The Sports Broadcast Journal interviewed former CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason this week and asked him about Mike Francesa unretiring at WFAN in New York. WFAN was a CBS Radio station before the company merged with Entercom.
We learned several things from the Mason interview. The first is that Mason and Francesa had “a few differences of opinion,” when they worked together. We also learned that Mason owned 30 horses over the course of his life. And, he’s getting to launch a new sports venture.
The Sports Broadcast Journal‘s David Halberstam asked Mason what he thought of Francesa unretiring. Mason said it was good for radio. “Losing a big personality out of New York radio was not only bad for WFAN but bad for the market. Was I surprised Mike came back? Not at all. You have a guy who thrives on communicating with listeners. He has the credibility in the sports world and needs an audience with whom to share it. When you do it as many years as he and then one day you just shut it off; nope, it’s not that easy. Mike has a lot of fire left in him. He needs the audience and the audience needs him. You will always have the fringe haters out there; but if a poll was taken, asking listeners, “Do you want Mike to come back?” I’m real confident the answer would be yes. I’m sure there was some discomfort internally, but for listeners’ sake, both parties did the right thing.”
Halberstam then asked Mason if he would have handled the situation any differently if he was still CEO. “That’s hard to say. I was not inside the negotiations. It would be unfair to speculate. During my time there, Mike and I had a few differences of opinions. Still, I think we can both look back and say we had a great run. I have great respect for his ability as a broadcaster. I guess the only thing I could say is that I would have been heavily involved with our team, all the way through, on the front line. We win together or we lose together.”
Regarding horses, Mason, who’s from Louisville, has owned thirty. He bought his first in 1982 and today still owns four.
Today, Mason is a senior advisor to iHeartMedia and within the next few weeks will be announcing a new sports business venture. We asked Mason if the new business is radio related. He said, “Parts can relate back to radio.”
Read Halberstam’s entire interview with Dan Mason HERE
