After 33 years, Mike Francesa is leaving WFAN.
The longtime sports talk show host announced his decision on Thursday during “Mike’s On” that he is stepping down and that Friday will be his final regularly scheduled show.
"Tomorrow night will be my last regularly scheduled broadcast on the FAN," he said. "I have been discussing this with the company for a while. We agreed I would stay until sports came back. The reason – I have cut back dramatically. This has been a very strange year. It has made me think about different things and do different things."
Francesa has been a fixture at WFAN across five decades, where he established himself as one of the most celebrated and successful sports talk show hosts in the history of radio.
“Mike has been the heart of WFAN for over 30 years, and though his day in and day out presence has come to an end, that bond happily will continue,” Chris Oliviero, SVP/Market Manager at WFAN said. “The future of WFAN as the premiere sports platform in New York is bright, and that is in large part to the foundation that Mike has helped build.”
In 1989, Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo teamed up to host the iconic “Mike and the Mad Dog” show, which lasted 19 years and paved the way for sports talk radio in New York and across the country.
The show came to an end in 2008, but Mike remained on WFAN, where he hosted “Mike’s On” ever since and continued to have a successful run which saw his popularity and influence grow with a new generation of sports fans.
“To me, it validates his place as the greatest sports host ever,” Oliviero told Newsday in June. “But also one of the most iconic New York radio hosts regardless of genre or format.”
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