Gregg Giannotti of WFAN in New York was this week’s guest on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast. Giannotti hosts with Boomer Esiason each morning on both radio and CBS Sports Network.
Early on, Traina asked Giannotti about simulcasting local radio in New York on national television and if that could present a problem from a topic standpoint. Giannotti replied quickly, “We do New York sports talk and we don’t really care if someone out in Sacramento doesn’t like it.”
Moving on, Traina pointed out what he enjoys about the show is that it is not all sports talk and he assumed from listening to Giannotti on a regular basis that he would not enjoy what he does quite as much if he had to talk solely about sports.
“…I would not be happy if I had to do straight four hours of sports talk,” Giannotti said. “…Where we are today, especially now at this point in my life, early 40’s, two kids, I just have different interests.”
He did point out, however, that there is plenty of content available for anyone who wants specialized sports talk. “If you really want hardcore straight Yankees, there’s a podcast for that, or straight Mets, there is a podcast for that,” he said.
Giannotti continued, “Yes, when there’s something big going on in New York sports they want to hear what we have to say. But, when there’s not, and a lot of times the teams have been bad or it’s a slow time in sports now, they’re coming to us for our personalities, our takes on all sorts of things. And especially in the morning, they want to laugh…Maybe in 2018 I wouldn’t have done this, but I’ll opt more for the funny personal story than I would ‘let’s talk about the minor league system or the bullpen.’ I couldn’t do that. I’d rather do a show on reality television before I could do straight four hour sports talk now.”
He gave credit to those hosts, nationally or others on WFAN, who do more of the straight sports, shouting at one another type of shows, but added, “I cant imagine, do you guys really care that much about that particular topic? Theres no way, with everything going on in the world, they care that much to be yelling back and forth about who the first baseman should be. There’s no way, and I sometimes feel that can come across a little bit phony if you’re that passionate about something that’s so minute, especially when nothing is going on. So, I try to be authentic and if I’m interested in it and Boomer’s interested in it then it comes across to the audeince that we care and are passionate and generally that translates.”
Both Giannotti and Traina agreed that as they have aged, they care less about hardcore sports, agreeing that priorities change and sports is less of a factor in one’s life. ‘Gio’ did point out, however, that the teams winning and losing has an effect on your show.
“The show has evolved a lot because the teams have been terrible around here, too,” he said. “You can’t talk bad football, bad baseball, bad basketball every single day. It’s sickening.”
Traina said he figured if the teams were bad, that would help sports radio, however, Giannotti pointed out that can be the case short-term, however, if it is long-term it can be detrimental. “If you’re talking one specific day, yes. A terrible call in a game, a playoff loss or one specific day…Having some of these seasons that the teams are just nothing by the end of it and you’re waiting for the offseason. It’s miserable to be irrelevant in New York City.”
Traina also brought up then topic of show preparation, asking how it works between producer Al Dukes, Giannotti and partner Boomer Esiason. Traina was surprised to learn Esiason prefers not to know too much about topics planned or the order of topics. “We both know what’s important and what the audience is going to want to hear and what we are going to want to talk about,” Giannotti said. “He’s doesn’t have to worry about me not knowing something, I don’t have to worry about him not knowing something…He’s so prepared and so locked in for a former athlete, still to this day, after doing it 17, 18 years. I never have to worry about him not knowing what’s going on. Never, ever, ever.”
Giannotti said a lot of it comes down to trust. His trust in his partner, the station’s trust in the show and the trust they have been shown by program director’s Mark Chernoff and Spike Eskin. With Eskin soon heading back to Philadelphia, someone new will be coming in to lead the programming department and Giannotti hopes they maintain a similar relationship with whomever that may be, saying, “Hopefully that next guy leaves us alone and trusts us, too, but you never know.”
