Mike Francesa
Michael Patrick Francesa is an American sports-radio talk-show host. Together with Chris Russo, he launched Mike and the Mad Dog in 1989 on WFAN in New York City, which ran until 2008 and is one of the most successful sports-talk radio programs in American history.
On December 15, 2017, Francesa retired from his own show, Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN, which had been airing in the afternoon-drive slot formerly occupied by Mike and the Mad Dog. He was succeeded by Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott in the same time slot for the first ratings book of 2018.
On April 27, 2018, WFAN announced that Francesa would return to the station for a -hour afternoon show, a shorter shift than his original slot. Francesa hosted this shortened afternoon drive WFAN slot during a tumultuous tenure through the end of 2019 before he retired for a second time, moving to a half-hour evening slot on WFAN while also producing content for the Entercom-owned Radio.com platform, which began in January 2020. On March 24, 2020, Francesa was tapped to return to the station for a daytime slot on Sundays, and on May 26, 2020, he returned to WFAN on weekdays for an hour each day. On July 24, 2020, Francesa retired for the third time, citing the desire for more time with his family. Since 2022, he hosts The Mike Francesa Podcast with BetRivers Network.
Early life
Francesa was born and raised in Long Beach, New York. He is the second son of Michael Anthony Francesa, who abandoned the family when Francesa was eight years old, and his mother Marilyn, who raised him as a single parent. He has an older brother John and had a younger brother named Marty who committed suicide on November 27, 1990. Francesa attended Maria Regina High School in Uniondale and graduated from St. John's University in 1977, majoring in communications and athletic administration.Career
1982–1993: CBS Sports
Francesa started his career by spending six years at College and Pro Football Newsweekly. He was hired by CBS Sports in 1982 as a researcher, focusing primarily on college sports. At CBS Sports, he was initially a behind-the-scenes, statistics-wielding editorial assistant, but network executives were so impressed by his knowledge that he was made a studio analyst for college basketball and football and acquired such a reputation that The New Yorker termed him "Brent Musburger's brain." Francesa said that the most common complaint about him while he was a studio analyst at CBS Sports was about his New York accent.ESPN tried to lure Francesa as its studio expert for college football, college basketball and the NFL in 1991, but he declined their offer.
Francesa announced on the radio that he quit CBS on April 1, 1993 before the 1993 Final Four began.
1989–2008: Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN
When WFAN was launched in 1987, Francesa applied for a host job. However, station management was looking for top-shelf types rather than someone with no experience, and he was only offered a producer's job, which he ended up rejecting. With his then-wife Kate's encouragement, Francesa continued to pursue WFAN. Finally, WFAN gave him a job as a weekend host talking college football and basketball in August 1987. Because of the positive reviews, Francesa began to guest-host other shows.Because of his initial success as a weekend and fill-in host, he was teamed with local New York City host Ed Coleman, and the duo had a popular show on the 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. slot. In 1989, WFAN was looking for hosts to replace the controversial Pete Franklin in the afternoon drive time period between 3 and 7 p.m. Station management decided to team the knowledgeable, but somewhat dry Francesa with the young and vibrant Chris Russo. While Francesa's brand of sports commentating was considered hard-hitting and serious, Russo's was lighter, unconventional, and more entertaining. The show was dubbed Mike and the Mad Dog. The show quickly gained popularity and was a staple of the New York sports scene from 1989 to 2008. The duo won the 2000 Marconi Award for Major Market Personality of the Year. They were the first sports-talk hosts ever to win the award.
Francesa also hosted a weekly radio show called The NFL Now, which originated from WFAN and aired from 1987 to 2016. It eventually became syndicated and at one time was simulcast on MSNBC and later via video Webcast on NBCSports.com. The NFL Now became a syndicated program again when WBZ-FM in Boston started airing the show, a few weeks after the station's launch.
Francesa also provided the nightly "Sportstime" commentary on the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One. Francesa regularly contributed to the Imus in the Morning program with his views on sports while it aired on WFAN and Westwood One.
2008–2017: Solo career
On August 14, 2008, it was announced that Russo had decided to leave WFAN, and thus ended the Mike and the Mad Dog show two weeks shy of its 19th anniversary. This ended two months of speculation regarding the show's future. At the same time, Francesa signed a five-year deal to stay at WFAN. On September 8, 2008, Francesa's new solo WFAN program began, titled Mike'd Up, the same name as that of his former weekly television program on WNBC. Francesa's show was simulcast on the YES Network from 2008 until 2014.On January 17, 2012, the show was renamed Mike's On. After Francesa left the show Mike'd Up: The Francesa Sports Final on WNBC, the television station retained the rights to the name of the show. NBC and CBS did not reach an agreement for the rights, causing WFAN to change the name.
During his show's time on the YES Network, Francesa's trademark show introduction was: "From the studios of WFAN in New York and simulcast across the country on the YES Network, this is Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN."
On September 10, 2012, Francesa fell asleep live on air during a segment with Yankees beat reporter Sweeny Murti. He later denied that he had fallen asleep after national ridicule and mockery, including that from callers to the show.
On March 24, 2014, Francesa's show began broadcasting nationally on Fox Sports 1. He changed his trademark intro to the show to "From the studios of WFAN in New York and simulcast across the country on Fox Sports 1, this is Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN." The relationship with Fox Sports was tumultuous at times, and Francesa's contract ended on September 11, 2015. Francesa took primary responsibility for the failure of the relationship. During his entire solo run, Francesa hosted the top-rated drive-time sports-talk show in the New York market.
On March 30, 2016, Francesa and Russo hosted a Mike and the Mad Dog reunion show at Radio City Music Hall.
On December 24, 2016, Francesa aired his last Mike Francesa Football Sunday after CBS declined to renew it for 2017.
Initial retirement
On January 19, 2016, Francesa stated that he planned to leave WFAN when his contract with the station expired at the end of 2017. On May 3, 2017, WFAN announced WFAN Presents: Mike Francesa, A Night to Remember, to be held at the LIU Post Tilles Center on November 15 at 7:30 p.m. WFAN broadcast Francesa's penultimate radio show live from the Paley Center for Media. His final day on WFAN was December 15, 2017. Francesa signed off at 6:26 p.m. EST on December 15, 2017, with these final words:"I want to thank you guys, the listeners, the audience. Because without you—we don't last a week. We don't last a month. So, what I'd like to say to you is, 'I will miss you. I thank you. And, from the bottom of my heart, I love you. Goodbye.'"
Return and launch of app
2018
On April 24, 2018, just over four months after having retired from WFAN, Francesa announced his intention to return. The station confirmed the decision, stating that he would return to afternoon drive, albeit with a shorter show running from 3:00–6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.On August 23, 2018, Francesa launched a subscription-based mobile app known as Mike's On, which provides a live video stream of his daily WFAN show, archived interviews from previous shows, his Sunday NFL show and Saturday college football show and occasional live reactions to sporting events. The $8.99-per-month price of the service was widely criticized by the media.
After returning to WFAN, Francesa won the fall 2018 ratings book, the first since his return, with an average of 6.4 percent of the listening audience as compared to the 5.8 registered by The Michael Kay Show's 5.8, the show opposite Francesa's time slot on the New York ESPN affiliate WEPN-FM. The total included both the over-the-air radio listening audience and WFAN's online streaming audience, which has traditionally been included in the total audience rating because WFAN has different advertising on each format. Without the stream, Francesa would have still won the fall 2018 book during the time slot by a share of 5.9–5.8 over Kay's show.
2019
In the winter 2019 ratings book, Francesa received a 6.2 percent share of the listening audience compared to the 5.9 received by The Michael Kay Show during the same time slot. The total included both the over-the-air share as well as the WFAN online streaming. However, Kay beat Francesa 5.9–5.5 in the radio segment, and both hosts claimed victory on their respective shows. After hearing that Kay was celebrating victory over the disputed ratings book, Francesa said on his April 15, 2019, show that "I have nothing but sadness and pity for you that you would actually claim a victory that wasn't real” as well as saying that "you're ESPN, and you get beat like a rented mule for 20 years, it's got to hurt." Francesa later tweeted that "there was only one possible way to read " and that "anyone, and that means anyone, who says differently is either a fool or a liar." Francesa also felt the stress of a close ratings battle for the first time in his sports-radio career, and became embroiled in a heated argument with WFAN management about the availability of a Craig Carton post-sentencing interview on the last few days of the ratings book after Carton had been interviewed by Kay.On April 28, 2019, Francesa became the center of controversy again, appearing to shame both the New York Giants and their 2019 sixth-round draft pick Corey Ballentine after Ballentine was wounded in a drive-by shooting the day before. Francesa said that the incident contrasted with the "great character" of the draft class that the Giants claimed to have picked, despite evidence that the shooting was completely random. After some media members picked up on the comments, such as Francesa's fellow WFAN hosts Boomer and Gio, Francesa retreated from the opinion on his next day's show, but launched a fiery rant on their morning show the same day, accusing them of purposely distributing misinformation about him and his comments.
On May 16, 2019, Francesa fell asleep on the air while taking a call from a listener.
On September 3, 2019, it was announced that WFAN's owner Entercom had acquired the intellectual property of the Mike's On app, and that its content would be integrated into the company's Radio.com platform, with no additional subscription required. The Mike's On app was discontinued by the end of September, with its content having been made available for free. Francesa never revealed the number of paying customers for his app, which was roundly criticized by the media throughout its existence.
While delivering his "5 Minute Morning" recording on November 4, 2019, Francesa appeared to release flatulence while on the air, which was turned into a mainstream news story on several online publications, including the New York Daily News. Francesa later denied that the incident had occurred, saying on his afternoon show the same day that it was "fake news" and that the media was desperate for a headline.
In the fall 2019 ratings book, Francesa's third full book since his return, his WFAN show lost to The Michael Kay Show in direct head-to-head ratings, dethroning Francesa from the top of the New York sports ratings for the first time in his career, spanning back to 1989. In the book, Francesa was outrated by Kay 7.4–5.5, with Francesa's total share rising to 6.0 after including streaming. In response to his first-ever ratings-book loss, Francesa criticized Kay and his cohosts, claiming that "celebrating success now would be the same as spiking the football after finally scoring a TD in a game that is 77–0!"
During his radio comeback, Francesa's show was the target of criticism for reasons ranging from his frequent inaccurate predictions to his treatment of callers. His show was described as "grumbles and contentious conversations with callers on a regular basis" by Deadspin, and Francesa was noted for responding negatively to a caller who told him that Stan Lee had died. Video clips of Francesa making inaccurate predictions often went viral on Twitter, with players such as Virginia basketball's Ty Jerome coming onto the show to specifically address them. Francesa also received attention for maintaining that Tiger Woods had "nil" chance after the second round to win the 2019 Masters Tournament, which Woods later won, and then later claiming that the video clips that contained the inaccurate predictions were doctored or altered.
In a November 2019 interview, Francesa's former Mike and the Mad Dog cohost Chris Russo called Francesa's radio comeback "unhealthy". Russo revealed that he and Francesa had not spoken since March 2018 and said: "Mike should never have come back. He should have stayed retired." Russo also conjectured that Francesa may have realized toward the end of his second afternoon drive run that it was a mistake.