Tiki Barber and Evan Roberts are WFAN’s official afternoon drive hosts. But the first two days of the new program have been dominated by sidekick Shaun Morash.
An observant caller — Steve in Newark — dialed up morning show duo Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti on Wednesday to get answers.
“Every time it’s on, all I hear is Shaun Morash talking,” he said. “So is it the Evan and Tiki and Morash show? Or is it the Evan and Tiki show?”
Giannotti’s take was interesting.
“I thought this might be an issue, to be honest with you. … I believe that Shaun was hired to be a third voice,” he said. “And that’s what he’s doing. He’s not a producer; Tommy (Lugauer) is a producer. And Shaun is a third voice on the program. So that’s why you’re hearing him so much.
“I think they didn’t want to name it a three-person show. And this is my — no one told me this, all right, everyone chill, this is my own opinion on this — and that is I think because of the failure of a three-person show in that slot not that long ago, that they were afraid to make this a three-person show because the reaction would have been, ‘Oh my God, another three-person show, it’s going right in the toilet.’ That’s my opinion on it.”
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Giannotti added the right move now is for Morash to “hurl grenades” from the control room, but “I think that, when the show continues to gain popularity and success, maybe they put him in the studio. But not to begin with. That is my opinion. Spike (Eskin, the station manager) has told me nothing about anything. He has avoided anything with this afternoon show because he knows it will go right on the air if he tells me.”
Our take: WFAN is clearly trying to make Morash into its next big star. The wisdom of that approach is up for debate — the guy’s claim to fame is soiling himself on air — but that is what happening. Morash runs roughshod over Barber and Roberts on air, he has his own daily segment, his hot takes are being amplified by the digital team, et cetera.
But if that is what WFAN wants, why not go all-in? Having a three-man show but acting like it is a two-man show out of fears it will evoke memories of how Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott were screwed is silly. We literally have no idea how that three-person team would have worked because they only got a few months.
If Eskin and WFAN executive Chris Oliviero are so high on Morash, they should have gone bold and had him replace Craig Carton straight-up. Show some faith that Morash and Roberts can hold the lead on Michael Kay and ESPN Radio New York and avoid blowing up the rest of the schedule. Because it feels like — in the very, very early-going — Barber’s proven partnership with Brandon Tierney got sacrificed to cover WFAN’s backside. If Kay pulls ahead, it is harder to second-guess when a former Giants star is involved. Even if he does not fit into what the station is doing.
Again, it is early. It’s entirely possible WFAN is going to give the world less Morash in the coming days and weeks. But it does not seem like that is what will happen. It will be interesting to see where this goes. And how it works. Back after this.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.
