Angelo Cataldi Gets Loud
3 min readJun 8, 2024
“Find what you love and get somebody to pay you to do it. That’s the best lesson I could give for a fulfilling career.” — Angelo Cataldi
Built Not Born (Episode X-Ray): Angelo Cataldi talks his memoir “Loud” describing his amazing 33 year reign as the dominant voice of Philly Sports Radio.Angelo Cataldi was the legendary voice of Philadelphia sports fans for 33 years as the host of The Morning Show on Sports Talk 94.1 WIP
For over three decades, Angelo lit the fire that fueled the most passionate sports fans in America.
Angelo and I discuss his new book LOUD: “How a Shy Nerd Came to Philadelphia and Turned up the Volume in the Most Passionate Sports City in America.”
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3.5 Ideas from Angelo Cataldi:
1) How Did Your Time at Columbia University Influence You?
- “When I got into Columbia a man named Norman Isaacs and I sat down. He made me make two promises:
- 1) “That I wouldn’t tell anybody my plan because he said they won’t take you seriously at Columbia if you want to write sports.”
- 2) “If you’re really going to do sports, do it right. Don’t do it the way they do it. All this hero worship. All this ass kissing that goes on in sports writing. Cover them the way you would the White House or the way you would City Hall.”
- “And I’ll tell you…that was the best lesson I got in my career because it allowed me a very good, very successful career in journalism, asking hard questions, making tons of enemies along the way, because nobody was doing that in sports…that’s what I’m proudest of.”
2) What Makes a Great Interview?
- “When I did an interview, it wasn’t my agenda. It was the audience’s agenda.”
- “I would sit down before the player or the coach came on and I say, ‘What do these people want to know? I try to picture myself at the corner stool of a bar in right in the city of Philadelphia and go, ‘What are they talking about?’
- “I had to make sure to get to that question. But you don’t lead with it. If you lead with that question, they recoil and they shut down. So what you go to do is develop in the first few minutes a camaraderie, a level of comfort that allows you to ask tougher questions in a non combative way.”
3) Who Would Be In Your Dream Golf Foursome?
- “If I’m out to have a really fun day, right? No doubt in my mind, Keith Jones is there president of the Flyers.”
- “I’m going to need Jason Kelsey there…Because Jason Kelsey is a fantastic.”
- “I got one more. I’m going to go a little older school and go to a guy who was the most intense competitor I ever saw…Brian Dawkins.”
3.5) If You Could Pass on One Life Lesson, What Would it Be?
- “Find what you love and get somebody to pay you to do it. That’s the best lesson I could give for a fulfilling career. When you’re loving what you’re doing, you’re going to reach your potential.”
- “The other lesson is one I did NOT follow, and I acknowledge this in the book. Find a balance in your life. Find a balance. Somehow keep that career strong in your mind, but not overwhelming…be part of a family and contribute there. And if I had to do that again, I would do that differently.”
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