Mike Off Again by Laura Nachman Bucks County Courier Times March 21

Mike Off Again
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
March 21, 2006

The on and off relationship between WIP 610-AM and Bristol native Mike Missanelli is off again, as the mid-day host was fired on Monday.

According to a source familiar with the situation, the reason for the firing was because Missanelli got into a fight with a producer during a live remote during Friday's St. Patrick's Day show.

Missanelli's first stint at WIP was from 1992 - 2003. He surprised many when he left WIP to do mornings on rock station WMMR 93.3-FM. His stint at WMMR lasted around a year, then he rejoined WIP for the second time in July 2005, replacing Steve Martorano on the mid-day show with Anthony Gargano.

By Monday night, Missanelli's picture was taken off the station web site.

Radio insiders are already speculating on who will replace Missanelli weekdays from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Some wonder if the duo of Kiley and Booms, who were given a tryout a couple of weeks ago might take the mid-day slot and Anthony Gargano would move to afternoon drive with Howard Eskin. Another scenario could be the return of Steve Martorano.

Also, observers wonder if Missanelli could end up on rival station Sportstalk 950-AM, which is in the market for a local morning show. However, 950 is owned by Greater Media Philadelphia, which also owns WMMR.