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As Bruno walks, radio feud heats up between Missanelli and Innes

On Wednesday, Tony Bruno shocked sports radio fans by announcing his sudden retirement, walking away from his popular Sportsradio 94.1 WIP show and his co-host, Josh Innes.

On Wednesday, Tony Bruno shocked sports radio fans by announcing his sudden retirement, walking away from his popular Sportsradio 94.1 WIP show and his co-host, Josh Innes.

Now, his former rival Mike Missanelli is crowing, penning a Philly Mag column proclaiming his success and slamming his rivals over the desperate acts that have led to a meltdown of their partnership.

"They have used personal insults, sophomoric phone calls and embarrassing bits on the street," writes Missanelli, the host of "The Mike Missanelli Show" on The Fanatic 97.5, referencing a segment where an intern approached random men on the street and asked whether they would "hit" Caitlyn Jenner.

Missanelli also used his column to decry WIP's claims that "The Innes and Bruno Show" has beaten him in the ratings, noting the complicated way ratings are measured makes it difficult for average listeners to understand the truth.

"Other stations can fudge numbers publicly to make it look like they are winning," Missanelli claims. "Fact is, my show still has more listeners."

According to ratings information obtained by Philly.com, "The Innes and Bruno Show" was tops in the market among Men 25-54 during the spring ratings book, one of four quarterly measurements of a show's popularity that usually determines a host's bonus. Meanwhile, Missanelli's show tied with Radio 104.5 WRFF for 4th place.

Those ratings also show that while Missanelli and Bruno/Innes were close in both weekly and daily cumulative audience (reported by ratings agencies as "cume"), WIP edged out Missanelli in both measurements during the spring ratings period.

Neither Missanelli nor The Fanatic returned requests for comment.

During his radio show Friday, Innes called out Missanelli's column as self-serving "fiction," written in an attempt to stay relevant against a "clown show" that's overtaken him in the ratings.

"It's basically the last ramblings of a desperate man who's trying to politic his way into the hearts of a few people by basically reading comment sections and seeing what appeals to meatballs," Innes said.

Innes slammed Philly Mag ("Is it still a magazine?") for allowing Missanelli to write "whatever lousy, lying scumbaggery he wants to," and called out The Fanatic host on his pledge to "fade off into the sunset" if Innes is beating him in the ratings in a year.

"February 8, 2016, if you're still losing to the 'clown show,' quit," Innes declared. "Nobody will miss you."

This isn't the first time the pair have gone after one another in this heated battle for Philadelphia sports talk supremacy.

Back in June, after Innes attempted to prank call The Fanatic's hotline after celebrating their ratings victory, Missanelli unleashed his frustration on the air.

In the three-minute tirade, Missanelli called Bruno a rat, labeled Innes as a "fatass out of towner with man boobs" and claimed The Fanatic morning host Anthony Gargano nearly made Innes pee himself.

"A kid who got beat up on the schoolyard every day of his life, kid who was afraid to take his t-shirt off in phys. ed class because he had manboobs," Missanelli said of Innes. "A kid that's never played a sport in his life. A Howard Stern imitator. He's what's bringing you to sports talk radio in Philadelphia? Please."

Missanelli also referred to the pairing of Bruno and Innes as a "clown show," noting to his listeners that "loud squeaky chairs and fake bluster is just sound that signifies nothing."

The feud between Innes and Missanelli seems to go all the way back to October 2014, when Innes slammed him after deleting a tweet that made the cover of the NY Daily News seemingly making fun of Victor Cruz after being sidelined with an injury.

"He's the outright, undisputed king of douchebaggery in the city of Philadelphia," Innes said at the time, following up his comments with a satirical segment linking Missanelli to tasteless tweets involving MLK, Anne Frank and Magic Johnson.

Innes also dubbed an offensive term for Missanelli, which the host resurfaced on Friday.

"I'm not going to retire the "Bitchanelli" name," Innes said.