On the Air
by Laura Nachman
Bucks County Courier Times
September 16, 2005

Former 6ABC sports anchors Scott Palmer and Phil Andrews both have new jobs.

Palmer, 55, who retired in June after 24 years with the station, will work as a consultant for the Phillies. Phillies public relations executive Larry Shenk said that Palmer's job will be to help provide the team with a fresh perspective about the organization's public image.

Though Palmer's folksy voice seems suited for baseball, Shenk said Palmer is not being groomed to join the broadcast team. Lead play-by-play man Harry Kalas, who turns 70 in March, has two years left on his contract.

Andrews, whose contract surprisingly wasn't renewed after 15 years with the station, will be working right across the street from Palmer at Citizens Bank Park. He is a member of the Comcast SportsNet team, which is housed at the Wachovia Center.

Andrews, 44, began at CSN in July as a reporter for Eagles training camp. He joins fellow former Philadelphia broadcast sportscasters Michael Barkann, Neil Hartman and Ron Burke on the CSN team.

Catch T.O. on WIP

WIP 610-AM intercepted the "Terrell Owens" radio show from WPEN 950-AM. Though the new sports station which debuts Oct. 3, expressed interest in airing T.O.'s Miami radio program, WIP acquired the rights to the show, which will air Fridays at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, WIP general manager Marc Rayfield had this to say about WPEN in an e-mail:

"WIP is committed to LOCAL sports programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We feature LOCAL hosts, LOCAL play-by-play sports, and the opinions of LOCAL fans. People who dip their toes in the California surf [referring to "The Tony Bruno Show," which is based in Los Angeles and will air from 9 a.m.-noon on WPEN] aren't connected to Philadelphia sports fans."

More WIP news

More than 5,000 players entered WIP host Glen Macnow's football suicide pool. After the first week, more than half were eliminated. Players must pick a winner each week, but can't select the same team twice. My pick this week is Seattle over Atlanta.

WIP host Anthony Gargano, who also writes books and screenplays on the side, has attracted the attention of the famed William Morris Agency. Gargano was discovered by a WIP listener, whose sister is an agent with William Morris.

WIP's Paul Jolovitz will join the WYSP 94.1-FM post game show this season.

Baseball marriage

Major League Baseball and ESPN will play ball together for the next eight years. Their new deal is worth a reported $2.4 billion. That averages $296 million a year. In comparison, the NHL's new deal with OLN averages 65 million dollars a year.

Bravo for Adamle

Former NBC NFL announcer Mike Adamle has gone from describing touchdowns to doing play-by-play for the dunk tank and obstacle course as the host of "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" on Bravo. He is carrying on the tradition of the late Howard Cosell, who memorably hosted the original in the 1970s.