‘He bleeds Eagles green’: Merrill Reese back to call the Birds on 94.1 WIP, and he’s in no rush to retire

The Eagles return to action this week, and with them comes the unmistakable voice of Merrill Reese, the Birds’ beloved radio announcer for nearly five decades.

At 82, Reese is the longest-tenured announcer in the NFL and enters the season fresh off receiving the prestigious 2024 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. Despite calling hundreds of Eagles games during his 47 seasons with the team, Reese still gets butterflies before each broadcast.

“I’m nervous before every game. I wake up on a game day and I can’t look at food when I get to the stadium,” Reese told The Inquirer. “I feel the pregame jitters and I love it, I need it. And then, when [producer] Joe McPeak cues me and I come on the broadcast … it all goes away, and it feels like I’m in the zone for the next three and a half hours.”

For various technical and logistical reasons, 94.1 WIP isn’t sending Reese and his longtime broadcast partner, former Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick, to São Paulo, Brazil, to call the Birds’ Week 1 game against the Green Bay Packers, according to sources not authorized to speak publicly. Also not making the trip is sideline reporter Howard Eskin and Spanish radio announcers Rickie Ricardo, Oscar Budejen, and Bill Kulik. Instead, they’ll call the game remotely from Philadelphia, as they did back during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They won’t be alone. Westwood One isn’t sending announcers Scott Graham and Mike Mayock down to São Paulo either, according to vice president and executive producer Mike Eaby.

» READ MORE: 'I don't believe it!': Top 10 Merrill Reese moments

Using a monitor isn’t necessarily the worst thing for Reese. He hasn’t been shy about criticizing stadiums where the vantage point of the game is so poor, he has to call the action off a monitor anyway. That includes the Commanders’ home, now called Northwest Stadium, which Reese has repeatedly described as “a dump.” But other stadiums also have been difficult for the Eagles announcers.

“Baltimore used to be good, but this year they changed the broadcast booth to a corner of the end zone,” Reese said. “Los Angeles, a brand new stadium, they put us high in the back of the end zone, a terrible location. … In New Orleans, we’re so high we’re looking at little dots on the field.”

So how’s Reese preparing for Friday’s game against the Packers? The same way he’s done it his entire career — looking at notes, calling coaches of opposing teams, and memorizing every player’s number, with the help of flashcards managed by his wife, Cynthia.

“He works very hard at being the best,” said McPeak, who’s been Reese’s producer for 38 years. “Merrill has a memory like a sponge, and he absorbs dates, records, names — all sorts of information.”

If it sounds like Reese is a fan during his broadcasts, that’s because he is. The Temple graduate is a lifelong fan of the Birds, and as McPeak put it, “He bleeds Eagles green.” Over the years, Reese has turned down multiple network opportunities to remain in the Eagles’ booth. That hasn’t prevented him from earning the admiration and respect of some of the biggest names in the NFL media world, including Tony Romo, Joe Buck, Al Michaels, and Jim Nantz.

“I have extolled a few times on the air my deep appreciation and admiration for Merrill and Mike,” Nantz said at a recent CBS media event. “I think they’re the best hometown team in the NFL.”

Despite heading into their 27th season together, Reese and Quick still know how to have a little fun. At the end of their broadcast of the Eagles’ final preseason game, a meaningless and lopsided 26-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Reese joked about being forced to read the league’s rules about retransmitting a broadcast.

“Please excuse me for reading this. Any rebroadcast of this game — Would you think of rebroadcasting this game? — is expressly prohibited,” Reese said on air. “And if you want to rebroadcast it, please seek psychiatric help.”

“Just having some fun,” Reese said, noting he enjoys broadcasting preseason games. “I’m in training camp every day, and I watch the practices and love seeing the young players at the bottom of the roster … fight for spots and develop as the summer goes on.”

So how long will be Reese calling Eagles games? A three-year contract extension he signed with WIP in 2022 ends after this season, but WIP is in no rush to push Reese out. So the decision is up to him, and as of now he has no intention of giving up his headset.

“It’s still as great a thrill as it ever was, and I would love to do it as long as I possibly can,” Reese said. “I have no plans to retire.”