White 97.5 The Fanatic Radio Producer Created A Black Fake Caller Persona "Dwayne From Swedesboro"

Philly.com – On any given day, 97.5 The Fanatic host Mike Missanelli could be heard getting into a heated argument with a caller by the name of “Dwayne from Swedesboro.” Sources from The Fanatic confirm that producer Pat Egan created the fake-caller persona and has been calling in to speak to Missanelli and other hosts at the station for more than a year. Working on a tip from a former Fanatic intern, Crossing Broad’s Kyle Scott matched the photos used on the false persona’s now-deleted Twitter account to a hockey teammate seen alongside Egan in photos on Facebook. Egan later identified the man in the photo as “CK” in a tweet responding to the controversy. Efforts to reach “CK” for comment were unsuccessful. After initially denying on Twitter that he was “Dwayne from Swedesboro,” Egan confirmed that he was indeed behind the made-up character and said it was a “big inside joke” at the station that everyone except Missanelli was in on. “He had no idea,” Egan said.

Live look at Pat Egan:

So this is sadly the big hubhub on the Philadelphia sports airwaves today. Crossing Broad got the scoop and did an entire in depth write up, but basically here’s how the story goes. A few years back during a “Slow sports time”, producer Pat Egan created the persona “Dwayne from Swedesboro” and trolled Mike Missenelli. Not just any character, but your stereotypical black guy with paternity test problems kind of persona. A bold territory for any white kid to venture in this day and age. Since it seemed to ruffle Mikey Miss’s feathers a bit, the character has stuck for years and became an inside joke around The Fanatic. Whether you believe Missenelli was in on the act or not (Spoiler alert: I don’t and believe higher ups are protecting his ignorance), it doesn’t matter. It’s not a good look for a radio station that A) Has a honkey of Pat Egan’s proportions creating a borderline racist character to use at work and not seeing a problem with it, and, B) Having unauthentic callers dial into the radio station, and not seeing a problem with it.

So what’s going to happen? Who knows. In fact, who cares? Personally, I’ve been checked out on the whole Philly radio scene for awhile now (see last year’s Why Do People Continue To Give A Shit About This BS Josh Innes Vs. Mikey Miss Feud?). Everyone is so fucking pompos and all they talk about is fluff without any real investigation, substance, or journalism (I will say Mike Missenelli is still one of the best interviewers in the game). And this, THIS is what is going to be dominating 9.75 and 94.1 for at least the short term. Granted, there’s not a lot on the field to talk about, anyways, but still, it only reiterates my confirmation that the only thing the sports media cares about this town than actual, you know, SPORTS, is themselves. At least it’s a distraction from realizing Doug fucking Pederson is actually the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s been 8 months and I still can’t fathom that actually happened.

PS – Back to something useful, one of the few local sports shows I can listen to and actually, you know, enjoy is Glen Macnow and Ray Diddy on the weekend. Call me old fashioned, but I like my sports talk show hosts to actually provide respectable opinions and analysis. #InDiddyWeTrust