Eddie Andelman

Eddie Andelman was many things — broadcaster, provocateur, champion of the everyday fan — but above all, he was a man who believed that sports belonged to the people in the bleachers, not the owners in the skyboxes. Born in 1937 in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from Brookline High School in 1954 before earning a business degree from Boston University and an MBA from Northeastern University. He spent the early years of his career running his family's real estate development business, but his heart was always in the stands. That changed on a Sunday evening in June 1969, when Andelman and two friends — insurance executive Jim McCarthy and attorney Mark Witkin — launched "The Sports Huddle" on suburban WUNR in Brookline. The show was unlike anything on the air: irreverent, funny, unscripted, fueled by listener calls and the kind of spirited argument you'd overhear, as Eddie himself described it, from "three guys in a gin mill" talking sports. Within months, the show moved to WBZ, whose 50,000-watt signal blanketed 26 states. By 1971, it had found its long-time home at WEEI, where it would remain a Boston institution for decades. Over a 42-year career, Andelman participated in approximately 13,000 radio broadcasts and more than 1,200 television commentaries on WNAC Channel 7 and WCVB Channel 5. His sharp wit and instinctive distrust of team owners made him an advocate for the fans who paid the ticket prices. "Radio should be a theater of the mind," he said, "not screaming and stupidity" — a philosophy that set him apart long before shouting became a format. He was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2011. Off the air, Eddie was equally restless with purpose. He created the Hot Dog Safari charity event in 1989, which ran for 21 editions and raised over $5 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. After September 11, 2001, he transformed his annual Yankees Elimination Party into the New York/Boston Unity Fund, raising over $135,000. He was named an Honorary Fire Chief after visiting Ground Zero. At home, he was devoted to his wife Judi — "the Fabulous Judy," as he called her on air — for 57 years, and to their three sons: Dave, Mike, and Dan, who carried his spirit forward through the Phantom Gourmet television show. He also leaves behind seven grandchildren: Max, Zach, Brooke, Lily, Rachel, Sydney, and Molly. Eddie Andelman died peacefully at home on June 15, 2026, at age 89. The sports radio format he invented endures as his monument.