney to middays, while Jen Scordo and Pat Egan were laid off. This week, Cooney announced The Fanatic told him they were moving in a different direction, and that direction turned out to be bringing back Missanelli.

Interestingly, this was the second career update for Missanelli this week, with the veteran radio host launching a true crime podcast . Missanelli seeks to solve the case of a nine-year-old girl who was murdered in his hometown when he was seven.

[ The Fanatic ]

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