Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
As someone who grew up in the South, I didn’t quite understand just how big of a deal Mike Francesa is but since moving to New York City about seven months ago I get it. The man is an A-list celebrity in New York City, forget the king of sports radio, he’s a king of Manhattan.
Well, at least figuratively speaking, because in the most recent ratings book he’s no longer the top dog. According to the New York Post, one month of the ratings book is equivalent to three innings of a baseball game and let’s just say he’s trailing after three.
Michael Kay’s show on ESPN New York took the No. 1 spot ahead of Francesa with a 7.4 rating. Francesa drew in a 6.0 rating if you include his streaming numbers, but just a 5.6 if you take the stream out of the picture.
Frances, of course, responded to the numbers just as you’d expect him to.
“I have been in afternoon drive since 1989 and have never finished behind another sports program. Never. The other station celebrating a success now would be the same as spiking the football after finally scoring a TD in a game that is 77-0!”
Ah, there it is, that’s the good stuff. Francesa bringing it back to sports and giving us that simple analogy to tell us just how great he is.
What’s even more alarming for Francesa is that he’s actually in last place among FAN’s other daily programs with ‘Boomer & Gio,’ ‘Maggie & Bart,’ and ‘Joe & Evan’ all beating him out.
The 65-year-old is still a king of New York, and always will be, but these numbers are a sign that the times may be changing and Francesa is going to have to figure something out pretty quick to keep up.