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Francesa Not Worried About Falling Behind Michael Kay

“During Francesa’s Monday afternoon show on WFAN, the New York sports radio icon commented on the ratings race after being prompted by a caller.”

Brandon Contes

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Nielsen released numbers for the first month of the fall ratings book and as usual, the battle between WFAN’s Mike Francesa and ESPN’s The Michael Kay Show are the center of attention in New York. It’s important to note the first month counts for only one-third of the book and there is a lot to be determined. 

Still, The Michael Kay Show jumped out to a commanding lead, out-rating Francesa 7.4 – 6.0 in the male 25-54 demo that both stations primarily use. The digital stream for both shows is included in the 7.4 and 6.0 ratings.

During Francesa’s Monday afternoon show on WFAN, the New York sports radio icon commented on the ratings race after being prompted by a caller.

“There’s only one rating and its 12 weeks long,” Francesa said. “Are we behind after four weeks? Yes. I’ve never lost to them in my life and to me, I don’t know how many times you can beat someone before it’s not important to you, but I’m like 60-0 lifetime. I beat them for 20 consecutive years, never lost once. Not one time.”

Recently, it’s been reported Francesa could soon leave WFAN again, this time remaining with the station’s parent company, Entercom and joining their new RADIO.COM platform. Francesa previously said RADIO.COM, which purchased the Mike’s On app, will be his future content home, but no timeline has been given by WFAN, Entercom or Francesa. Losing a full ratings book to ESPN and The Michael Kay Show would be a difficult way for Francesa to make his exit from terrestrial radio.

“If they beat me after 12 weeks, I would say they beat me, but they’ve never beaten me in 20 years or as long as they’ve been there,” Francesa continued. “They’ve never beaten me ever, not one time. They said they did, but they lied.” 

ESPN previously claimed victory with The Michael Kay Show over Francesa because ESPN and Entercom report their ratings differently. WFAN’s terrestrial and digital ratings are kept separate, whereas ESPN combines the two numbers. For the 2019 spring book, Nielsen released the ratings as a 6.4 for The Michael Kay Show and a 6.1 for Francesa, with an additional 0.5 for his digital stream. When including the digital stream, The Michael Kay Show has yet to beat Mike Francesa for a full book.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

Sports Radio News

Charles Barkley: ‘I Want to Be on TV Less’

“His contract with Warner Bros. Discovery runs through 2024-25.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Charles Barkley

It’s possible you could see Charles Barkley appearing occasionally on CNN.

Reports from The Wall Street Journal and Variety this week indicate the cable news network is close to finishing a deal that would have Gayle King on the network. Rumors have said that the network would like to have Barkley join her, but Barkley says nothing is decided on his end.

In an appearance on Bickley & Marotta on Arizona Sports on Tuesday, the Suns legend and NBA on TNT analyst said he and King are friends so this wouldn’t be a situation where the duo would be coming in green.

“I’ve gotten to know her well through the years through my relationship with Oprah (Winfrey) and she’s just cool,” Barkley said. “I said, ‘I would consider doing a show with Gayle, one day a week starting in the fall.'”

But Barkley, 60, reiterated what he’s made known for a while now: he doesn’t plan on sticking around in the TV business for too much longer. His contract with Warner Bros. Discovery runs through 2024-25. So this CNN opportunity could be pretty limited in scope, which is what Charles desired.

“It’ll only be one day a week if I decide to do it,” Barkley said. “I said, ‘No, I don’t want to be on TV more. I want to be on TV less.'”

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Sports Radio News

John Kincade: Thursday Night Football Flex Vote About ‘Licking Jeff Bezos’s Boots’

“For these billionaires to be licking his boots? Embarrassing. They can’t do this. It’s obnoxious.”

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John Kincade

A report claims that at the NFL owners meetings, a proposal to give the league the ability to implement flex scheduling for Thursday Night Football was proposed. 97.5 The Fanatic’s John Kincade was flabbergasted at the idea.

The proposal would allow the NFL to move scheduled games in the final weeks of the season from Sunday to Thursday. The league would also have to change the rule that teams could only play one Thursday Night Football game per season to accommodate the change.

During The John Kincade Show Tuesday, the host claimed that even considering the idea was simply a matter of the owners kowtowing to Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, whose company — Prime Video — broadcasts the package.

“They’re licking Jeff Bezos’s boots,” Kincade said. “I can only imagine buddies running trips and fans go ‘Ok, I’m going to the Eagles game on Sunday. I’m flying in Friday, spend two nights in a hotel, and fly out Monday’. Oh no you’re not, the game’s been moved to Thursday night. This is freaking ridiculous, and shining Bezos’s shoes is freaking embarrassing. For these billionaires to be licking his boots? Embarrassing. They can’t do this. It’s obnoxious.”

Kincade continued by marvelling at the idea even being floated to the public.

“To me, it’s just such a dumb idea. But sometimes those things happen in sports.”

The 97.5 The Fanatic host is not the only sports media member who has shared their displeasure with the proposal this week. Monday Morning Quarterback’s Peter King aired similar sentiments, saying “We can all agree this seems insane.”

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Sports Radio News

Mike Francesa: BetRivers Podcast Is Enough For Me Right Now

“I’ve had a couple offers in the last couple of months. I’ve turned them all down. Anybody that’s asked me for steady work or to do something Monday through Friday I’ve said no.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Mike Francesa

If you were hoping to catch Mike Francesa hosting a daily TV or radio show in the future, that ship has likely sailed.

Asked by a listener on his Mike Francesa Podcast if he would go back to doing a show on television similar to his Mike’d Up program on NBC New York, Francesa said it’s not in his future.

“I would doubt it,” he said on his Monday episode. “At this point, I’m not as visible. So it wouldn’t make as much sense as having me now as it would then. And frankly, I’m doing what I do now, and I love doing it.”

Francesa reunited with his former WFAN co-host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on ESPN’s First Take back in January, but Mike said the podcast he’s doing for the BetRivers Network checks all the boxes of what he’s looking for work-wise at the moment.

“It’s actually enough,” he said. “I’ve had a couple offers in the last couple of months. I’ve turned them all down. Anybody that’s asked me for steady work or to do something Monday through Friday I’ve said no.”

“It would have to be something very unusual for me to do on a regular basis,” he added.

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