Two months into his final ratings book with WFAN, Mike Francesa is trailing The Michael Kay Show. Benefiting from a 14-year head start, WFAN regularly beat ESPN Radio’s New York affiliate since it launched in 2001, but in terms of afternoon drive, ESPN caught FAN. 

Ratings for Mike Francesa and The Michael Kay Show have been neck and neck for over a year, as the two shows quarrel about whether or not to include their digital stream when determining a winner. After already beating Francesa in the first month of the current book, The Michael Kay Show beat him again in the second month, 7.5 to 6.9 with the stream included. In the final book before stepping down from his afternoon post on WFAN for the second time, it looks as if Francesa might finally have to admit defeat. 

Remains to be seen is what’s next for Francesa, who will be without his daily afternoon show and no longer has an innovative app idea to promote. While the sports radio icon won’t be captaining WFAN’s weekday schedule in 2020, he did sign a three-year contract with their parent-company Entercom. A presence on their RADIO.COM app is expected, but details of how Francesa will contribute have not been shared.

During Francesa’s first retirement in 2018, The Michael Kay Show beat WFAN’s afternoon show Carlin, Maggie and Bart, 4.4 – 4.2, a far cry from the 6’s and 7’s both stations are currently pulling in. While The Kay Show eliminated their ratings gap with WFAN, the rest of 98.7 FM ESPN New York still has work to do. 

In the 10am – 1pm timeslot, ESPN New York’s Humpty, Canty and Rothenberg trailed WFAN’s Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts by nearly three points, 5.1 to 8. Joe and Evan have the benefit of the market’s top-rated morning show as a local lead in, Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti, who are currently number 1 even without their streaming audience. On ESPN New York, Humpty, Canty and Rothenberg follow the nationally syndicated Golic and Wingo which finished 12^th in the market.

From 1 – 3pm, WFAN’s Maggie Gray and Bart Scott beat Stephen A. Smith’s national ESPN show 7.0 to 5.3. 

In an attempt to narrow the ratings gap during their shows not featuring Michael Kay, ESPN New York is preparing to add two local hours and two hosts from WFAN to their lineup. 

According to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, ESPN is set to acquire Bart Scott from WFAN when his contract expires at the end of the year. The appeal of continuing to do local radio, while adding multiple TV opportunities on ESPN has Scott ready to depart WFAN for their rival station.

Marchand also reports ESPN New York is likely to go local from 1 – 3pm, potentially pairing Scott with current evening host Alan Hahn in the timeslot. Hahn previously worked on ESPN’s 10am – 1pm show until he was replaced by Dave Rothenberg in 2017. Hahn departed the midday show to focus on his Knicks television work with MSG. The 1 – 3pm hours might be more manageable for Hahn and his MSG work than the 10am – 1pm show. 

If Hahn does move back to a weekday radio show, it frees up ESPN’s evening timeslot. Insert former WFAN host number two. According to Marchand, the evening hours on ESPN New York could be filled by Scott’s ex-WFAN partner, Chris Carlin. 

The New York sports radio jostling is somewhat unprecedented, especially for WFAN which remained stagnant from 2008 until Craig Carton’s arrest in 2017. Even with WFAN’s recent lineup shuffling, the stations have rarely exchanged hosts from their weekday lineup. Now ESPN could be set to nab two recent WFAN talkers in Scott and Carlin, while the Fan looks to fill their own gaps. 

Joe and Evan could move into WFAN’s afternoon timeslot, although it’s unlikely they’ll be there for long with Benigno planning to retire after next year. Maggie Gray, the soon to be last person standing from the CMB experiment, will likely takeover WFAN’s midday show with a co-host. WFAN nighttime host John Jastremski and CBS Sports Radio’s Marc Malusis appear to be leading candidates for the gig. 

With WFAN needing to overhaul their lineup again, jockeying between the two New York sports radio stations will continue. But this time, WFAN might be unequivocally chasing ESPN New York’s afternoon ratings.