WFAN's Mike Francesa second, ESPN's Michael Kay fourth in first month of autumn ratings book
Mike Francesa during an interview at WFAN studios on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017. Credit: Newsday/Chris Ware
WFAN’s Mike Francesa finished second among all stations in the New York market from 3 to 6:30 p.m. among men ages 25-54 for the first month of the autumn ratings book, averaging 6.3 percent of the audience in that demographic.
His afternoon drive time rival in New York sports talk, ESPN New York’s Michael Kay, finished fourth at 5.5, continuing his long run as that station’s highest-rated show.
The ratings gap between Francesa and Kay was roughly similar to what it has been in other recent ratings periods. In June, Francesa won, 6.4-5.8.
Local radio ratings customarily are measured in full quarterly “books,” so these figures, which cover Sept. 13 through Oct. 10, should be regarded as akin to the first period of a hockey game.
Also, the core radio ratings measure but one slice of the total audience.
They do not include Kay’s YES Network simulcast or Francesa’s digital app or either station’s live streams, where WFAN tends to do better than ESPN New York.
They also do not account for days when one host or the other is off or preempted, nor does it include men younger or older than the target demo or women of any age.
WFAN held its usual strong leads in other parts of the day. The morning show featuring Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti finished fourth with 6.1 percent of the audience compared to ESPN’s ninth and 4.1.
The 1 to 3 p.m. show featuring Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott was fourth with a 6.2 share compared to 10th and 3.8 for ESPN.
The 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. show featuring Evan Roberts and Joe Benigno was sixth at 5.4 compared to 12th and 3.2 for ESPN.
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.
