Mike Francesa says he never argued with WFAN’s Mark Chernoff over ratings
Mike Francesa said in a statement via his producer that he has never had an argument with WFAN's Mark Chernoff over ratings. Credit: Corey Sipkin
Mike Francesa is on vacation — and is not on Twitter — but on Tuesday he issued a blunt Twitter reaction through his producer, Brian Monzo, to an item by columnist Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, whom he accused of writing “absurd and nasty ramblings.”
Mushnick, a frequent critic of the WFAN afternoon shot, wrote on Sunday that Francesa and Mark Chernoff, WFAN’s vice president of programming, had had a “screaming match” related to “losing a head-to-head ratings period to Michael Kay’s ESPN-NY radio show.”
The vague reference to Kay beating Francesa widely was misconstrued in the business and on social media as meaning Kay had beaten Francesa for the first time over an extended period — or a quarterly “book” — when in fact it happened over a small sliver of the spring ratings period.
Francesa, who is scheduled to leave WFAN on Dec. 15, is expected to finish ahead of Kay for the ratings book that ended June 21 and which will be released on July 12.
“I rarely comment about that individual’s absurd and nasty ramblings,” Francesa wrote, via Monzo. “But this time I have been asked to make an exception. I have never had an argument with Mark Chernoff concerning ratings. Ever. Never. We are ten weeks into the spring book (it ends in 2 weeks) and are comfortably in front of ESPN and have been the entire spring. The other wild lies and crazy accusations were already dispelled. All very sad. Enjoy the summer.”
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.
