WFAN 101.9 FM / 660 AM morning host Boomer Esiason made a bold on air-prediction Friday morning:
"They’re going to win that time slot," he said of his former partner, Craig Carton, and Evan Roberts, Carton's new afternoon drive-time partner. "They’re going to crush the other guys. I guarantee it.
"The other guys" are ESPN New York’s Michael Kay and friends, who have a new challenge now after out-rating Mike Francesa for the first time in last autumn’s book and handily beating Roberts and Joe Benigno this year, writes Neil Best at Newsday.
Carton and Roberts start Nov. 9, and the fact that the stations’ old afternoon ratings wars are about to heat up again is one example of why WFAN quickly brought back Carton after he spent a year in federal prison for fraud.
"I love having that support," Carton told Newsday on Friday. "And yeah, listen, that’s my plan, for sure."
Carton frequently finished No. 1 among men ages 25-54 with Esiason from 2007-17. But that was against national programming. Kay will be difficult to dislodge.
Chris Oliviero, the market manager for Entercom New York, WFAN’s parent company, considers the executives at ESPN friends but acknowledged the battle to come.
"’Crush’ might be too extreme of a word, but I would say this: Craig Carton has never not been No. 1 wherever he’s worked.
It has been a challenging business year for most media companies, and even though Oliviero said WFAN is faring better month by month, having a jolt of publicity and energy from Carton should help.
Roberts joined Carton for part of the hour-plus. Carton, Oliviero and Entercom senior VP Mark Chernoff all said they were pleased with the byplay and expect the pairing will work.
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