Sports radio host speaks out on media industry

Sports radio host Angelo Cataldi described the differences between the three types of media -- television, print, and radio -- before an audience of more than 30 University students yesterday. Cataldi shared his view of the media industry and told comic stories about his experiences in the field -- which met with boisterous laughter from the crowd. Cataldi currently hosts a sports talk radio show on 610 AM and "The Great Sports Debate" on cable television's Prism. Cataldi was unassuming, often making jokes about himself, famous sports figures and his fellow talk radio hosts. "Rich Kotite is an inept coach," he said, adding that his fellow talk show host Howard Eskin is "a horse's butt." A Columbia University graduate, Cataldi began his career as a newspaper reporter at his hometown paper, The Providence Journal Bulletin. He eventually moved on to becoming a sports beat reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He told the audience about his first foray into radio. Al Morganti, a fellow Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, went down to the WIP 610 AM station with Cataldi to talk to his station manager Tom Brookshire about a job. They were both hired on the spot and were on the air 10 minutes later. "It was a total nightmare," Cataldi said, explaining that he and Morganti were unknowingly pushing wrong buttons and making fools of themselves. When they left the broadcast booth, Cataldi said he and Morganti thought they would never work in radio again. But, Brookshire met them and said, "That was a great hour of radio." Cataldi also recounted the time when WIP and the Philadelphia Daily News were fighting and the Daily News ran a story with the headline, "Radio Talk Show Hosts Back Drug Dealer." Besides his comic stories, Cataldi also showed his serious side. He told prospective journalists that they can "flush" 98 percent of what they learn in college. He also warned that things do not always turn out as expected. The story a newspaper reporter writes is not the same story the public reads, he said. It has been rewritten by assistant editors and copy editors several times. Cataldi described radio as always looking for "the 15-20 second sound-bite." Television, he explained, focuses on "the action" -- the most visually striking stories. Cataldi ended his speech by answering questions from the audience. Students asked him both sports-related questions and journalistic questions. The event was organized by Engineering sophomore Elliot Witney, a member of the Philomathean Society.

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