WYSP to WIP a little early

For months now the word on South street has been that on September 6th, 94.1 WYSP will end its classic rock format, and start simulcasting 610 WIP-AM.  Today they pulled the trigger early. As early as 7:00 AM today Radio-Info was abuzz with the news, WYSP would not be grilling this weekend. [Here.] 

The reason is simple. 97.5 WPEN was starting to put the hurt on their former sports talk monopoly. In a nutshell, AM radio is on the way out, and an FM sports talker is going to eventually subdue an AM sports-talker. So for WIP this was a change-or-die decision. They chose to fight on and so kudos to them. It waqs only fair, WYSP had long ago lost it's own battle with WMMR. Ben Feldman explained the situation well at Brotherly Game.  Anyway, ready or not, at 3:00 Today came the big flip.

Here's a short clip.


It was very dramatic, but the fanfare was warranted. Gimbels department store signed on WIP-AM back on March 17th 1922. It was the first commercial radio station in Philadelphia, and it's calls were WIP. That's a perfect example of what should be considered a "heritage call sign." Now after almost 90 years they've made the jump to FM. All I can say is welcome aboard. Hope you last another 90 years.