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.

“The FAN’s longtime midday team of Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts will get the opportunity to anchor afternoon drive on the radio station. ‘Joe and Evan’ will be heard weekdays from 2p-6p ET. The popular duo have worked together since since 2007. Former afternoon king Mike Francesa will stay involved with the station on a smaller basis,” Barrett Sports Media reported in a development that was first broken by the New York Post.

Roberts and “I agree with you, Bro” Beningno have developed a lot of chemistry. And with his high energy, enthusiasm, and detailed sports knowledge, Roberts in and of himself will be a big upgrade over the current version of Francesa.

Joe Benigno, on the other hand, seems to be unaware that (a) there is something called the Internet and (b) you can do at least some show prep merely by skimming sports headlines on the ESPN website.

Consequently, much of the midday show consisted of Evan Roberts updating Joe Beningno on what’s happening in the world of sports.

Benigno (who is roughly the same age as Francesa) started his radio career as frequent caller “Joe from Saddle River,” which, to his credit, he parlayed into a full-time job on the WFAN overnight shift, then into middays, and now into the prestigious afternoon drive segment.

Francesa, who ruled the afternoon drive airwaves for decades, retired in December 2017 after a much-hyped farewell tour, only to unretire about four months later when his replacements faltered in the ratings.

Since then, he mostly presided over his WFAN show from a home studio. In that context, since coming back, Francesa was literally phoning it in, as explained more fully below.

The triumvirate of Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray, and ex-NFL star Bart Scott (CMB) replaced Francesa the first time around, but faltered in the ratings, prompting a Francesa return, and pushing CMB into the 1-3 p.m. slot.

Gray and Marc “Moose” Malusis are getting the former Joe and Evan shift.

The Entercom-owned WFAN let Carlin go in September 2019. Entercom wanted Scott to stay, but he decided to jump to ESPN radio (98.7 FM) in New York as well as making appearances on ESPN television. ESPN radio New York also hired Carlin, who at one time was a Francesa producer.

From 1989 to 2008, Francesa teamed with Chris Russo on one of the most all-time successful sport talk shows, Mike and the Mad Dog. Russo subsequently left for SiriusXM (and later the MLB Network) and Francesa, after flew solo since September 2008.

Since returning to the airwaves in 2018, Francesa tarnished his iconic legacy by his laughingly bad sports predictions (which he seldom owns up to) and what appears to be an abysmal lack of knowledge of what’s going on among the pro and college teams and athletes he’s supposed to be covering.

As a result, trolls relentlessly targeted his show with prank phone calls.

For the history rewriting and humorless Francesa, a.k.a. the sports “pope,” as some media pundits nicknamed him, it was one condescending, eerily contradictory statement after another, even during the same broadcast.

It’s unintentional comedy as expertly chronicled by the @Funhouse Twitter feed.

Mike also claimed he came back to promote his overpriced Mike’s On app, which turned out to be a complete flop, with hardly any subscribers. Francesa had touted the app like it was some form of alchemy created in a secret laboratory by a wizard.

Francesa departs afternoon drive just as crosstown radio rival Michael Kay on ESPN New York’s Michael Kay Show decisively defeated him in the ratings at long last. Kay’s show is also simulcast on the YES television network.

Going forward, Francesa has a small broadcast window on WFAN (6:00-6:30 p.m.) plus he will have a platform on Entercom’s clunky Radio.com app. Prediction: His WFAN role will gradually diminish, and hardly anyone will listen or download his Radio.com content.

The recently deceased Don Imus put WFAN on the map with the Imus in the Morning Show. Chris Russo credits Imus for launching his career and that of Francesa.

After WFAN fired Imus in April 2007 for the offensive Rutgers women’s basketball team comments, Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton took over morning drive. Carton stepped down in September 2017 after the FBI arrested him on various charges and is serving time behind bars.

Esiason is now paired with Gregg Giannotti on the Boomer and Gio Show.

The morning show in either of its post-Imus iterations is almost unlistenable, but for some reason delivers strong ratings.

Given the alternative media available, especially podcasts, time will tell, either in NYC or around the country, if saturation sports talk is now “played out”

Parenthetically, with a series of poor decisions, Entercom executives have cratered the ratings of Boston outlet WEEI.

[Featured Image: Wikipedia Commons, CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication]