WFAN’s Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton top New York’s winter ratings
WFAN morning show hosts Boomer Esiason, left, and Craig Carton Credit: Handout
The WFAN morning show featuring Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason ranked first in the New York area among men ages 25-54 in their time slot, according to Nielsen’s winter ratings book, which covers Jan. 5-March 29 and was released on Tuesday.
Carton and Esiason, who host from 6 to 10 a.m., averaged a 7.3 percent share of the audience in that demographic, the key one for sports talk radio stations, compared to ESPN Radio’s 4.4, which was ninth among all stations.
Mike Francesa, WFAN’s afternoon host, ranked third with a 6.0 from 1 to 6:30 p.m., compared to 10th for ESPN Radio, with a 4.0 share.
From 3 to 6:30 p.m., the time frame during which Francesa competes head-to-head with ESPN Radio’s Michael Kay, Francesa finished tied for first among all stations at 6.0, and Kay was ninth with a 4.5.
Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts of WFAN ranked fourth from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a 5.6 share, compared to ESPN’s 3.6, which ranked 10th.
WFAN’s ratings combine the figures for its AM and FM outlets.
Francesa plans to leave WFAN after Dec. 15. Mark Chernoff, WFAN’s vice president of programming, said he still plans to spend the summer exploring potential replacements before a decision is made regarding that time slot.
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.
