Broadcaster to Receive Honorary Doctorate from Goldey-Beacom College

Goldey-Beacom College (GBC) today announced that SportsRadio 94 WIP’s original sports talker, Howard Eskin, will deliver the commencement address for the 137th graduation ceremonies to be held Friday, May 3, 2024, on the GBC campus.

Preceding the commencement ceremony, President Colleen Perry Keith will present Eskin with an honorary Doctor of Media and Communications Degree. The honor has been formally approved by the Goldey-Beacom College Honorary Degree Committee with all appropriate honors, rights, privileges and responsibilities.

“From my very first interaction with Mr. Eskin, I knew he would be someone with a meaningful message for our graduates to hear,” said Dr. Colleen Perry Keith, president of Goldey-Beacom.

Their initial conversation led to more phone calls and a deeper understanding of the impact Eskin has had throughout his career. Dr. Keith said, “He often says he’s never had a bad day in his life, and I think that’s true because he doesn’t allow the bad or the negative that comes his way to bring him down. He has a north star in his life that guides him.”

“He lives with purpose, and that keeps him focused and able to stay true to the people and causes he cares deepest about,” said Dr. Keith. “That’s a message that will resonate with our students who are about to embark on the next chapter in their life journey.”

Not only did Eskin launch the station’s very first sports talk show on 610 WIP in 1986, but when the station switched its dial position to 94.1FM in 2011, his was the first show on the air. He has broadcast nearly 8,000 shows on WIP, more than any other sports talker in the country.

Today, in addition to hosting the station’s top-rating Saturday morning talk show and appearing frequently on air throughout the week, Eskin co-hosts the station’s Eagles pre-game shows and serves as a sideline reporter for the Philadelphia Eagles radio broadcasts. Eskin ranks being on the air from the field during the Eagles legendary 2018 Super Bowl win as the best experience of his storied sports broadcasting career. 

Dubbed the market’s “hardest working sportscaster” by local media for his eternal hustle on the job, Eskin has broken more sports stories than any one broadcaster in the Philadelphia market. In addition to his dominant radio presence, he has excelled as a multi-media personality throughout his career. In addition to his local television positions, Eskin has been a frequent guest along with being a regular guest host on “The Dan Patrick Show” broadcast nationally on radio and TV, while also appearing on The NFL Network.

The two-time Emmy-Award winning sportscaster first made the transition from radio to television in 1982 when he joined CBS 3 (KYW-TV). True to form, Eskin broke a major story less than four months into his TV career, reporting that Eagles owner Leonard Tose was planning to sell, and then move the team out of town. One of his managers at KYW even credits the sportscaster with keeping the Eagles in Philadelphia. “If Howard had not stepped in when he did, Leonard Tose would have snuck the Eagles out of town,” says Frank Traynor.

Eskin later helped launch Fox29’s (WTXF-TV) Ten O’clock News as part of its original anchor team in 1986. Later, he rejoined KYW-TV in 1992 and then moved to WCAU-TV in 1996 where he hosted the station’s Sunday night sports show, Sports Final. In 2012, he rejoined FOX29 where he remains a host during football season. Eskin had also been a contributor to the George Michael Sports Machine on NBC, co-hosted a nationally-syndicated radio show, Let’s Talk Sports, written a column for the Philadelphia Daily News and has been called on for his opinions by such diverse programs as NBC`s Today Show and PBS`s MacNeil Lehrer Newshour.

Throughout his career, this Philadelphia native and Northeast High grad (where he is featured on the school’s Wall of Fame), has used his celebrity to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities, including more than $400,000 for the Eagles Autism Foundation, $100,000 for Brandywine Valley SPCA and Providence Animal Centers. Other recipients of his fundraising efforts include The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, The Terri Lynne Lykoff Child Care Foundation, The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and The National Multiple Sclerosis Society through sales of his own signature bobble head. Among his many community honors, Eskin received the March of Dimes prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for Achievement in Radio in 2010. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society named him “Man of the Year” in 2002 and the March of Dimes named Eskin its “Media Person of the Year” in 2003.

In 2022, Eskin was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2014, the Broadcast Pioneers’ Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.