News and commentary: progress in work
Update 6/6/20: Whitlock gave a longer interview to Outkick the Coverage in which he provided his insightful perspective on a variety of issues.
About leaving FS1: “When I was presented parameters for my return to FS1, and then I looked at other options with more upside, control and freedom, it became clear returning to FS1 would be fear-based, not opportunity-based. I reject fear.”
New York City sports radio station WFAN (660 AM, 101.99 FM) has retooled its lineup now that afternoon drive host Mike Francesa has retired for the second time. WFAN has the distinction of being the first radio station to adopt the 24/7 sports talk format.
Mike Francesa, the iconic sports radio host, has announced he is leaving his drive-time platform after ruling the New York City airwaves for about 30 years on WFAN (660 AM, 101.99 FM), now owned by Entercom, by the end of the year.
Gerry Callahan’s 20-plus year career at the Entercom-owned Boston sports radio station WEEI abruptly came to an end this morning. Evidently Entercom suits told the Mut and Callahan co-host that he was done after he finished his shift at 10 a.m. Eastern.
Kirk Minihane is mad as hell and won’t take it anymore. The former host of the top-rated Kirk and Callahan morning-drive show on Boston sports radio station WEEI announced an embargo on releasing any already-taped “Enough About Me” podcasts or any new content until Entercom management launches his long-promised new show on the clunky Radio.com app.
After his much hyped mid-December 2017, retirement, iconic WFAN host Mike Francesa returned to the New York City sports radio station’s airwaves about a year ago. Since then, his compulsive tendency to rewrite history has gotten far worse, which is saying something. Francesa teamed with Chris Russo on one of the most all-time successful sports-talk programs, theMike and the Mad Dog show, from 1989 to 2008 on WFAN (660 AM, 101.9 FM and Internet streaming) until the “Mad Dog” defected to SiriusXM (and subsequently MLB TV). Francesa flew solo starting as of September 2008. Long presiding over the number-one radio show in the NYC-area afternoon drive demo, Francesa and ESPN rival Michael Kay find themselves locked in a close battle for sports dominance. (Check back for updates on the winter ratings book.) Coming out of his brief retirement, “sports doctor” Francesa appears to be sick of sports or vice versa. He’s lost his grip on the rhetorical fastball. One wonders how long WFAN or Mike himself, who is operating without a contract with the Entercom-owned station, will keep going through the motions. And the madness is hardly restricted to March.
As of Monday, the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. WEEI show will be renamed Mut and Callahan, with regular third man in Mike “Mut” Mutnansky as the permanent replacement and Gerry Callahan’s sidekick.
It remains to be seen if the Kirk-less Callahan crew can maintain its market share moving forward.
The station added Kirk Minihane as a third voice to what was then called Dennis and Callahan in February 2013. John Dennis later retired after frequent conflicts with Minihane over the direction of the show.
Happy #NationalBestFriendsDay! pic.twitter.com/60Tk35debZ
— Mut & Callahan (@MutCallahan) November 15, 2018
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
“Kirk Minihane, whose near-six-year run as a co-host of WEEI’s morning program has been marked by controversy, contentiousness, and consistent ratings success, is leaving the program. But despite Minihane’s occasional airing of grievances with station and corporate management on social media, he is not leaving WEEI’s parent company, Entercom Communications,” the Boston Globe explained.
“Minihane is known as one of the more controversial figures in Boston sports media. He was suspended on multiple occasions during his time at WEEi due to on-air incidents…Minihane had been on a leave of absence from the show following what he has described as a battle with mental illness,” MassLive added.
Minihane returned to the WEEI airwaves this morning from 8 to 10 a.m. to discuss his departure in what was partially schtick and partially real, during which Callahan quipped that Kirk was leaving for a “cheesy, little Internet show.”
This is true. I'm pissed that they're splitting us up and ruining the best show I've ever been a part of. https://t.co/96mG13Xc63
WFAN is perhaps best known for imperious, top-rated afternoon drive talk show host Mike Francesa who retired in December to much FANfare and hoopla only to unretire a few months later after the successor show tanked in the ratings.
Let’s review what’s happened over the course of 10 months at WFAN:
• September: Craig Carton gets arrested, resigns.
• December: Mike Francesa leaves
• April: Mike Francesa comes back
• July: Joe Benigno gets sued for…..things.
What a time to be Mark Chernoff.
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