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Ex-Fanatic host Sean Brace launching new FOX Sports Radio station in Philadelphia, featuring Colin Cowherd

“If you want a general knowledge question or you want to talk about Donovan McNabb to the Hall of Fame, this isn’t your place,” Brace said.

Former 97.5 The Fanatic sports talker Sean Brace will be the program director and host for The Gambler 102.5 FM.
Former 97.5 The Fanatic sports talker Sean Brace will be the program director and host for The Gambler 102.5 FM.Read moreFOX29 / FOX29
    by Rob Tornoe
    Published 

Starting Monday afternoon, Philadelphia will be home to three FM sports talk radio stations.

Sean Brace, a former sports talker on 97.5 The Fanatic and FOX 29 weekend host, will be the program director for 102.5 The Gambler, which will also be available on 1480 AM and on the iHeart Radio app. Brace himself will host the station’s drive-time show, The Daily Ticket, from 3 to 6 p.m., and proudly proclaims it will be the first daily sports gambling show in the history of Philadelphia radio.

“I’m not picking winners, I’m not telling you who to take. My goal is to give you as much information as I can and try to be entertaining at the same time,” Brace told the Inquirer. “I’m not taking calls. No calls. Just straight information about the games that matter and talking about the odds, the prop bets, the futures. All of that.”

The iHeart Media is switching the format over to sports with a focus on gambling from Breakthrough Radio, a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that featured family-friendly music. Currently, the station is playing the NFL on Fox jingle on a loop until Brace comes on the air at 3 p.m. on Monday.

Outside of Brace, the station’s lineup will consist mostly of syndicated Fox Sports radio shows, including Philadelphia fan favorite Colin Cowherd. Here’s what the station’s weekday lineup will look like:

  1. 6 a.m. - Outkick The Coverage with Clay Travis

  2. 9 a.m. - The Dan Patrick Show

  3. 12 p.m. - The Herd with Colin Cowherd

  4. 3 p.m. - The Daily Ticket with Sean Brace

  5. 6 p.m. - Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell

  6. 7 p.m. - The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard & Rob Parker

  7. 10 p.m. - The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon

  8. 2 a.m. - The Ben Maller Show

One interesting wrinkle - The Gambler also plans to air current Fanatic host Anthony Gargano’s weekly syndicated Fox Sports show The Fellas, which he hosts alongside former Pro Bowler Lincoln Kennedy. Brace was let go by The Fanatic back in 2015 just days before Gargano was hired to launch the station’s morning show (Gargano has since been moved to middays and replaced by Marc Farzetta and Tra Thomas).

In addition, Brace will continue hosting a weekly Eagles pre-game show from Xfinity Live! alongside former Eagles kicker David Akers, only it will not air live on The Gambler.

Brace told the Inquirer the station has already lined up a number of sponsors, including Cure Auto and Draft Kings (and not FOX Bets, FOX’s new sports betting product). SugarHouse Casino and Hard Rock Atlantic City are also sponsors of the new network, and both will host Brace’s show for live broadcasts every week. Eventually, Brace hopes to grow the popularity of the station enough to focus the content entirely around sports gambling, which would make it similar to Brent Musburger’s VSiN in Las Vegas.

“In my little clip, I said, ‘If you want a general knowledge question or you want to talk about Donovan McNabb to the Hall of Fame, this isn’t your place,’ ” Brace joked. “But I bet I will talk about McNabb to the Hall of Fame at one point, so don’t hold that against me.”