NYC Radio: WEPN's Michael Kay Wins Men 25-45

WEPN 98.7 ESPN New York’s “Michael Kay Show” rallied in the month of February to beat Mike Francesa’s WFAN 660 AM / FM 101.9 replacements, “Carlin, Maggie and Bart,” according to The NYPost citing Nielsen figures.

At the end of March, one side will be able to claim the first real victory as the full three-month book will be completed. Right now, WFAN still holds the overall lead, but Kay and his partners, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg, have momentum, according to The Post

For Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott, WFAN’s new team, the February book was unkind. After they beat Kay in January, Kay averaged a 4.5 for the key sports radio demographic of men 25-45, while WFAN had a 3.5. The takeaway could be that post-Francesa, listeners sampled WFAN’s new show, found they didn’t like it and turned to Kay.

Overall, WFAN is leading ESPN overall, 4.1 to 3.6.

If this holds and even with lesser ratings than it is accustomed to, WFAN may end up considering this a success, because it is paying the trio considerably less than Francesa, who had been at or near the top of the ratings for three decades.

In the absence of Francesa and major storylines, the whole sports radio genre is down, as Kay was eighth in the radio demo for February and WFAN was 12th.