Angelo Cataldi’s longtime WIP producer hospitalized following ‘harrowing’ airplane incident
“It was harrowing,” WIP morning show host Angelo Cataldi told his listeners, adding that Weachter was unconscious for nearly 10 minutes.
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Joe Weachter, Angelo Cataldi’s longtime producer on the 94.1 WIP morning show, has been released from a Florida hospital after losing consciousness on an airplane Wednesday afternoon.
Cataldi said he, Weachter, and fellow WIP personality Ava Graham were on an American Airlines flight to Florida en route to broadcast Thursday morning’s show from the Phillies’ spring training facility in Clearwater. According to Cataldi, once the plane reached around 10,000 feet, he noticed people sprinting to the back, where Weachter was seated.
At first, Cataldi said, he didn’t know what was going on. But he quickly learned Weachter had lost consciousness after standing up to use the restroom. Fortunately, Dr. Edward Dickinson — a professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — happened to be on the flight and administered care to the longtime radio producer alongside an unnamed paramedic.
“It was harrowing,” Cataldi told his listeners, adding that Weachter was unconscious for nearly 10 minutes before he was revived. It’s unclear what caused the situation, but Weacheter eventually stabilized and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa after the plane landed, where he remained overnight and was released late Thursday morning.
“I’m not going to say he saved his life because I don’t know exactly what happened,” Cataldi said of Dickinson. “But he was a guardian angel for Joe Weachter.”
Weachter, who is known in the sports radio caller community as being Cataldi’s call screener, has been with WIP for 28 years. He’s just the latest WIP personality to suffer health setbacks in recent months, including Cataldi, who is scheduled to have hand surgery on Monday.
Longtime WIP host Big Daddy Graham only recently returned to his “Two Funny Philly Guys” show alongside Joe Conklin after being paralyzed following emergency spinal cord surgery in July. Graham has done several call-in appearance on the radio station, but has yet to return to hosting his overnight WIP show.