The morning of December 2 is one that WFAN host Brandon Tierney will never forget. While pondering over yet another New York Giants loss, news of his immediate future with the radio station was instantly in question. The situation involved the return of Craig Carton to the station for a third time, with reports suggesting that Tierney and co-host Sal Licata were on their final days at WFAN.
It was a unique moment that every talent and company attempts to prevent. However, how one reacts is key, albeit there is no playbook for handling such a situation.
“We had so many conversations about the very real possibility of Craig [Carton] coming back [to WFAN],” said Tierney. “For us, the main checkpoint was that we had a choice here. Are we going to address this and get a deluge of calls and allow the show to go off the rails? You would get people calling in supporting us and denigrating some others. We weren’t going to allow it to turn into that. It’s not professional.”
Uncertainty At WFAN
It was no secret that rumors of a third run for Carton at WFAN lingered following the cancellation of Carton’s program Breakfast Ball at FS1. Tierney stated that around the end of summer, there was a sense that the roster move could indeed happen, with no true formula for how it would affect the station lineup or his own future at WFAN.
“We were not fully caught off guard [by the news of Carton’s return]. Management kept us in the loop and communicated several possibilities, all revolving around Craig’s potential return,” explained Tierney, whose contract officially ends with WFAN on December 31. “About two weeks before Thanksgiving, it [the possibility of Carton’s return] got a little more serious. Then I knew it was going to happen, but the contract wasn’t done.”
Tierney said he requested a meeting with Chief Business Officer & Market President, Audacy New York, Chris Oliviero for the Monday following Thanksgiving. After months of speculation and rumor, as well as his own contract talks being “pushed down the road” due to a potential Carton return. Tierney sought clarity on the situation.
“We met after the show on Monday after Thanksgiving, and that’s when it was communicated to me [that Carton was returning], even though he hadn’t signed the contract,” noted Tierney. “Chris [Oliviero] did explicitly say, ‘Once we announce it, you will know. We will do right by you.’ I believed it, and I fully believed that was their intention.”
Would WFAN Keep BT & Sal?
After 13 years with the company, the Brooklyn native finally had clarity on Carton’s return. However, the speculation about what it specifically meant for Licata and himself remained. While he personally considered Carton’s options, including a potential reunion with former co-host Evan Roberts, Tierney explained that there was an effort to find a way to bring in Carton while keeping BT & Sal on WFAN moving into 2026.
“Chris [Oliviero] bent over backwards exploring the financial viability of creating a fourth show. He didn’t want to move on from BT & Sal,” said Tierney. “At the end of the day, it just wasn’t economically feasible.”
Despite Carton’s eventual return to WFAN and management’s efforts to find a solution, the process in full affected Tierney’s own contract discussions. Typically, talks would begin in late summer or early fall based on previous experiences. But with Carton’s return looming, discussions never truly began.
“This [time] was ‘we don’t know what we’re doing,’” explained Tierney about his feelings regarding the contract talks timeline. “When you hear that and you’ve been in the business a while, you can’t keep your head in the clouds. You have to be prepared mentally for everything. My contract was up, and there was never a concrete dialogue about an extension. It was always about figuring out what’s happening with Carton, and then we go from there.”
Always Professional
Following the reports leaking via The Athletic, Tierney and Licata did not address the news immediately. While management kept both talents informed about a potential return for months, the show agreed to a stipulation to not comment until Audacy officially released the news.
“One of the things that was told to us in both our cases: if this comes to fruition with Craig [Carton], finish when you want to finish. We trust you guys to do the right thing,” explained Tierney. “We did avoid addressing [Carton’s return] out of respect for our company, and out of respect for their request. At the end of the day, we’re employees. We don’t own the company.”
Tierney recalled a discussion with Oliviero, during which the executive acknowledged that news of Carton’s return could leak before the company made an announcement. If that happened, Oliviero instructed both talents to “plow through” while the company sped up the official release so the show could address the news.
The news did leak, and BT & Sal remained silent. However, that did not happen with other WFAN shows. After Boomer & Gio discussed the reports the next morning, Tierney requested guidance on how to address the issue. At 10am ET, BT & Sal addressed the reports to start their program, promising to go more in depth later.
“We weren’t blindsided by this. It sucks. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair or right. This show is absolutely deserving to be on WFAN,” explains Tierney. “I get it from a business perspective, but we tried to straddle the line, and we did. Was it easy? No.”
Moving Forward
Tierney has no regrets about how he handled the situation at WFAN. He also understands Carton’s value to WFAN. Not hearing from Craig since the news became official though did surprise him.
BT is familiar with the departure process, having seen many colleagues around the country experience it. As he officially closes his “chapter” at WFAN, he looks forward to a future full of possibilities and projects that have been on hold for far too long.
“It is my mission to find the next thing, and it’s exciting. I’m open to talking to anybody. The industry has changed tremendously. I was smart enough to know that I wasn’t going to have a twenty-year run at WFAN and find myself in my sixties with the option to retire. I always knew there would be a next chapter. Not a footnote, but a big chapter that’s going to look very different than the chapters I’ve written so far. I’m excited about that,” said Tierney.
He prefers to stay in New York because it’s home and where he fell in love with sports. However, he’s open to exploring other options, given his national hosting experience.
After the news became public, Tierney thanked every listener and colleague who supported his show with Sal Licata. He saw the program as a reliable space where listeners knew what to expect, crafting its own vein in the DNA of what made WFAN the legacy sports radio brand it is today. In the interim, he says it’d be unwise to shut the door on working for the station in the future. He’s receptive to part-time fill-in work, due to the strong relationships he has built with both staff and the New York City audience.
“The only regret I would have had is if I stepped away from my run at WFAN, looked in the mirror, and said, ‘Man, you finally got there and you didn’t empty the tank,’” explained Tierney. “That would have been very hard for me to live with professionally.”
Reflecting On The WFAN Journey
Tierney feels blessed by every opportunity in his career, because he earned it. The son of a retired New York City detective considers his Brooklyn roots the foundation of his fighter-like approach to his craft. Between balancing play-by-play at Madison Square Garden and sharing the mic with New York sports fans through the highs and lows, he considers his path at WFAN his ultimate career achievement.
“If I hadn’t reached WFAN, it doesn’t matter if it was for three years, three months, or three minutes, with everything else I’ve done, I would feel my career would be incomplete,” said Tierney. “That is something I needed to do. I had to do that for me. I did it my way, with a passion that was evident every single show.”
The show’s success allows Tierney to be at peace with the decision. He will miss working with Licata on a daily basis but the two passionate partners aren’t done talking sports together. They will reunite in January in New Jersey for a live event that includes New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
As his final show airs today, Tierney suggests he was a “victim” of unexpected extenuating circumstances at a station he still highly respects. He doesn’t consider his run at WFAN a failure at all. BT and Sal earned the #2 slot in Barrett Media’s Major Market Sports Radio Midday Shows of 2024. Only Zolak & Bertrand at 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston ranked higher.
“When I walk out of that studio for the final time full-time, I know that the listeners of New York City and the surrounding areas got to listen to somebody who touched a dream. I knew that I couldn’t fail for them,” said Tierney. “That’s how much I respect them, the station, and the city. I didn’t fail. I’m not going away. I gave our audience every fiber of my being, and I couldn’t give them any less. They deserve that.”
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
Great pice John! What a sad saga and ending for two terrific pros!
Thanks for the entertainment BT!
Stand Up Guy!