ESPN New York spent nearly two decades in WFAN’s rearview mirror, and after finally finding a recipe to beat their sports radio rival in afternoon drive, the station decided it’s time to shuffle their lineup.
After Stephen A. Smith departed the 1 – 3pm window in January, 98.7 ESPN New York’s local offering was growing, as was the station’s continuity. According to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, 98.7’s latest move will see the addition of star power with Mike Greenberg and Max Kellerman, but it creates a schedule far from the traditional three-show weekday lineup. From 6am – 6pm WFAN currently airs three shows, while ESPN New York will now have six shows all chopped up.
From 6 – 9am, 98.7 will pick up ESPN Radio’s new national morning show featuring Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams and Zubin Mehenti, and bypass their final hour. Following the national morning show, ESPN New York will shorten Rick DiPietro, Chris Canty and Dave Rothenberg’s program and shift the trio into the 9 – 11am hours. Humpty, Canty and Rothenberg will be followed by Bart Scott and Alan Hahn from 11am – 1pm.
Hahn previously hosted from 10am – 1pm on ESPN New York, but left the show because of his commitments to MSG as a studio analyst. He moved to evenings and returned to 98.7’s weekday lineup earlier this year, co-hosting with Scott from 1 – 3pm where they served as a local lead-in for The Michael Kay Show.
TMKS will once again return to having national programming as its lead-in, with ESPN New York picking up the final hour of Mike Greenberg’s new show from 1 – 2pm, and the first hour of Max Kellerman from 2 – 3pm, creating a pieced together early afternoon.
In terms of ratings, 98.7’s recent locally focused lineup has enjoyed success, with gains being made in the 10am – 3pm hours, and The Michael Kay Show dominating WFAN in afternoon drive. Traditionally, national programming hasn’t worked as well in competing against WFAN. Recently, there was even thought of 98.7 looking to go local in morning drive as ESPN Radio gets set to replace Golic and Wingo. Instead, ESPN New York will challenge WFAN with an arsenal of national shows.
WFAN has shown vulnerability in recent ratings books, trailing ESPN New York in afternoon drive as they attempt to move on from the Mike Francesa era. But ESPN’s disinclination for continuity and fresh focus on national programming could buy FAN time in their transition.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
