Ex-WIP host Chris Carlin could be taken off the air despite strong ratings

The radio business can be a strange, cruel world.

Former 94.1 WIP afternoon host Chris Carlin — who replaced the fired Josh Innes — left Philadelphia in 2017 after just a year to join New York City’s WFAN as part of a new three-man show that was supposed to replace retiring sports talker Mike Francesa.

There’s just one problem: Francesa came back in April 2018, forcing the Entercom-owned station to feature four shows during the day, rather than the traditional three. Instead of Carlin and co-hosts Maggie Gray and Bart Scott airing in the prime afternoon spot, their show was cut to just two hours and moved to the 1-to-3-p.m. time slot.

The chaos and shifting scheduled hasn’t prevented Carlin and his team — known locally as CMB — from pulling in strong ratings. For the first two months of Neilsen’s latest quarterly ratings book, the show is tied for first place in its time slot among men ages 25 to 54, the most-coveted listening demographic.

But according to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, Carlin and his co-hosts could be taken off the air if Francesa decides to renew his contract and commit to WFAN. According to Marchand, the three hosts are being paid as afternoon hosts doing four-and-a-half-hour day, when in reality they’re working in a less-desirable time slot for half that time. And the station could save money by simply adding an hour to Francesa’s show and an hour to the station’s popular midday show, which is hosted by Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno.

Carlin, who also does play-by-play for Rutgers football games, declined to comment. Through an Entercom spokesperson, WFAN program director Mark Chernoff ​declined to comment. Marchand reported that a decision on the trio’s future was expected by September.

Carlin was upbeat about the show during a recent interview with NJ.com’s James Kratch, which was published prior to the Post article.

"I think we jelled pretty quickly, and we’re starting to see the fruits of that,” Carlin said. “We’ve been very fortunate that the fans have responded to us. That’s the best part about radio — it’s just such a personal connection with people. You’re right there, they’re on their commute with you, driving in and out. That’s the best part of it for me.”

Hopefully Carlin didn’t agree to have a cast made of his naked chest (in honor of Gray’s pregnancy) for nothing:

It looks like Todd McShay isn’t joining former Eagles executive Joe Douglas after all

McShay has been an ESPN analyst since 2006 and the centerpiece of the network’s NFL Draft coverage alongside Mel Kiper Jr. But last week, after Douglas was hired as the general manager of the New York Jets, McShay said he was under consideration for a role with the team.

But ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen wrote on Twitter that McShay has decided to remain on television.

Douglas was also reportedly interested in NFL Network analyst and former Eagles scout Daniel Jeremiah, with whom he worked in the Baltimore Ravens scouting department from 2003 to 2007. But Jeremiah took to Twitter earlier this week to announced he wouldn’t be joining the Jets.

In December, Philadelphia native Mike Mayock left his job as the NFL Network’s lead draft analyst to become the general manager of the Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Raiders. Mayock will likely return to television in August, thanks to HBO selecting the Raiders for this year’s Hard Knocks.

• Toronto Raptors president of basketball Masai Ujiri didn’t even have a chance to touch the Larry O’Brien trophy before ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a “Woj bomb" that the Wizards were willing to pay big to bring Ujiri to Washington.

• Speaking of the Raptors, here’s a great nugget from 2015 about Kyle Lowry — a Philadelphia native who attended Cardinal Dougherty High School — written by my colleague Mike Jensen:

• ESPN analyst and former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce has been dogged throughout the playoffs for his bad predictions, but it’s worth pointing out he correctly picked the Raptors to defeat the Golden State Warriors in six games.

“All this curse stuff, all this Paul Pierce curse stuff. Who picked the Raptors in six?” Pierce boasted.

• The NFL Network has added former Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins defensive back DeAngelo Hall as a studio analyst, where he’ll appear on shows like NFL Total Access and Good Morning Football. Since retiring last year, the three-time Pro Bowler has worked as an analyst on FS1 and NBC Sports Washington.