Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, alongside Mike Francesa, helped build WFAN into a sports-talk giant, having the No. 1 afternoon drive-time show in the area for years. Now, watching from a distance, he isn’t sure what to make of the station’s direction. So many of its big names are gone, Russo pointed out, from Don Imus to Craig Carton, and Francesa has semi-retired, no longer doing his afternoon show. “It’s a much different place than it used to be,” Russo said during his show on SiriusXM. “Much different.” A caller asked him about one of the new afternoon hosts, Joe Benigno, who was recently promoted from the midday with Evan Roberts and often talks about retirement. Russo went into a long, winding monologue about the current situation there. “Joe shouldn’t be doing that. The audience doesn’t want to hear about Joe’s golf plans in 2024,” he said. “It has changed. I don’t know how you want me to respond to that. Mike & the Mad Dog aren’t there. Mike’s not there on a day-in, day-out basis. [Morning hosts] Boomer [Esiason] and [Greg] Giannotti have done well, so I shouldn’t even bring them up. You got a lot of shows trying to find their footing. It’s new ownership. It’s a different time. It’s totally different. I don’t know what to tell you. You want me to say they’re like the ’65 Yankees, after years and years of success, they’re getting old.” As the caller pointed out, before Francesa left afternoons for a second time in December, he had finally lost to ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay in the ratings book. “I know FAN had many a chance 15 years ago to buy 1050 and keep it away from ESPN and they never did. I wonder if they rue that day now. All good things have to come to an end eventually. It is 33 years ago, that is a long time.”
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Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, alongside Mike Francesa, helped build WFAN into a sports-talk giant, having the No. 1 afternoon drive-time show in the area for years. Now, watching from a distance, he isn’t sure what to make of the station’s direction. So many of its big names are gone, Russo pointed out, from Don Imus to Craig Carton, and Francesa has semi-retired, no longer doing his afternoon show. “It’s a much different place than it used to be,” Russo said during his show on SiriusXM. “Much different.” A caller asked him about one of the new afternoon hosts, Joe Benigno, who was recently promoted from the midday with Evan Roberts and often talks about retirement. Russo went into a long, winding monologue about the current situation there. “Joe shouldn’t be doing that. The audience doesn’t want to hear about Joe’s golf plans in 2024,” he said. “It has changed. I don’t know how you want me to respond to that. Mike & the Mad Dog aren’t there. Mike’s not there on a day-in, day-out basis. [Morning hosts] Boomer [Esiason] and [Greg] Giannotti have done well, so I shouldn’t even bring them up. You got a lot of shows trying to find their footing. It’s new ownership. It’s a different time. It’s totally different. I don’t know what to tell you. You want me to say they’re like the ’65 Yankees, after years and years of success, they’re getting old.” As the caller pointed out, before Francesa left afternoons for a second time in December, he had finally lost to ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay in the ratings book. “I know FAN had many a chance 15 years ago to buy 1050 and keep it away from ESPN and they never did. I wonder if they rue that day now. All good things have to come to an end eventually. It is 33 years ago, that is a long time.”
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