I talked last Friday about the concept of change in sports radio. With headlines surrounding hires, fires, and retirements, it’s impossible to fully grasp how impactful change can be for the many people the headlines don’t mention. There’s another change being signaled at Audacy’s WFAN, separate from the lineup switch coming the first week in January. It’s a change that has arrived much later than it has at many counterparts around the country.
Many of the utility appointments that once made talk radio so valuable have disappeared with time and the evolution of technology. Radio stations used to have their own roster of personalities delivering traffic, weather, sports, and other updates intermingled with their on-air talent. Today, the information those appointments provided is available at the touch of a button, through an app, or via alerts on social feeds.
WFAN is positioning itself to remove sports updates, something many sports radio stations eliminated long ago. The age of change that has affected countless sports radio brands is finally reaching WFAN. While overdue, it should also be recognized as a station that valued the format longer than many others before letting it go.
WFAN is the pinnacle of the sports radio industry, many around the country believe this to be true. It was the first to sign on and remains a destination where, if you arrive, you’ve indeed “made it.” Over time, however, the station has faced the same challenges confronting every other outlet across the country over the past two decades.
Talent aging out. Clients move advertising dollars to digital. Station-based content has become less essential to New York City sports fans due to the rise of digital creators and content feeds online. Fans no longer view WFAN as the default destination the way my generation once did.
No One Is Immune To Change
As a result, the challenge of remaining relevant in the content race has reached an all-time high. One clear example is the consolidation of the CBS Sports Network/Infinity Sports Network with the BetMGM Network. Operational costs become unsustainable when the demand for new, fresh, and differentiated content continues to rise. Especially on traditional methods for that entertainment.
Many around the country may not recognize these names, but they deserve just as much acknowledgment as any others. Erika Herskowitz, Andrew Bogusch, and Rich Ackerman are among the many affected by this shift. It’s a change that WFAN and the Infinity Sports Network delayed longer than many of their contemporaries. In today’s digital age, sports updates are simply no longer necessary.
No one in traditional sports radio is immune, including WFAN.
The art of the sports update was straightforward. Information, cross-promotion, and sponsorship formed the foundation, though every station approached it differently. Some treated updates as appointment listening with impact, while others integrated them directly into the programs themselves.
Colin Cowherd does hourly segments with Jason McIntyre called “The Herd Line News.” My former station in Tampa employed a similar hourly segment, with the part-time producer serving in the update anchor role. 95.3 WDAE hasn’t had dedicated update anchors since 2015, as producers kept the role alive before the station fully moved away from the concept in 2018.
The goal was to deliver the biggest headlines of the day, use sound to enhance delivery, and sell what people needed to know. The time is a cross-promotional tool, highlighting key interviews or play-by-play broadcasts to drive tune-in.
Sports updates also provided significant value for sales departments. Yet two of the most damaging words in sports radio revenue eventually emerged: “added value.” Each additional giveaway to your sales team limited opportunities to generate new revenue.
Over time, the art grew stale. Top syndicated sports radio brands now offer optional updates for affiliates. Many affiliates opt to run inventory instead of maintaining a local information segment. Why pay someone to share information most listeners already know when that same time can generate revenue?
Programmers across the industry saw the writing on the wall. Sports updates were increasingly viewed as momentum disruptors that content audiences no longer desired. Change isn’t always easy, but it must be acknowledged and applied when the time arrives. While it’s unfortunate for those affected with WFAN who did nothing wrong, every sports radio station, including WFAN, must look forward rather than rely on what worked in the past.
All-day sports updates are simply another casualty of that evolution.
A Focus on the Future
Change in sports radio rarely announces itself as progress in real time. It usually arrives quietly, framed as efficiency, evolution, or necessity, long before consensus forms on whether the product is better. The potential removal of sports updates at WFAN is not an indictment of the craft or the professionals who executed it at a high level for decades.
Instead, it serves as a reminder that sports radio no longer competes with other stations for information. It competes for time watched, attention, reach, and habit.
Sports updates didn’t disappear because they failed. They disappeared because the industry stopped asking what purpose they served. Once information became ubiquitous, the update lost its leverage, and without leverage, radio loses relevance. That reality doesn’t spare WFAN, regardless of how iconic the call letters may be.
This is the uncomfortable truth of progress. Not every tradition earns a place in the future simply because it shaped the past. Sports radio can no longer afford to sound like a service when the audience already feels served.
The next era will belong to stations that understand they’re no longer in the information business, but in the connection business. Those who fail to adjust won’t fade loudly. They’ll simply be replaced quietly.
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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.
DA did updates right while at CBS with Bogs
Working the updates into a proper segment and riffing on the updates was and is a masterclass in how it should be done.
It allowed for an easy filler segment that required potentially little production other than what would have been required for the update anyway. But with the right on air talent those update segments could and would be hilarious and also informative. So what if they didn’t do the whole update and were cut short, it was good fun.
Also, I’d argue that not as many people are as glued to their phones as the metrics (dead internet theory) would lead you to believe.
IMO there’s a lot of baseless assumptions being made by higher-ups about what listeners want in their sports talk radio.
I will sorely miss the updates, many times I had a busy day and would turn on WFAN at the top of the hour for this sole purpose.