The revamped WFAN lineup is now official.
Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti in the morning. Sal Licata and Brandon Tierney in the midday. Tiki Barber and Evan Roberts in afternoon drive. Keith McPherson at night. And Chris McMonigle for overnight.
The main question is one we have already addressed on several occasions: Will Barber and Roberts be able to beat Michael Kay and ESPN Radio New York? They are joining forces with a massive lead and can give up ground while still being comfortably ahead. But then again, WFAN has not beaten Kay in five years without Craig Carton or Mike Francesa. And that includes Roberts’ afternoon run with Joe Benigno.
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But the question after that: Is this the end of WFAN’s “guy talk” era? Are we about to see a pivot back to sports?
Esiason and Giannotti are not going to change a thing. Their hybrid program is a juggernaut. And the time slot has never been purely sports-driven, starting with Don Imus. But it seems likely they will be followed by eight sports-heavy hours.
Licata and Tierney could be a combustible duo bound to go viral often … but it will be about sports when they do. Barber and Roberts figure to be a bit more worldly. But they are not going to push the the envelope like Carton did. And we are skeptical they will even push it as much as Roberts has alongside Carton — which is not that much to begin with. Although maybe Shaun Morash is being brought in behind the glass to provide that energy along with Tommy Lugauer.
These roster moves are not a rebuke of guy talk, per se. WFAN likely only had so much flexibility adjusting to Carton’s exit for FS1 given the time of year and parent company Audacy’s financial woes. It had to stay in-house and do the best it could with the personnel it had. But the end result will be a more traditional sports talk approach on-air. And it will be interesting to see whether that works as well for WFAN moving forward. Back after this.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
