Cataldi: Philly is "Gentler"

[Phire]

Came across a fun article that gives some insight into the relationship between WIP and the Eagles. 

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For 17 years, from the mid ’90s until 2012, the Eagles held their camp at Lehigh University, in Bethlehem, Pa. The practices were mostly open to the public, and as a way to promote the station, WIP would travel up there and host their various talk shows from time to time. The station set up a tent five feet from the sideline and broadcast from 6 a.m. until 7 at night. They’d interview players, take calls and evaluate the practice going on right in front of them. They even set up big speakers, so the fans could hear them. But the players could, too.

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“The heyday of WIP at training camp is probably over,” Cataldi says. “We try to reflect the mind-set of the fan, and it is a little gentler Philadelphia than it was 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. We’ve all evolved over time. I guess we’ll have to find new ways to have fun and rip every one of our players. I will say this: it was a party while we had it. It was a party...”

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Last Wednesday, Cataldi did his regular morning show from the Eagles’ facility, just like old times. Except now there are no booming speakers, no roaring crowds, no E-A-G-L-E-S chants. Just a quiet RV sitting there in the early morning, next to an empty row of fields. Then around 6:45 a.m., Wentz popped in for an interview. “Carson Wentz is in the house, baby!” Cataldi shouted into his mic. He interviewed Wentz for about 10 minutes, signed off by saying that he was “rooting” for him, and they posed for a picture together. This was the WIP of 2017, almost unrecognizable compared to the WIP of yesteryear.