Four months after leaving the station, which was preceded by a long farewell tour, Mike Francesa appears to be headed back to work at WFAN in New York City. The New York newspapers are reporting that Francesa will take over the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. slot reducing the amount of airtime for his replacements, Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott. Here’s what Francesa and Entercom said about this entire episode.
In an interview with Newsday, Francesa said, “This is for those who started this campaign in recent days. I didn’t decide to go back to WFAN until I was told I better not go back. For those behind it, that was the moment I decided to return.” That may be the reason Francesa told Newsday, however, there were also reports he missed being on the air, that retirement wasn’t for him, and that other opportunities he was working on did not pan out.
Once Francesa’s possible return to the station became a daily story in New York, Entercom posted a statement on the WFAN website. “WFAN confirms that we are in ongoing discussions with Mike Francesa about the possibility of him returning to the station. We also confirm that we are very proud of our current line-up at WFAN and that any potential future engagement with Mike will not result in any talent departures. As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending negotiations and have nothing further to add at this moment.”
On the air, Carlin, Gray and Scott took the high road. Here’s Carlin: “All I could tell you is this: We are not going anywhere, we are going to be a big part of this radio station for a long time and this is a business. You are talking about someone in Mike who was wildly successful for 30 years, so it only makes business sense to welcome someone like that back into the fold. Is it awkward? Of course it is. If Mike’s back in the afternoon, and it certainly looks like that’s going to be the case, it only makes the radio station stronger.”
Morning man Boomer Esiason, who has had his differences with Francesa, was not as pleasant. “It’s such a Mike thing to announce something before anybody else announces something. It’s so pompous.” And Bob Raissman of The New York Daily News called Francesa’s WFAN return a pathetic, short-sighted move by station brass.
When Entercom is not fending off fratboys in Boston or shock jocks in San Diego, it’s cozying up to a Mr. Know-It-All in New York. Mike Francesa orchestrated a coup d’état against the show that replaced him. Now Entercom has to live with the consequences.
I can only guess that the horrible afternoon show on WFAN is doing so poorly in the ratings that FAN is willing to bring back this pompous, boring, arrogant, self important windbag.