Craig Carton is leaving WFAN in two weeks. And he wants to make something very clear: He trounced ESPN Radio New York nemesis Michael Kay in afternoon drive for the last two and a half years.
Carton said it is “comical that anyone could think of [Kay’s show] as competition, as good or as someone I care much about” on-air Thursday after announcing he will go full-time with his FS1 morning show.
“It burns me to my core that anyone can refer to the ratings battle between us and ESPN as ‘see-saw,’” Carton said. “So I’m going to walk you through it. It’s important to me that this be on the record accurately.”
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Carton and co-host Evan Roberts officially launched their WFAN show in January 2021. That means they have competed head-to-head against Kay and co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg for 10 ratings periods total, including the current one.
Carton and Roberts have won nine books, including another projected lopsided victory in the current one. Kay and company have won once. And WFAN is closing in on its sixth straight win after Kay’s Fall 2021 triumph. Carton and Roberts have effectively tripled Kay’s ratings at various junctures during the streak while Kay has rolled out a series of complaints and gripes to explain away his massive deficits.
(That said, WFAN has not beaten Kay without Carton or Mike Francesa in the last five years.)
“We have won nine of the 10. That is not a see-saw battle,” Carton said. “It wasn’t ‘we win, they win, we win, they win.’ They’re the 18th-ranked talk show, or radio show, in all of New York. We’re either first or second depending on the week. … I do take great pride in that. And that can never be taken away.”
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
