Report: ESPN May Spin Stations In NYC, L-A

When the Mike Francesa Era ended for a second time in the summer of 2020, WEPN 98.7 FM ESPN New York had finally made major inroads in WFAN 660 AM / 101.9 FM’s historic ratings lead. 

However, The NY Post reports there have been serious talks between Craig Karmazin’s Good Karma Brands to take control of both ESPN’s WEPN New York and Los Angeles station KSPN 710 AM.  ESPN and Good Karma already have a similar deal in Chicago.

ESPN would make such a move to reduce the head count on Disney’s books, which is nearly 40 people. In New York, it would also alleviate some of the massive cost that ESPN pays to Emmis Communications to lease the 98.7 FM signal.

That would effectively put the local business sales and marketing in Good Karma’s hands, while ESPN would retain oversight of the station’s content, according to sources.

ESPN’s commitment to radio has waned over the years. It has become apparent it values its long-term podcast business more strongly than its radio platform.

Regardless of who owns the station in New York, the numbers don’t lie that WFAN is now back to being the owner of sports-radio in the city.

WFAN has also been in transition, but Chris Oliviero, who leads Audacy’s New York stations, has brought stability to WFAN, even after Mark Chernoff, its longtime lead programmer, stepped down. This has left Chernoff’s replacement, Spike Eskin, with a pretty clean slate to work with, only leaving the question of whether he will make a change in mid-days, though it rated fine there, as well. Eskin also must still replace John Jastremski’s full-time role, though Sal Licata has already made a good run for the job.