Craig Carton and Evan Roberts are back on top.
WFAN has regained afternoon drive sports talk supremacy. Carton and Roberts have officially downed the ESPN Radio New York trio of Michael Kay, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg in the winter ratings book, according to The New York Post.
WFAN posted a sizable 5.7 to 4.5 victory (terrestrial and streaming combined) in the all-important men ages 25-54 demographic. The win comes after Kay and friends notched a relatively unexpected win in the Fall 2021 book.
The big questions now: Was that Kay win blip on the radar? Or will this be a back-and-forth, book-by-book slugfest?
When Carton returned to WFAN following his fraud conviction and release from federal prison, everyone figured he and Roberts would roll Kay like Mike Francesa did for years (save his last book). They initially did that before Kay fought back for his most impressive book win ever. Now that Carton and Roberts have regained the lead, it is up to them to continue the momentum and create some distance. Can they?
Worth noting: Former WFAN and current ESPN voice Chris Carlin will be hosting ESPN’s national afternoon show with former Giants lineman Chris Canty. Could that New York feel potentially eat into Kay’s audience moving forward?
The song remained the same elsewhere. WFAN romped over ESPN as usual outside of afternoon drive.
Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti pulled in a 10.8 in the morning — No. 1 in the entire market — according to The Post. ESPN’s local-national combination of Rick DiPietro and Dave Rothenberg and Keyshawn Johnson, Max Kellerman and Jay Williams had a 2.1 in the same time slot.
WFAN’s Tiki Barber and Brandon Tierney drew a 4.1 rating for their midday show, according to Newsday, while ESPN’s national-local combination of Mike Greenberg (who rarely actually hosts the show that is named for him) and Alan Hahn and Bart Scott drew a 2.1 in the time slot.
