NYC Radio: Russo On WFAN's Francesa Should Have Stayed Retired

Mike Francesa

SiriusXM's Chris Russo says his once longtime sports-talk partner should not have come back to the WFAN airwaves after quitting his drive-time show in December 2017, reports The NY Post.

Francesa returned to WFAN 660 AM  / 101.9 FM FAN barely four months later, but he has fallen behind ESPN’s “The Michael Kay Show” in the ratings and confirmed earlier this month that his afternoon program will be ending for good in December.

Chris Russo

“Mike should never have come back. He should have stayed retired,” Russo said in an interview with David J. Halberstam for the website Sports Broadcast Journal. “He had a great run and developed a great legacy. Those last couple of weeks before his first retirement were memorable and wonderful. He had an amazing sendoff. Three months later he was back. The whole return was crazy. No one expected it.”

Francesa initially was replaced by the trio of Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott, but Carlin has since parted ways with the station. The Post’s Andrew Marchand has reported that both Carlin and Scott are expected to land with rival station ESPN New York.

“WFAN had already placed his successors on-air. The station had to uproot them,” said Russo, who split with Francesa in 2008 to form “Mad Dog Radio” on Sirius XM. “People wondered whether Francesa can reclaim the wins he was getting consistently in the ratings book. All of a sudden, Mike was back in the mix and it created an unhealthy rivalry.

“Mike would likely not admit it but he might realize that it was a mistake.”