Audacy Sports 94.1 WIP Philadelphia afternoon host Jon Marks is departing the station after seven years.
Marks told listeners today that he has decided to leave WIP after seven years to spend more time with his family and young children and that his final show will be on Wednesday, December 20. Barrett Sports Media reports that Marks had been working without a contract since December 2022.
Marks has been a constant in Philadelphia Sports radio since starting as an intern at 950 WPEN in 2005 eventually rising to producer and co-host of the morning show at “97.5 The Fanatic” WPEN-FM until exiting in 2016. He joined WIP as evening host in February 2017 and rose to afternoons alongside Ike Reese in November 2017.
Crossing Broad quotes Marks, “I mentioned this a couple of times here, over the last year plus, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my future here at WIP. These are conversations I’ve had with management, with Rod Lakin and David Yadgaroff, even with you. The Marks and Reese show is amazing, the success that we’ve had, over 6 years now that we’ve been working together, I’ve been at WIP almost 7 years, and what we’ve done in 6 years, the community that we’ve made, the show that we’ve made has been nothing short of amazing. It came time where I needed to make a (long term contract) commitment to the show and the station as opposed to going year to year, which is what I’ve been doing the last couple of years. And as great as the show is, everything kept coming back to the hours that I’m working. I don’t work until 10 or midnight, but I’m not getting home on most nights until 7:30. As my kids get older, I’m missing all these activities – softball, soccer, basketball, even dinner every night. Since my kids have been alive I’ve been working this shift. And I had to ask myself ‘is this something I could see myself doing for the next five years?’ The station and show deserve the commitment from somebody. It was a difficult decision and something I internally wrestled with for a really long time. And after talking to management and talking with you, and (management was amenable and asked what they could do)… I made the difficult decision to leave the Marks and Reese Show and WIP. My last show is Wednesday. It’s a very difficult decision.”
This story first appeared on radioinsight.com