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WFAN-AM Utilizing Slow Summer Months To Test Replacements For Outgoing Mike Francesa

WFAN-AM next week will start to "test combinations in search of an afternoon drive time show to replace Mike Francesa, whose final program is scheduled for Dec. 15," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. WFAN-AM VP/Programming Mark Chernoff said that his goal is to have a "succession plan in place by Labor Day." Barring an outside candidate, current WFAN host Evan Roberts appears to be under "strong consideration to move from midday to afternoon, with or without longtime partner Joe Benigno." Bleacher Report's Chris Simms is "expected to be among the partners tested alongside Roberts." Chernoff confirmed that Benigno and Roberts "likely will spend much of the summer working apart." Kimberly Jones, whom Chernoff has used regularly as a fill-in, "likely will show up often on the summer schedule with various co-hosts." WFAN morning host Craig Carton said that the station had one conversation with him and and his co-host Boomer Esiason to "gauge potential interest in moving to afternoon, but Carton called it mostly a courtesy." Carton: "Even if we wanted to do it, it wouldn’t be a good business decision for us or the FAN" (NEWSDAY, 6/23).

OUT OF TOUCH: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes this week, Francesa, whose "stock in trade is dishonesty, was attacked for making an honest mistake." Francesa "referred to Asian-Americans as 'Oriental-Americans,' a classification quickly condemned as a slur, when he merely spoke a term that has been deemed passé." There was "no intent whatsoever to demean Asian-Americans, yet Francesa was accused of rank racial insensitivity." He "committed no greater transgression than being about a dozen years out of touch" (N.Y. POST, 6/23).

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?
NEWSDAY's Best notes WFAN "celebrated its 30th anniversary Thursday at Grand Central Terminal, but two of its most prominent personalities made it clear the station is not one big, happy professional family." First, Carton "ripped" Francesa for "'ruining his legacy' and becoming 'a caricature of himself' in his final months on the job." Francesa responded by saying that his legacy is "very much intact," his show is "every bit as good as it’s ever been," and that Carton and Esiason are driven by jealousy to attack him. Carton said, "It’s sad to me that when he walks out the door there’s not going to be a lot of people in the industry that are all that sad about it." Francesa: "They dwell on any possible mistake I make, because they’re jealous and every part of their thing is just so possessed by everything I do" (NEWSDAY, 6/23).

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