Just over four months since he bid farewell to WFAN, Mike Francesa is returning to the station for the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. time slot, according to the New York Daily News. Newsday had originally reported that he was seeking a return to the station.
Francesa, 64, originally started with WFAN in 1987, but “retired” at the end of 2017 when his contract expired. He repeatedly said “no more FAN,” insinuating he was done with the station for good.
However, he expressed to Newsday this morning that “it’s time to return to WFAN,” followed by reports that he would regain a portion of his old time slot.
Chris Carlin, Bart Scott and Maggie Gray will likely have a less significant role than their current 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. time slot, while Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts will probably return to their old time slot of 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Back in March, Francesa said leaving WFAN was an adjustment.
“Have there been times when I wish I had a forum and I wanted to express myself?,” he said. “Absolutely. Many, many times that has come up. I have to say, I miss it more than I thought I would . . . There have been some [topics] that have gotten me. There’s no question. I don’t want to list them, but there’s been more than a few I would have loved to opine on.”
Francesa had been working with the CAA agency and referred to an ambiguous campaign to keep him from returning to WFAN, but did not answer follow up questions about the latter.
“I have been working on a project with CAA for months,’ he said. “That will be explained in the days ahead.
“This is for those who started this campaign in recent days. I didn’t decide to go back to WFAN until I was told I better not go back. For those behind it, that was the moment I decided to return.
“I will do everything to work WFAN into an integral part of the project. It is time to return to WFAN.”
