WFAN, the flagship sports radio station in New York, has officially ended its longstanding 20/20 score and news updates, a move Market Manager Chris Oliviero described as a necessary evolution in an era of changing technology and audience habits.
Speaking on The Main Event With Andrew Marchand podcast, Oliviero explained the reasoning why WFAN made the move was due to shifts in how audience consumed information.
“WFAN may be the last broadcast sports radio station still doing the typical updates,” explained Oliviero. “We recognized technology had changed. Information and scores could be readily available on other platforms, and people were coming to us for the opinions, etc. So we did stop doing them.”
The end of the 20/20 sports updates that had been a long standing utility for the station was another change that began with the return of Craig Carton to WFAN earlier this month. As the final days of WFAN’s 2025 calendar happened, many longtime update anchors on WFAN announced their upcoming departures from the station. Erica Herskowitz and Rich Ackerman were among several other names that announced their departures from their update anchor role.
The decision, Oliviero noted, allowed the station to reallocate resources in ways that better reflect modern audience expectations.
“We reinvested those dollars in off-air staff that’s driving our video, video producers, social producers. So to me, that’s what any smart business has to do. You have to start to shift your resources. So we thought it was better to do that,” he explained.
The station has been expanding its digital footprint, including video content and social media engagement, areas that now receive more attention thanks to the change.
While the move breaks from decades of tradition, Oliviero framed it as part of WFAN’s commitment to long-term relevance.
“WFAN is going to be 40 in 2027. That’s a long, solid, four-decade run of success,” he said. “You’re not going to have success over multiple decades if you just keep doing the same thing and you’re not confident enough to evolve.”
Oliviero also emphasized that embracing change is essential for any brand seeking longevity.
“If you want to freeze us in time and say, ‘We have to be the same brand that we were in ’87 and ’97 and ’07,’ guess what usually happens to brands like that? They go out of business, right? In any industry. You can talk Blockbuster, you could pick your favorite business analogy. We have to evolve,” he said.
WFAN’s shift away from hourly 20/20 updates reflects a broader trend in sports media, where stations are balancing traditional on-air formats with digital-first strategies to reach audiences on multiple platforms. By investing in video and social production, the station hopes to maintain its relevance among listeners who increasingly access scores and highlights online.
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“20/20” branding ended years ago when updates went from 3 per hour to hourly.