Mike Francesa says Entercom has lifted restrictions on use of clips from his shows
WFAN radio host Mike Francesa attends the "Uncut Gems" premiere during the 57th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on Oct. 3, 2019. Credit: Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP/Brent N. Clarke
Mike Francesa announced on Thursday that effective immediately Entercom, the parent company of WFAN and Radio.com, has lifted all restrictions on use of video and audio from his shows.
Shortly after posting the news on his Twitter feed, he told Newsday, “I asked Entercom yesterday to consider it. They got back to me today in the affirmative. It never bothered me. I don’t care if anybody uses it or not.
“A couple of fans asked me to do it, so I did it for them.”
On April 2, Francesa announced on WFAN that Entercom was cracking down on unauthorized dissemination of its video and audio and would require that other outlets get permission to use such material.
The move was prompted in part by video of Francesa criticizing the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic that was viewed more than 2 million times after being posted by the Twitter feed @BackAftaThis.
The idea was for the company to retain control of its content, but it was widely noted at the time that even though @BackAftaThis frequently is critical of Francesa, he helps publicize his shows on Radio.com and WFAN.
At the time, the anonymous poster wrote, “He just went from being mostly irrelevant to completely irrelevant.”
In the three weeks since, @BackAftaThis has indicated that even if Entercom changed course, he would refuse to post any more Francesa content.
Asked by Newsday on Thursday whether he planned to do so now that he may, the poster answered, “Nope.”
Said Francesa, “I never asked him to . . . I didn’t do it for him. I’ve never given him a thought in my life.”
After the initial ban, @BackAftaThis began a Twitter campaign to get people to unfollow Francesa.
At the time, Francesa told Newsday, “Entercom finally enforces its rights after my video commentary receives over 2.4 million views and is aired on three major networks. This unknown, obsessive freak then whines in anger that I'm headed for obscurity. He needs a life and a new obsession. Or better, write a big check to Entercom."
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
