ESPN Radio 98.7 N.Y.'s "The Michael Kay Show" continued its "recent ratings success in January," finishing first in N.Y. among men 25-54 and "comfortably surpassing WFAN's new afternoon show head-to-head" from 3:00-6:00pm ET, according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. Kay averaged 8.1% of those "listening in the target demographic for those three hours compared with 6.7 for Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts, who were second overall in the market." For the full autumn book, Kay's show had beaten WFAN's Mike Francesa -- who left drive time on Dec. 6 -- 7.4 to 6.1. Meanwhile, WFAN's new midday show featuring Maggie Gray and Marc Malusis was "first overall" from 10:00am-2:00pm in its first month, with 6.3% of the audience "compared with ESPN's 4.6, which was sixth overall." The WFAN morning show featuring Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti "won handily over ESPN's national show, more than doubling its share" (NEWSDAY, 2/19).
A NEW ERA: In N.Y., Andrew Marchand writes the "dominant players in the basically post-Mike Francesa New York sports radio world are shows with range." The franchises now on ESPN Radio 98.7 N.Y. and WFAN are "personality-driven." ESPN's "The Michael Kay Show" is "owning afternoons," while WFAN's "Boomer & Gio" is "crushing the competition in mornings." Those shows "talk about sports, but other topics as well." This trend leaves WFAN's new afternoon program in a "little bit of no-man's land," because Benigno and Roberts do "almost entirely meat-and-potatoes sports radio." This is just the "beginning of the post-Francesa sports radio world." But Benigno and Roberts' job has "only become harder as the Kay Show has gotten stronger" (N.Y. POST, 2/19).
