'PEN now 950 ESPN, juggling lineup

Sports-talk station WPEN (950) is now calling itself "950 ESPN" as the local ESPN affiliate.

WPEN is expected to announce a lineup today that will include some network shows as well as local programming. WPEN general manager Bob DeBlois yesterday announced one change: The morning show will be

Mike and Mike

, hosted by retired Eagles defensive lineman Mike Golic and

SportsCenter

anchor Mike Greenberg. It's one of the top-rated shows in the country, heard on more than 300 ESPN affiliates and simulcast on ESPN2. Debut will be 6 a.m. April 1, and WPEN will air three of its four hours.

The move breaks up WPEN's morning team of Glenn Foley and Michael Bradley. Foley was let go.

Bradley, who will host the morning show solo for now, said yesterday that he would remain at WPEN in some capacity. He said freeing him from the morning show would allow him time for writing.

Mike Missanelli, now hosting afternoons with fellow Inquirer alumnus Stephen A. Smith on ESPN's national feed, is expected to be a player in the new schedule, a station source said.

WPEN, a heritage station in Philadelphia, has aired a mix of local and syndicated sports talk since October 2005, with little success in the ratings.

Among its target audience of men ages 25 to 54 in January's Arbitron ratings, WPEN drew a 0.7 share and a weekly cumulative audience of 54,900. Its competitor, WIP (610), pulled a 4.8 share and a "cume" measured at 177,700.

The bright spot in the ratings, afternoon host Jody McDonald, is expected to remain with the station, though he will not host afternoons and may get moved earlier to middays, another station source said.

For all its national success, ESPN has had a tenuous link to the Philadelphia market. Nassau Broadcasting had a station running ESPN's national radio feed at 920 on the AM dial. In early January, Nassau moved the ESPN programming to its station farther north, in Flemington, N.J., at 1040 AM. That station now carries ESPN's New York programming.