94.1 WIP Midday Show

The Midday Show is a sports talk radio program on the Philadelphia-based station 94.1 WIP, airing weekdays from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Longtime sports talk show host Joe DeCamera teams with former NFL star Jon Ritchie and producer extraordinaire James Seltzer to provide their audience with information, opinion, entertainment and moments of unbridled hilarity.

Origins

The Midday Show as it is currently constructed was the 2016 brainchild of WIP Director of Programming, Spike Eskin. It was he who foresaw the uncanny chemistry between DeCamera and Ritchie, though the two had never previously met. DeCamera and Seltzer worked together at WiP's chief competitor for many years, and each had proven himself valuable to the industry. Jon Ritchie, retired from the NFL since 2005, had been a veteran of radio and television for years, both nationally and locally. Eskin rolled the dice on the vastly different styles of DeCamera and Ritchie providing perfect counterpoint, and struck radio gold. For well over two years, the show has developed a nearly cult following status, and its listeners and callers are among the most loyal in the country.

The "Chemistry"

Joe DeCamera's boisterous nature has meshed with Jon Ritchie's often more measured tones with an almost effortless ease. They are genuine and honest with their thoughts and emotions, which shines through all the way to the listeners' ears. Whether they agree or disagree, it is always with a passion that impossible to be anything but one hundred percent real. They share a willingness to laugh at each other and at themselves, drawing their listeners into their world. Producer James Seltzer is involved with the show more than almost any "behind the glass" man in the game, and provides the perfect amount of spice to the stew. DeCamera's uncanny ability to "put himself on the chopping block" and take the mostly good-natured "abuse" from cohosts and callers alike leads to many of the show's more hysterical moments. Very few radio shows in the world of sports talk can boast the humor level of WIP's Midday Show.

The Connection With the Callers

Perhaps no show in radio shares such an intimate relationship with its listeners. Callers are greeted by Seltzer as family members, and welcomed onto the air with class by DeCamera and Ritchie. All one has to do is listen to the show once to know how truly revered these three men and their show are by its listeners. As Seltzer has said many times in the past, "It's a community," and no show on sports talk embodies this phenomenon like the WIP Midday Show. A segment at the end of the show entitled "Time's Yours" allows callers to express themselves in any way they see fit, and is one of the show's more popular segments. They interact not only with their callers, but also through a text line, and segments such as the "Beat The Hammer" weekly trivia quiz, "Ask Me Anything," and "Life Advice With the Hammer." They even have contests multiple times per year, the winners of which attend games with the hosts and fellow listeners. Very few hosts, if any, actually hang out with their listeners. The barriers that are so often there between hosts and callers with other shows are next to non existent, which is one of the main things that make them so beloved. When all is said and done, there is no sports talk radio without the callers, and this particular show features a truly colorful cast of characters, most of whom are devout and relatively knowledgeable fans of Philadelphia Sports. Seltzer, DeCamera and Ritchie, however, may just be the biggest fans of them all.

References

Sports Radio 94 WIP

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