NYC Radio: WFAN's Craig Carton Sees TV Simulcast As Validation

Effective at 4 p.m. on Monday, the 6½ -month-old WFAN afternoon program Roberts hosts with Craig Carton for the first time will have a television simulcast, on SNY, according to Neil Best at Newsday.

WFAN has distributed video content from the show digitally, but the TV deal is a milestone for a program that since Nov. 9 has made steady ratings gains and restored the FAN’s edge over its ESPN New York counterpart.

"I think it’s validated what Evan and I are doing," Carton said as he sat beside Roberts for a joint video interview with Newsday. "I think it, selfishly, validates my being back on the radio. As a show, it validates the content and the fact the audience has very quickly become attracted to the show, adopted the show."

The YES Network has simulcast WFAN and ESPN New York shows since its inception in 2002, but this is a first for SNY. Initially it will carry only the 4 to 6 p.m. portion of a show that runs from 2 to 7 p.m.

Why only two hours instead of starting at 2 p.m.? SNY president Steve Raab told Newsday earlier this month that that felt right to him, at least initially.

"Too much of a good thing, of anything, becomes diminishing returns," he said. "But if two hours proves to be terrific and the FAN and SNY, we both decide that there’s a reason to look at expanding it, I’m sure we’ll look at that."

Lile most radio hosts with simulcasts, Roberts and Carton insisted they will not significantly alter the radio show with an eye on the cameras.

"The simulcast is going to be just a voyeur into what we normally do," Carton said. "So we know there will be cameras in there, but we’re not going to change one bit the content or the manner in which we attack the stories that we talk about on the air . . . You’ll just be able to see us."

Said Roberts: "When I watched ‘Boomer and Carton,’ when I watched Mike [Francesa] on TV, the best part about it was it was the radio show on television. There was no difference."

Still, their studio has had a makeover to improve the look on camera, and it seems likely there will be times the two play to the cameras.

"We’re aware the cameras are there, so we’re going to give that part of the audience something to see," Carton said. "But at the end of the day, we get paid to do a great radio show, and we’ll continue to do that."