If N.Y.-based WFAN "goes through with a plan to replace" host Mike Francesa with a three-person afternoon-drive team, it will be "stealing directly" from ESPN Radio N.Y. 98.7's playbook, according to Bob Raissman of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. If WFAN's afternoon trio consists of former NFLers Bart Scott and Chris Simms, along with Philadelphia-based WIP-FM's Chris Carlin, they are "all going to want to control airtime." Raissman: "Good luck with that. The results, at least initially, will be disastrous" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 11/5). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick wrote CBS Sports Radio's Gregg Giannotti "seems to be a lock" as Boomer Esiason's new full-time partner for WFAN's morning show. As a fill-in, Giannotti has been "credible, clever and clean." Esiason is "now more inclined toward good conversation, limiting his obligatory coarse tack-ons" (N.Y. POST, 11/5).
MISSING THE BALL: THE ATHLETIC's Steve Berman noted radio ratings in S.F. "don't tell the whole story for sports talk stations, which worry exclusively about the men age 25-54 demo, but they can at least illuminate which direction a station might be trending." KNBR-AM was down in October vs. September, but KGMZ-FM was up from a month earlier. However, KGMZ's numbers were "not overly impressive." It "seems pretty obvious that both stations have suffered from a late-summer/early-fall without postseason baseball" (THEATHLETIC.com, 11/3).
DOWN IN THE METROPLEX: In Dallas, Barry Horn noted locally-based KTCK-AM and KRLD-FM "sat atop the ratings in the all-important 'men 25-54' demographic in the October book." ESPN Radio Dallas 103.3 was a "respectable 17th" in the market from Sept. 13-Oct. 11. That "included four Cowboys games, lots of national anthem talk, the end of the Rangers season, the start of the Stars season and plenty of college football" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/4).
