WFAN's new lineup puts familiar voices in new time slots
Tiki Barber is the replacement for the departing Craig Carton. The “Evan and Tiki” show will start July 24. Credit: Getty Images for MCM
For a schedule “shakeup” that will involve 13 ½ hours of its broadcast day, the new-look WFAN unveiled Tuesday afternoon looks decidedly familiar.
It would be wrong to call this rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, because the station still is a ratings hit and a relevant part of the local sports conversation.
Rather, call it rearranging the benches on the Circle Line, radio comfort food that remains a habit and a tradition after all these decades, even if the thrill is gone.
The reordered day centers around Tiki Barber moving from middays to afternoon drive time to succeed the departing Craig Carton alongside Evan Roberts.
That set off a chain reaction in which overnight host Sal Licata moved to Barber’s midday spot opposite Brandon Tierney and afternoon producer Chris McMonigle took over Licata’s overnight shift.
Shaun Morash will join the new afternoon show as a producer and third voice.
The changes take effect on July 24. The afternoon show will be called "Evan and Tiki."
“It is bittersweet to me, because Brandon became a brother over those years,” Barber said Tuesady in an appearance with Roberts and Carton, referring to the two working together at CBS Sports Radio before joining WFAN 1 1/2 years ago.
“It’s hard to put into words how meaningful this is and how excited I am,” Barber added. “It’s a big deal and I know it and appreciate it and I respect all those that have paved the way for me to be here.”
The consensus reaction on social media to the changes has been swift and fair: Even if one is a fan of Roberts, Barber, Tierney and Licata, are these the right pairings?
After all, Roberts and Barber generally are levelheaded, likable types. Tierney and Licata can be dyspeptic hotheads. Usually, the idea is to have one of each on a radio team.
But who knows? Maybe these combinations will work, and in the case of Tierney and Licata, the dynamics certainly will be interesting.
Licata called the promotion the greatest day of his life in an on-air appearance Tuesday. “We’re going to make it work,” Tierney said.
Stranger things have happened, starting with a team that initially was met with skepticism, including from the stars themselves. It was a show called “Mike and the Mad Dog.” (Ask your parents.)
There is nothing wrong with rewarding and promoting deserving folks internally, a smart move for any company. But there also might be a financial angle to all this.
WFAN is in no position to throw around generous money in trying to attract big-name outsiders — assuming there even is such a thing in 2020s local sports talk radio.
Its parent company, Audacy, is highly leveraged, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last month and has its stock trading at around 7 cents per share.
Even if Audacy goes bankrupt, WFAN is not about to go off the air, but again, it is not exactly swimming in cash and like all sports media has not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Thank goodness for legalized sports betting ads!)
One positive about the changes at WFAN is the next step in a youth movement that was badly needed as of several years ago. Morning co-host Boomer Esiason now will be the only regular host over 50.
The bigger challenge is a youth movement among listeners in a genre whose act has gone stale in an era of instant information and debate.
Like most sports stations, WFAN has evolved from straight sports talk to more general topics, a needle the morning show with Esiason and Gregg Giannotti has done a good job threading.
That was Carton’s specialty in the afternoon. We shall see if Barber can do it.
Anyway, here we are. It is difficult to imagine a less dramatic shakeup.
Consider Carton’s arc.
In 2017, he left the station upon being arrested in the wee hours of the morning on federal fraud charges, stunning his colleagues and listeners.
In 2023, he is leaving after months of consideration to spend more time with his family — one of the rare such cases where it actually is true — as well as focus exclusively on his morning TV show on FS1.
Of course, the latter is a better story for him and his family. But it is not juicy tabloid or social media fodder.
WFAN changes usually are prompted by bombshells such as Don Imus’ firing in 2007 or the “Mike and the Mad Dog” breakup of 2008 or more recently Carton’s arrest, Mike Francesa’s retirement/un-retirement, the youth kick that swept out several familiar station stars, COVID-19 and other assorted drama.
This time . . . meh. The WFAN ship might list at times, but it still is on course, even if that means going in circles.
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.
