94.1 WIP host Jon Johnson back on the air after cancer scare
Johnson said the skin cancer was on part of his scalp he never would have seen on his own.
Jon Johnson says his wife saved his life.
The 94.1 host, who has been holding down the station’s overnight shift made famous by the late Big Daddy Graham, told The Inquirer he had surgery last week to remove skin cancer on his scalp that was detected only because his wife cuts his hair.
Johnson said his wife works in the beauty industry, and noticed a black area on a part of his scalp “you wouldn’t see yourself looking in the mirror.” Johnson said he went to a dermatologist, had a biopsy done, and it came back positive for malignant melanoma.
“Never thought it’d be me,” Johnson said.
Doctors removed the nearest lymph node and all but three layers of skin in the infected area. Johnson said his prognosis seems good, and he returned to WIP on Monday morning after having been off the air for a week. Johnson posted a photo of the 15 staples in the side of his head and encouraged everyone to get a routine screening.
“See a dermatologist, get checked from head to toe,” Johnson said. “Have someone close to you check areas you can’t see. Don’t put it off. It is very treatable if caught early.”
Johnson isn’t the only Philly sports talker battling cancer. 97.5 The Fanatic morning show host John Kincade is being treated for colon cancer. And WIP host Jody McDonald revealed on the air in January that he discovered he had skin cancer.
Longtime WIP host Glen Macnow taking a step back
Speaking of WIP, listeners have noticed that weekend host Glen Macnow has been hosting his weekend show a bit less this summer.
On Sunday, Macnow, 68, addressed the murmurs by confirming that he’s taking Sundays off this summer when the Phillies are playing at home.
“Part of my new deal at the station and, yes, part of me slowing down my career,” Macnow wrote on Twitter.
Macnow, a former Inquirer writer, has been a host on WIP since 1993. He hosts Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WIP alongside Inquirer columnist Mike Sielski, and on Sundays with McDonald. He’s also the cohost of What’s Brewing PA on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Don Russell, better known as Joe Sixpack.
The longtime sports talker also has interests away from the microphone. Macnow is a part owner of Conshohocken Brewing Company and has acted in several local plays, most recently Clue with the Players Club of Swarthmore. He also gave serious consideration to a run for Congress in 2018, when he would have challenged then-Delaware County Rep. Pat Meehan, a Republican who resigned in 2018 following a sexual harassment claim brought by a female staff member.
Macnow’s former weekend cohost, Ray Didinger, retired last year.
Quick hits
Phillies great Chase Utley made an appearance in NBC Sports Philadelphia’s booth to promote next year’s series in London against the New York Mets. John Kruk took the opportunity to point out Utley’s transformation from quiet star to MLB pitchman for all things England. “I’d come into ESPN and every time we’d do the Phillies, they’d say, ‘Hey, can you ask Chase if he’ll come out?’ I only went once and said, ‘Chase, I know you’re not going to do it, but I have to ask.’ He goes, ‘C’mon man, you know I’m not going to do that.’”
SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt and NFL Live host Laura Rutledge are the favorites to land the open Monday Night Countdown hosting job after ESPN laid off Philadelphia native Suzy Kolber, according to New York Post columnist Andrew Marchand. He also reported that former defensive back turned Amazon NFL analyst Richard Sherman is in the running to replace Shannon Sharpe across from Skip Bayless on FS1′s debate show Undisputed. The two have a bit of history, dating back to Bayless’ time on ESPN’s First Take alongside Stephen A. Smith.
Fox baseball announcer Joe Davis got a good line in about the Mets on Saturday after they gave up three runs in the ninth inning, which included a misjudged pop fly that bounced up and smashed third baseman Brett Baty in the face. “Oh, no. What a disaster,” Davis said before declaring, “The 2023 Mets in one clip.”
Phillies TV ratings on NBC Sports Philadelphia are up 11% compared to last year, according to Nielsen numbers. The Phillies are averaging a 4.8 household rating (more than 148,000 households) in the Philadelphia market through the first 81 games of the season. This year’s most-watched game was the Phillies’ win over the Cincinnati Reds on April 7, which drew a 7.2 household rating on NBC10.
Delran native Carli Lloyd will be one of Fox’s lead analysts during the upcoming women’s World Cup, which gets underway in Australia and New Zealand later this week. “If I wasn’t doing this with Fox Sports, I’d probably be just home catching games here and there,” Lloyd told The Inquirer. “I know the game. I know the experiences that I’ve had; I’m smart enough to see stuff happening. It’s just getting comfortable with the run of show of how everything else goes.”