NYC Radio: MLB Mets Shun WFAN

As the Mets begin their second season on WOR 710-AM, their former radio home at WFAN 660 AM / 101.9 FM remains no-man's land for the team's executives, manager and players, according to Newsday.

Why the ban on Mets personnel on the area's leading sports talk station?  A team spokesman declined to say anything beyond this:

"We have an outstanding relationship, a terrific broadcast rights and promotion agreement, with WOR and iHeartMedia."

Translation: After leaving WFAN following a 27-year run, the Mets' loyalty is to their new partners at iHeart (formerly Clear Channel), which owns not only WOR but an eclectic assortment of music stations in New York.

Players who in the past might have appeared on WFAN instead turn up on some of those stations, in theory casting a wider marketing and promotional net. Naturally, though, that means losing out on the vast sports-oriented audience drawn to WFAN.

Manager Terry Collins no longer does a weekly radio appearance on any channel, but he does appear on WOR's pregame show.

When not carrying Mets games, WOR has a nightly sports talk show called "The WOR Sports Zone with Pete McCarthy" on which Mets personnel can be heard.

Mets personnel also appear on the station's general interest morning talk show featuring Len Berman and Todd Schnitt.

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