WPEN to carry ESPN radio shows

Sports-talk station WPEN (950) will become the local ESPN affiliate.

The station will call itself "950 ESPN" and today will announce the first piece of its new programming: ESPN's national Mike and Mike morning show, which retired Eagles lineman Mike Golic hosts with 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. 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 and station manager Bob DeBlois said today that Bradley would remain at WPEN in some capacity. Bradley said that freeing him from the morning show would allow him for time for writing.

WPEN management said the rest of the station's lineup would be announced Friday.

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 18 to 49 in January's Arbitron ratings, WPEN drew a 0.7 share and a weekly cumulative audience of 61,800. Its competitor, WIP (610), pulled a 4.6 share and a "cume" measured at 174,400.

The bright spot in the ratings, afternoon host Jody McDonald, is expected to remain with the station, perhaps for a midday shift. McDonald's show drew 40 percent of total WPEN's cumulative audience among men ages 18 to 49 in the last ratings period.

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.