Howard Stern took a little vacation from his vacation this weekend, calling in to WYSP Philadelphia on its final day of broadcasting to pay his respects.
On Saturday, September 2nd at 3PM, WYSP FM 94.1 officially became WIP-FM. The station, which had been broadcasting rock music since 1968, is now nothing more than a simulcast of CBS Radio's 610 AM sports talk radio station. Howard Stern spoke to DJ Spike Eskin about his history with WYSP in a 30 minute interview on Saturday afternoon, talking about his history with WYSP, the loyalty of Philadelphia fans and the future of terrestrial radio.
<---Listen to the complete audio from Howard Stern's WYSP interview with Spike Eskin here
“Philadelphia was so good to me," Stern told Eskin. "I love WYSP. It’s very strange to hear WYSP isn’t going to be there anymore because, you know, I had dreams of being on the radio since I was 5 years old. But then, when I went to college and I dreamt of being on the radio there were certain radio stations that were legendary like WBCN in Boston, which is no longer music…this was like my dream. If I could one day work at WYSP it would be—nirvana. I mean, I couldn’t even imagine when I was starting in radio…”
Stern also credits WYSP and Philadelphia fans with launching his national radio career. WYSP was the first station to simulcast the Howard Stern Show in syndication in 1986.
“It turns out Philadelphia really responded to my morning show, and you know how grateful I am for that because that started me out on my syndication road and enabled me to be heard throughout the country, so that certainly expanded my career.”
Stern says that with the death of stations like WYSP and Boston's WBCN, other traditional terrestrial radio broadcasts featuring music can't last much longer:
“I really love the medium and all this change is really—I’m nostalgic about a station like WYSP. It’s hard for me to imagine that it’s not going to be there. But, you know, I guess it just points out that people are getting their music from other places now.”
DJ Spike Eskin told Stern that he battled with station managers in an attempt to have Wack Packer Beetlejuice's classic anthem "This is Beetle" broadcast as WYSP's final song, but lost out to Metallica's 'Fade to Black'.
“I’m going to have cocktails tonight and toast WYSP," Stern told Eskin.
The Howard Stern Show returns live on Sirius XM 100 on Tuesday, September 6th.
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