Former WFAN afternoon drive host Mike Francesa had an idea about how he wanted to plan his eventual exit from the station over ten years ago. SiriusXM radio host Adam Schein appeared on the Marchand Sports Media podcast this week and revealed that he had a dinner meeting with Francesa in 2014 to discuss a potential succession plan. According to Schein, Francesa envisioned him as his replacement on the New York sports talk powerhouse.
Schein, the morning host of Schein on Sports on Mad Dog Sports Radio, recalled being asked by Francesa to meet and discuss the plan.
“Mike and I had a meeting in 2014,” Schein explained. “He called me and said, ‘I want to go over a potential plan that includes you replacing me.’”
The SiriusXM host recounted how Francesa wanted to meet at a local establishment, which happened to be in the same building as the SiriusXM studios. Notably, this meeting followed Francesa’s infamous interview with then-New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, in which A-Rod repeatedly denied purchasing or using PEDs after Major League Baseball handed down a year-long suspension.
“So I go in, and I’m talking to Felix, who’s the big maître d’ there, and Scott Goulds, who was the GM,” Schein recalled. “Then they asked me, ‘Do you have a reservation?’ I said, ‘I’m meeting Mike Francesa.’ Then Felix goes, ‘You’re the special guest Mike told me about?’ And I’m like, great.”
He then went on to describe how Francesa laid out his vision for Schein to succeed him at WFAN, calling it a “surreal” conversation.
“That was crazy, and that was intoxicating,” Schein of SiriusXM said.
Francesa ultimately retired from WFAN’s afternoon drive slot twice—once in 2017 and again in 2019. He now hosts The Mike Francesa Podcast via the BetRivers Network. Francesa began working at WFAN in August of 1987 beginning with a weekend program discussing college football and basketball, leading eventually to be paired with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo in 1989. Mike and The Mad Dog was a staple of WFAN from 1989 to 2008, when Russo announced his departure for SiriusXM.
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