Wing Country

a person · PAAngelo Cataldi

Philadelphia sports-radio morning host, born 13 March 1951, whose WIP show founded Wing Bowl in 1993 and ran it for twenty-six years. A newspaperman first: Providence Journal from 1977, Philadelphia Inquirer sports from 1983, a Pulitzer finalist for covering the 1986 Eagles and Buddy Ryan.

The story Cited · wp-wing-bowl

Cataldi joined WIP part-time in 1988 and took the morning show in 1993. The same year the show put on the first Wing Bowl — a wing-eating contest in a hotel lobby, two contestants, about 150 people watching, held on the Friday before a Super Bowl the Eagles were not in.

It grew into a 20,000-seat event at the Wells Fargo Center with a commissioner, a hall of fame, a women's bracket called the Wingettes, and a qualifying system of on-air eating stunts. Cataldi worked it as a promoter works a fight: going into 2008 he billed Wing Bowl XVI as the greatest ever, with Bill "El Wingador" Simmons coming out of retirement against Joey Chestnut. The 200-wing mark fell that day.

WIP cancelled it on 30 October 2018, after the Eagles won Super Bowl LII. Program director Spike Eskin gave the reason: "When Wing Bowl started ... a large part of it was the lead-up to the Super Bowl never involved the Eagles. We just wanted to get to the promised land."

Cataldi retired from the morning show on 17 February 2023 and signed off: "I mocked every athlete who said this when they retire, and I'm going to close by saying it myself — it's time for me to go, Philadelphia. I need to spend more time with my family. Thank you all for an amazing run. Goodbye." He wrote a memoir, Loud.

Today Cited · wp-wing-bowl

Wing Bowl returned on 7 February 2026 at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas with twenty competitors, and a documentary, No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story, was released on 15 August 2026. Sources read on 16 September 2026 record Cataldi as living.

The particulars

rolebroadcaster, organizer
statePA
regionPhiladelphia
confidencemedium · needs verification · updated 2026-09-16

Who it runs with

eventsWing BowlHis show made it in 1993 and his voice sold it for twenty-six years.and of this page it says: Co-founded it and hosted it on WIP for twenty-six years.peopleAl MorgantiCo-host and co-founder; Morganti had the idea, Cataldi had the megaphone.and of this page it says: The co-host who turned the idea into a 20,000-seat morning broadcast.peopleBill "El Wingador" SimmonsThe five-time champion he built cards around, including the 2008 comeback.and of this page it says: Promoted him, retired him and unretired him on air.peopleJoey ChestnutBilled him against El Wingador in 2008 and got the first 200-wing plate out of it.eventsSuper Bowl SundayWing Bowl existed because Philadelphia had no stake in the game that week.placesChickie's & Pete'sThe Philadelphia wing room the city's crab-fry argument runs through, in the same town and the same weeks.

Where we got it

Where it came from: Cited a source we name · Harvested pulled from an open dataset · Tradition what the tradition says, hedged · Inference this project's reasoning · Field somebody stood there. This record as JSON.

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