Angelo Cataldi's long run as host of SportsRadio 94 WIP-FM’s morning drive program has come to end.
After more than three decades on the air, Cataldi called it a career Friday, ending his time at the station with a celebratory last show after his induction earlier this week as the first member of the radio station's new Hall of Fame.
"The fact is, whether you agreed with me or not, you knew you were getting my honest opinion, unfettered by connections to teams, worrying about the reaction of players or anybody else," Cataldi told NBC10. "I was honest to people, that's the way I want to be known."
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On Friday morning, the longtime broadcaster received a round of applause after he stepped out of the booth for the final time.
NBC10’s Matt DeLucia was there Thursday as Cadaldi received his award as the inaugural member of the WIP Hall Of Fame. Cataldi was honored as part of "Brookie and the Rookie," a show he began in 1988 with legendary broadcaster, Tom Brookshier.
"I had no inkling of that. I wound never would think I'd ever get into any hall of fame," Cataldi told NBC10. "To be in the one at the only radio station I've ever worked with is the biggest honor I could get."
Rookie years
Cataldi, a Rhode Island-native, began his career -- as noted by City Council in a recent resolution honoring the broadcaster -- as a sports writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the early 1980s. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice while at the newspaper.
But, by 1988, Cataldi had moved on from print to the radio airwaves to co-host "Brookie and the Rookie" with Tom Brookshier.
It was Cataldi's work as host of the morning show, which he began in 1989, that City Council noted especially in its resolution.
"This robust coverage has helped lead Philadelphians to be one of the most informed, vocal and supportive fanbase in the United States and the world," the resolution read.
Courting controversy
Cataldi's road to success had it's own speedbumps along the way. City Council even noted some of these moments, acknowledging that the broadcasts had formed the "Dirty Thirty" -- a group of Philadelphia Eagles fans who booed the team's selection of Donavan McNabb in the 1999 NFL Draft.
He also created the infamous Wing Bowl, which NBC10 noted when the event was retired after 25 years, was known for "its outlandish, and at times politically incorrect, entrances and scantily clad Wingettes as it was for chicken wing eating."
Lasting legacy
Asked how he'd like to be remembered, Cataldi told NBC10 that he hopes to be known for his honesty and work ethic.
"He came on everyday, he worked hard and he told his honest truth about what he saw," Cataldi told NBC10. "I wasn't always right. I was wrong maybe more than I was right. But, I expressed my strongest opinion everyday for 33 years."
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