Brandon Tierney agrees with the spirit of Joe Benigno’s recent comments about WFAN, yet he believes the conversation requires more context, particularly when comparing the station’s past dominance to its current place in a rapidly evolving media landscape.
Speaking on his BT Unleashed program Monday, the former WFAN host addressed Benigno’s assertion that the station will never return to its former glory, a claim rooted in the larger-than-life era of Don Imus, Mike Francesa and Chris Russo that helped define sports talk radio in New York.
While Tierney acknowledged that period as uniquely influential, he pointed to structural differences in the industry that make direct comparisons difficult.
“Back then, being a star on WFAN was pretty easy. There was nowhere else to go,” Tierney said in response to Benigno’s comments. “That’s just the reality of it. That’s the reality of the history of the station. Back then, if you were on the air, you were almost by default a rock star. You were a persona that is almost impossible to replicate today.”
Tierney’s comments reflect a broader shift that has reshaped not only WFAN but the entire sports audio business, where listeners now divide their attention among podcasts, streaming platforms and social media rather than relying on a single dominant terrestrial outlet.
“It’s not a knock on the current talent, and that’s not what Joe [Benigno] was going for,” said Tierney.
As a result, Tierney suggested that the pathway to becoming a “rock star” in sports radio no longer resembles what it once did, regardless of market size or station heritage. Although he did not dispute Benigno’s underlying point about the uniqueness of WFAN’s earlier era, he was careful to separate nostalgia from evaluation. He noted that the challenges facing today’s hosts stem less from talent deficiencies and more from an increasingly fragmented audience.
“It’s [sports radio] less relevant than it ever has been in my lifetime,” Tierney said. “That’s a fact. People can protest that, and that’s fine. Just look at the revenue numbers and see what’s going on in the world in terms of content. That’s the only answer. That’s the reality of what’s happening.”
That distinction, according to Tierney, remains critical when assessing WFAN’s current standing, especially as longtime listeners continue to compare the station’s present-day lineup to its past icons. He emphasized that while the influence of sports radio has diminished in an era of on-demand content, the medium still plays a role in shaping daily conversation, even if it no longer commands the same singular attention.
Ultimately, Tierney’s perspective aligns with Benigno’s acknowledgment that WFAN cannot recreate its peak years, yet it also reinforces the idea that the station’s evolution reflects broader industry changes rather than an isolated decline.
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I have done sports radio in major markets and nationally for 34 years. I am old and have understood in recent years the audience and their consumption of content has changed. Why do these talented old guys have to rail against change other than a desperate need for relevance when they should be enjoying the golden years. I am old, I still host and I recognize the need to take at least a slightly different tone. Old dogs, new tricks is tough to pull off. On the other hand, the latest generation needs to admit that, while their approach is the way to go now, it doesn’t necessarily mean they would have worked in the first generation of the format. In this regard, all of us have one thing in common: Ego!