Mike Francesa says his new half-hour show on WFAN will be fast-paced
Mike Francesa during an interview at WFAN studios on Nov. 2, 2017. Credit: Newsday / Chris Ware
Mike Francesa still is planning how his new half-hour show on WFAN next year will take shape, but this much he knows: it will move quickly.
"My show always moved very quickly anyway," Francesa told host Julie Stewart-Binks on her show "Call It a Night" on fubo Sports Network. "That's how I did things. I disposed of callers very quickly. I moved everything along very quickly. That's just my way. I went through a very high volume of stuff. I think the show has to move. I hate when it drags."
Francesa appears as a guest on the show Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Eastern at fubosportsnetwork.com. (Search for fubo Sports Network on your smartTV as well as the Roku Channel.)
Francesa said the half-hour show on WFAN will have just five minutes of commercials.
Francesa first retired from WFAN at the end of 2017, then returned four-plus months later. He ended his afternoon drive show earlier this month after 30-plus years but will remain on the air at WFAN in the 6-6:30 p.m. time slot. He also will do one hour on radio.com, beginning at 5 p.m., Francesa told Stewart-Binks. It will be a mixture of sports and politics.
"I'm gonna change up how I do it," Francesa said of the half-hour on WFAN. "There's not going to be a lot of calls. They'll be some, but very few. Maybe even only one a day. I thought about maybe that. I'm still formulating the half-hour. I'm going to make it something we haven't done before."
Francesa and Stewart-Binks discussed other topics on the show, including his return to WFAN in 2018, his relationship with former co-host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, the callers and his replacements for afternoon drive.
Francesa on the callers
"They're professional callers. That's what they do. They think of themselves as performers. They also think they're on the same level as the host, which is ridiculous. But they do think that, either in terms of knowledge or performance. They're not. but they think they are. So they have to kinda be put in their place a little bit, and that's what I tried to do at times."
Francesa on his replacements in afternoon drive
While no official announcement has been made yet by Entercom, parent company of WFAN, it has been reported that Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts will replace Francesa in afternoon drive next month. "They deserve the chance," Francesa said, "so I think it's right that they got the show."
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
