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Eagles boost ESPN’s ratings, WIP’s Angelo Cataldi surprised by Jason Kelce’s call

More people in Philadelphia watched the Eagles' win against Washington on 6ABC than ESPN.

An Eagles fan wears a Super Bowl ring hat before a game against the Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.
An Eagles fan wears a Super Bowl ring hat before a game against the Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer

The Eagles not only beat the Washington Redskins on Monday night — they also defeated The Good Doctor and The Voice.

The Super Bowl champions' 28-13 victory over the Redskins on Monday Night Football, which kept the Birds' playoff hopes alive, averaged 11.35 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen. That's a 4-percent increase over the Steelers' 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on ESPN in Week 13 last season, making it the most-watched program on television Monday night.

Viewership for the Eagles' victory on ESPN peaked from 9:30 to 9:45 p.m. Eastern with around 13.1 million viewers. In Philadelphia, the game drew a 10.1 rating on the network.

More people in Philadelphia actually watched the game on 6ABC, which aired a simulcast due to NFL rules that require games to be available on broadcast television within the local markets of the teams that are playing. The game delivered a 21.6 rating on 6ABC, a whopping 176-percent increase over the 7.8 rating the network averaged during the same 8 to 11 p.m. Monday night time period for the month of November.

Combined, the telecasts of the game on ESPN and 6ABC were watched by about 873,000 households in the Philadelphia market.

After a couple of years of suffering the same ratings declines experienced by nearly all television shows amid a shift in viewing habits due to cord-cutting and on-demand video, ESPN's Monday Night Football ratings are up 9 percent this season, averaging 10.7 million viewers.

The Eagles have at least one more prime time game on their schedule this season. They'll face the Los Angeles Rams on NBC's Sunday Night Football on Dec. 16. And if the Eagles manage to defeat the NFC East-leading Cowboys in Dallas this Sunday, it would increase the odds of the team's Week 17 re-match against the Redskins getting flexed by the NFL.

Angelo Cataldi forgot about Jason Kelce

On Wednesday morning, WIP morning show host Angelo Cataldi was deep into a discussion over the recent news involving Sixers guard Markelle Fultz's shoulder diagnosis when he was interrupted by a caller who turned out to be Eagles center Jason Kelce.

"We got Jason Kelce on the line. How did we forget and he remembered?" Cataldi said.

"I should just let you guys call me every Wednesday," Kelce joked.

Kelce appears on WIP's morning show every Wednesday morning during the Eagles season, but because last week's game took place on Monday night, the crew was confused about what day it was.

"How shameful is that, that we forgot," Cataldi said following the interview. "One of the stars of the game, and he had to call us."

Former WIP host lands in Chicago

Speaking of WIP, last week the station's creative director and former evening host Brian Haddad announced he was leaving after 6 years for a "tremendous opportunity in another city."

That other city is Chicago, where Haddad will co-host a new morning show on 101 WKQX, an alternative rock station owned by Cumulus Media. Haddad's new gig starts Monday.

Haddad, who is also known among listeners as "Sludge," hosted various shows on rock stations in Chicago before moving to Philadelphia to join WIP in 2012.

"I recall my first show late at night when callers, one of them Levi (RIP), actually wanted to start an argument with me without even knowing who I was," Haddad wrote on Twitter, referring to Darren Levi Cephas, a longtime WIP caller who died in August.

"Callers wanted to know about my life, and wanted me to be in theirs," Haddad continued. "And I wanted to know about them. It was like a crazy family reunion every night."