WIP host Glen Macnow is retiring after three decades as a Philly sports talker: ‘It’s time’

After 31 years, longtime 94.1 WIP host Glen Macnow is walking away from the microphone.

Often a calm voice in a sea of hot takes and outlandish behavior, Macnow is retiring from the radio station he’s called home for more than three decades. His final show will be July 13.

“I’ve been working as a newspaper or radio guy since I was 21 years old,” Macnow told The Inquirer. “I’m now in my late 60s, and it’s just time.”

Macnow said it was his choice to walk away, a rarity these days with any media job. WIP actually offered him a “perfectly great” contract to remain with the station, but he decided it was time to call it quits.

Like so many popular Philly sports talkers, Macnow was a reporter for The Inquirer before making the jump to radio. During his time at WIP, he hosted nights, middays, and even enjoyed a four-year stint in the afternoons alongside PHLY and former 97.5 the Fanatic host Anthony Gargano. He’s also been the station’s main Eagles pregame host for the last 17 seasons.

“Glen Macnow joined WIP when the sports talk format was still early days, and before there was an obvious business to be built. His addition was the next part of the critical path that helped WIP become one of the biggest sports brands in the country,” WIP station manager Rod Lakin said. “In the view of a world where we’re looking for special and different, Glen is in a class of his own — exceptional author, host, and theatrical performer.”

In recent years, Macnow narrowed his focus to a weekend show, which he currently cohosts with Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski on Saturdays and Jody McDonald on Sundays. The show is known for its deliberate pace and willingness to diverge into non-sports topics, including movies and pop culture.

“It’s a completely different presentation. On the weekend, people are in a different state of mind,” Lakin said. “It is more of a lean back, lighter, more in-depth show than anything we do during the week.”

His initial weekend cohost, Ray Didinger, retired in 2022, but still frequently talks about the Eagles on both WIP and NBC Sports Philadelphia. Macnow doesn’t envision himself coming back much after he hosts his last show in July, if at all.

“For God’s sake, Ray doesn’t know how to retire,” Macnow joked. “I’m going to go to Ray’s house and watch a game. That’ll be good. That’ll be a plan for this year.”

It’s unclear whom WIP will pick to replace Macnow, or whether Sielski and McDonald will remain in their current weekend roles. Lakin said the station was evaluating options and declined to comment further.

So how is Macnow going to fill his time in retirement? In addition to writing a history of his family and spending more time with his father, Macnow plans to continue acting in plays. He’s currently performing in The Diary of Anne Frank, which opened this week and runs through May 4 at the Players Club of Swarthmore.

“It’s something that takes a lot of time and earns zero dollars,” Macnow said. “And that’s perfectly fine because I love doing it.”

Macnow has also appeared in a few movies. He played a “kindly but lecherous janitor” in The Arrangement, a 2020 independent film starring veteran actor Eric Roberts. His biggest film was The Upside, which starred Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston and was filmed in Philadelphia. But if you blinked, you might have missed him.

“I played a featured extra in an opera scene and got to walk across the screen in front of them, and you see me for about a second,” Macnow said.

In addition to his role at WIP, Macnow also cohosts What’s Brewing on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Lew Bryson. Macnow said the show will run through this year, but anything beyond that remains up in the air.

Macnow’s retirement is one of a series of changes on Philly sports radio in recent months. Last week was the debut of Spike Eskin as the cohost of WIP’s afternoon show, alongside former Eagles linebacker Ike Reese and Jack Fritz. Eskin, who had been running WIP’s sister station WFAN in New York City, took the spot vacated by Jon Marks, who left the station in December.

Over at 97.5 the Fanatic, a schedule overhaul saw Andrew Salciunas move to mornings and former Daily News writer Bob Cooney shift to middays. NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Amy Fadool Kane is also making regular appearances on the station, which also added Bill Colarulo on weekends.