Howard Eskin FIRES BACK at WIP — 'He Stabbed Me in the Front, Not the Back'

Howard Eskin came on The National Football Show with one thing on his mind: the truth about WIP, the business, and the people who ran it into the ground.

Two weeks after he and Angelo Cataldi lit the fuse on the WIP conversation, Eskin went deeper — and the result was one of the most candid interviews about Philly sports media in years.

'He Stabbed Me in the Front'

Asked about David Yadgaroff — the former WIP SVP who recently departed the station — Eskin didn't mince words.

'Did he have my back? No. He stabbed me in the front, not in the back.'

Eskin said what was said about him was '100% false,' that there was 'zero reason' for his departure, and that the whole 'spending more time with family' line is the oldest trick in the book. 'Anybody that's quoted when they leave somewhere that says they're going to spend more time with their family — they got fired.'

The State of Sports Talk

Eskin's critique wasn't just personal — it was structural. He laid out the numbers: Odyssey fired approximately 500 people in 2025. The stock went from $75 a share to pennies. Revenue is declining across the industry.

'Sports talk radio is not as good as it used to be. It has nothing to do with evolving. It has nothing to do with an old guy yelling on the lawn. That's total nonsense.'

He pointed to the hosts who fired back at him and Cataldi, saying the station has never sounded better: 'Those guys can say and crow all they want. How's their revenue doing? Why do you think they're getting rid of so many people?'

Media That Serves Itself

Perhaps the most pointed moment came when asked whether Philly media sides with teams too much.

'Do I have to answer that? They get down on their knees for them.'

Eskin drew a clear line between the old guard — himself, Cataldi, the generation that built WIP from nothing starting in 1986 — and the current crop of hosts who he says 'don't do the things they need to do to be better.' They don't go to practices. They don't build relationships. They 'just believe they go on the air, ramble on with the bullshit, and just whatever.'

What It Means

The Eskin-Cataldi WIP conversation has now been reverberating for two weeks, spreading from Philly to WFAN to national outlets. It's not going away because the underlying truth is uncomfortable: the business model that built sports talk radio is breaking, and the talent pipeline isn't what it used to be.

Whether you agree with Eskin's delivery or not, the numbers back him up. And in an industry that's supposed to be about speaking truth, it's fitting that the guy who started Philly sports talk in 1986 is still the one willing to say what nobody else will.