| Birth Name: | John Fritz | ||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 15 March 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Alma Mater: | Bloomsburg University (B.A.) | ||||||||||||
| Show: | WIP Afternoon Show (2017–present) | ||||||||||||
| Station: | 94.1 WIP | ||||||||||||
| Country: | United States | ||||||||||||
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John Fritz (born March 3, 1994) is an American sports radio personality, who is currently the host of the 94.1 WIP Afternoon Show. Additionally, he is the host of The High Hopes Podcast. He has also served as a weekend host on CBS Sports Radio. A graduate of Bloomsburg University, Fritz was a pitcher on their baseball team.
Fritz was born March 15, 1994, and grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He attended West Chester Rustin High School and graduated in 2012. He then attended Bloomsburg University and initially majored in finance, but struggled in the discipline. Fritz considered majoring in history, to become a teacher, but his love of sports talk radio lead him to major in mass communications. Fritz interned at 97.5 The Fanatic in college.[1] He graduated from Bloomsburg in 2016.[2]
Fritz was a standout pitcher at West Chester Rustin High School. In high school, his best pitch was his cutter. In the class of 2012, he was rated the #45 pitching prospect and had a fastball that topped out at 85 miles per hour.[3] He committed to Bloomsburg to play baseball. In his freshman year, Fritz made five appearances, including one start, and gave up 11 runs over innings.[4] In his sophomore year, Fritz appeared in three games, pitching three innings and giving up 3 runs. He finished his collegiate career with a career ERA of 10.32 over innings pitched and an impressive 13 strikeouts. He left the baseball team after his sophomore season to focus on his education.[5]
After graduating from Bloomsburg, Fritz initially drove for Uber and worked for his family's dog bone company. During these times, he listened to sports talk radio on a consistent basis and learned what type of segments worked best.
In 2016, Fritz created The High Hopes Podcast, a podcast about the Philadelphia Phillies. The podcast is named after the song High Hopes that legendary Phillies play-by-play announcer Harry Kalas would sing. Fritz believed that because of the Phillies' struggles at the time there was a lack of talented broadcasters covering the team and that the podcast would gain in popularity when the Phillies regained their success. The High Hopes Podcast has exploded in listeners due to the Phillies' recent success - including their appearance in the 2022 World Series.
Two months after graduating college in 2016, Fritz began his tenure at WIP as a member of the "street team" assisting the station during their live events. Fritz began producing for WIP's overnight shows eight months after graduating from Bloomsburg. While producing overnight shows, he also served as a fill-in producer for the popular WIP Morning Show with the legendary Angelo Cataldi. Six months later, in 2017, he was named the producer of the Evening Show. He was promoted to the producer of the WIP Afternoon Show, with Jon Marks and Ike Reese, in 2018.[6]
At WIP, Fritz has become one of the most popular personalities on the air for his creativity and entertainment. His Harper Lent segment, where he refrained from something "loved" until the Phillies signed free agent Bryce Harper, was one of his most popular segments.[7] [8] A number of Phillies fans also joined the trend. Another popular segment was when Fritz claimed he could still throw a fastball above 82 miles per hour. As part of a bet with evening show host Joe Giglio, Fritz attended the Reading Fightin Phils game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Fritz lost the bet as his pitch was only 79 miles per hour and ended up running in the Fightin Phils' Veggie Race.
In March 2023, it was announced that Fritz would be getting his own show: Jack Fritz at Six. The show runs from 6:00 to 7:00 PM and leads into the WIP's coverage of Phillies games.[9] Additionally, WIP announced that Fritz would host pregame and postgame coverage of Phillies games during the weekday.
In August 2023, Fritz encouraged Phillies fans to give Trea Turner a standing ovation, rather than boo him, in the team's first home stand back at Citizens Bank Park.[10] This came during the midst of Turner's poor start to his first season with the team and a series against the Miami Marlins where he went 1-for-16 and made a defensive mistake to cost the Phillies a game. In his first at-bat of the home stand, Phillies' fans greeted Turner with a standing ovation and Turner hit an RBI single in the game.[11] The next day, Turner was greeted with another standing ovation and with the Phillies trailing the Kansas City Royals, by a score of 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Turner hit a three run, go-ahead home run. The Phillies would win the game by a score of 9-6. Following the standing ovation until the end of the regular season, Turner hit .337 with 16 home runs. After the Phillies clinched a playoff berth, Turner called the WIP Afternoon Show and thanked Fritz and the fans saying: "Obviously, the whole thing happened and the rest is kind of history. [I] started playing a lot better and it was thanks to you guys and the crowd."
After Jon Marks left 94.1 WIP in December 2023, it was announced in January 2024 that Fritz would become the host of the 94.1 WIP Afternoon Show alongside Ike Reese and Spike Eskin.[12]
Fritz often appears as a host on CBS Sports Radio as a host of their weekend shows. He is also an occasional producer for the Phillies Radio Network.
Fritz met his wife Jill Tatios in first grade. He engaged to her in November 2017 and they got married in August 2018. They live in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
His father owns Four Fingers Brewing Company in Aston, Pennsylvania.