While Boomer Esiason was immersed in the serenity of a golf course in Arizona, WFAN had a problem hovering over the station. Don Imus, the morning show host for nearly two decades on the all-sports radio station, had made sexist and racist remarks on the air about the Rutgers University women’s college basketball team. Imus was initially suspended and then fired, causing the station to expeditiously have to figure out a new direction.
Esiason had called WFAN that morning to make a donation to the annual Imus Radiothon, and board operator Eddie Scozzare answered. Scozzare informed Esiason that the show was not taking any calls, revealing that the station had just discovered the termination of Imus’ employment. Esiason was in a state of shock. Upon the end of the call, he returned to playing golf and then discovered about 30 seconds later that his phone was ringing.
Joel Hollander, chief executive officer of CBS Radio, and Steve Rosner, Esiason’s agent, were calling to gauge his interest in hosting the morning show on WFAN. Upon concurring to the proposition, the station added Craig Carton and debuted the new Boomer & Carton program in early September. Seventeen years later, Esiason is still working at WFAN and recently signed a contract extension to become the longest-tenured morning show host in station history. The distinction is something he does not think about until someone brings it up to him, instead focusing on his daily responsibilities behind the microphone.
“It’s got to be upbeat, it’s got to be positive, [and] it’s got to be a lot of laughs,” Esiason said of the morning show. “There are going to be times where we’re going to get into some heavy crap that’s not a lot of fun to talk about, but at the end of the day, you can’t just let a particular subject go by the wayside and not talk about it just because you’re uncomfortable about it. You just have to give your opinion, and hopefully you’re not pissing off too many people.”
Q1: Kickoff on the Gridiron and Behind the Mic
From the beginning of his football career, Esiason was cognizant of the responsibilities of media members and respected the work they did. While playing quarterback at the University of Maryland, he interned for two summers at WJZ-TV in Baltimore where he cut tape for sports anchor Gayle Gardner.
Esiason studied radio, television and film while also starting at quarterback for the Maryland Terrapins, conversing with accomplished reporters such as Michael Wilbon and John Feinstein. As the leader of the offense on the field, speaking to media members was something he presumed natural. Once he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, he continued to showcase his talent on the field while also staying involved in media ventures as well.
When Esiason was traded to the New York Jets in 1993, WFAN management asked if he wanted to appear on the Mike and the Mad Dog show on Fridays at 5 p.m. After completing his time playing in the NFL, WFAN allowed him to contribute to Imus in the Morning every Monday during the football season ahead of broadcasting Monday Night Football with Al Michaels on ABC.
“As a player, I think I was very accommodating [and] understood some of the issues that were on the other side of the camera, meaning that there were deadlines, there were storylines that needed to be created and met and questions that needed to be answered,” Esiason said, “so I tried to be as open as I possibly could be and be understanding even when people were in judgment of either my playing or something that I may have said and never really took it too seriously.”
By the time he was added to the weekday prime lineup at WFAN, Esiason had established himself in the sports media industry. Over the years, he hosted his own program on the Madison Square Garden Network and was calling Monday Night Football broadcasts on Westwood One Radio with Marv Albert, in addition to studio analysis on CBS with The NFL Today.
Q2: In-Game Adjustments
Nearly a decade into a fruitful partnership, everything changed when Carton was arrested for securities and wire fraud. Following his arrest, Carton subsequently resigned from the program and was later sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years’ probation. By the time he earned a spot back on WFAN in afternoon drive and continued to make amends with his family, friends and colleagues, the station had hired Gregg Giannotti as a new co-host on the morning show with Esiason.
“When you play for the Jets, the Cardinals and the Bengals, otherwise known as the ‘Bermuda Triangle of the NFL,’ you kind of learn how to deal with adversity, and sometimes adversity smacks you right in the face when you least expect it,” Esiason said, “and I don’t necessarily know that I would have ever thought that this was going to happen the way that it unfolded and how it happened, but I just relied on my instincts to not really show any sort of crazy emotion, tried to have a little fun with it in terms of not understanding what’s happening but yet the situation I found myself in.”
Esiason described the months leading up to Giannotti debuting in morning drive as similar to an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The station initially wanted him to host in afternoon drive, something he did not want since his name was on the morning show. Esiason had known Giannotti would be a star from a young age and presumed that he could replace Mike Francesa in afternoons. Making his return to WFAN after hosting morning drive with Brian Jones on CBS Sports Radio, Giannotti demonstrated his skillset and did not interfere with Esiason continuing to illustrate his strengths and esoteric perspectives.
“It just took a little while for him to get a little bit comfortable with me on the air,” Esiason said, “and once we finally hit our sweet spot, we realized that this was going to be the guy, and I was looking forward to it.”
Since the Boomer & Gio morning show officially began in January 2018, the program continued the momentum of the last decade and realized success in the daypart. It was during that same year where Esiason ceded his Monday Night Football broadcasts, calling his final Super Bowl for Westwood One in 2018 alongside Kevin Harlan. Although he did not want to give up the job, he could perceive the travel scheduling wearing on him.
Esiason and Giannotti, along with anchor Jerry Recco, producer Al Dukes and board operator Eddie Scozzare, all contribute to the program and function as an outlet through which sports fans obtain both information and entertainment. Whether topics are pertaining to sports, personal life or scuttlebutt at the station, there is never a scarcity of content for the show.
“We’re doing over 10 shares,” Esiason said. “Those 10 shares haven’t been seen in radio for so long, and the fact that we’re able to continue to do that consistently is a testament to what we are doing and how we are doing it. So, this job is a great job, and I hope it’s reflected in the way that we go about it [with] the energy that we bring every single morning [and] the laughs.”
Q3: Establishing the Future
Although he was hesitant to divulge his multiyear extension publicly, Esiason acquiesced to the request made by Audacy New York market president Chris Oliviero. Esiason explained that while he did not want to reveal the news, Oliviero felt it was important to announce the contract and the pantheon in which it placed Esiason at the station.
Two weeks earlier, vice president of programming Spike Eskin officially departed WFAN and returned to SportsRadio 94WIP to host afternoon drive. Ryan Hurley was named the brand manager of WFAN and Infinity Sports Network in April as part of leadership changes at Audacy over the last few months.
“It’s interesting because he came from ESPN which has a different way of doing things and their expectations and what they allow their on-air talent to do where here it’s a little bit more of a free-flowing thing,” Esiason said. “He has fit in seamlessly as far as me and Gio are concerned.”
In signing the contract extension with Audacy and WFAN, Esiason concurrently stepped away from his role on The NFL Today on CBS. Within his announcement, he framed the decision as being more from CBS Sports than him, which occurred shortly after David Berson assumed responsibilities as president and chief executive officer of the Paramount Global division. Sean McManus, the chairman of CBS Sports who led the division for 27 years, retired in April.
Tyler Hale, the senior vice president of studio production at CBS Sports, was involved in both The NFL Today and CBS Sports Network, the platform on which Boomer & Gio is simulcast. Last November, Esiason informed him that the upcoming Super Bowl would be his last, explaining that CBS is not slated to broadcast the league championship game again until the 2027 season.
While he was in Las Vegas, to fulfill his media responsibilities, he said goodbye to everyone and realized that his time on The NFL Today was over once the game concluded. Esiason expressed to Hale he wanted to do right by his colleagues at WFAN, and he commended CBS for its “first-class” treatment of the Boomer & Gio show during Super Bowl week broadcasting from the Wynn Las Vegas.
“I’ll miss the opportunities to be with all those great people over there, but 22 years is long enough,” Esiason said. “They need some young blood. They got young blood in there now, and they’re not going to be missing me too much, so I’ll be able to sit in judgment of them now on a Monday morning if they make a mistake, so I can’t wait to do that.”
Q4: Expressing What Matters Most
While Esiason will have more time to himself, he remains motivated to continue broadcasting on WFAN and Audacy Sports stations while raising funds and awareness for cystic fibrosis through the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Esiason’s son, Gunnar, was diagnosed with the genetic disease two years after his birth, and doctors informed Esiason and his wife that he could potentially have a chance to go to college.
“I tried to do everything that I possibly could to put a face on that disease,” Esiason said, “and here we are some $200 million later, which has taken me away from a lot of things that I could have been doing in my life, but I decided that that was going to be, first and foremost, my calling, and use my platform the best I can to raise as much money as I could and have the biggest impact I could on the disease.”
When Gunnar was graduating college and experiencing depression thinking he would need a double lung transplant, he started taking TRIKAFTA, a triple combination therapy that alleviated his symptoms, gave him energy and changed his life. At Gunnar’s wedding, the couple announced that they had succeeded in a natural pregnancy, leading to the birth of Esiason’s grandson, Casper. Esiason called TRIKAFTA a miracle for which his son was the epitome; however, it can be expensive for patients with the disease to stay alive. Part of the reason Esiason wants to stay on the air is to retain his platform and to give back, and he is grateful for his employers supporting his foundation over the years.
“Gunnar does get involved in our foundation,” Esiason said. “He does set the strategic path for us, although he does have another job and he’s doing his other job and raising his family, much like how I had a job but I also had to do something else to help and give back, and he feels very passionate about that, so I’m very proud of that, and it’s one of the reasons why I stay here.”
Although Esiason has concerns about certain aspects of the sports media industry, including the installment of AM radio in motor vehicles and how podcasting will impact live radio moving forward, he understands that there is an appetite for the content. Remaining in morning drive with Giannotti and other responsibilities with Audacy, including delivering Audacy Sports Minute updates and hosting a gambling show with Mike Valenti, are ventures he does not take for granted and looks forward to continuing. Sports talk and the dissemination of opinion, he presumes, will thrive for many years to come, and he is euphoric to remain a part of it on WFAN.
“I just hope this goes on for as long as I enjoy it, and hopefully it’s going to be maybe another four or five years, maybe it’s another two or three years,” Esiason said. “I’m not sure, but as long as I’m healthy, and as long as I’m mentally sharp and I’m still in it, then I will be in that seat, especially during the football season, pretty much every day.”
Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on X @derekfutterman.
