Thank You Mike

We have reached the end of an era on WFAN, the top sports talk station in the New York market. Mike Francesa, who had been hosting on the network for the last 28 years, held his final broadcast on Friday, ending a long and very storied run on the airwaves. He is a big reason why not only WFAN is the success it is, but a big reason why sports talk radio is as successful a format as it is on the radio dial.

Francesa did things a little bit differently then other talk show hosts. He kind of considered himself like a Grand Poobah when it came to sports talk and sports in general. He felt that his opinions were the right one and that everybody else was either misguided or wrong. That's what made this entertaining because you never knew what he was going to say next. He had a lot going behind him to back him up however. He was a sports encyclopedia, he knew pretty much everything in relation to sports in New York (with the exception of hockey which he admitted he didn't know much about).

Francesa talked about what he felt he was right about when it came to sports whether it was right or not, it was his opinion and he stuck with it. It drew many ranges of emotions out of his listeners and it got the phone lines lighting up, which is the ultimate goal in sports talk radio. He was right on some of his opinions, he knows college basketball better then any other talk show host I've ever heard. Some areas like hockey, he doesn't know very well but he did a admirable job covering up for it. Sure he had his moments. Like hanging up on fans he was unhappy with. If he ever had a bad caller, or one he was just annoyed with, he'd drop the caller right away. That annoyed a few people, and I'll admit I was one of those who on occasion got annoyed by it as well. But because he took so many calls during the course of a day he had to do things like that at times. Every time he would open up his microphone he was always ready to go. He had passion in every single segment he did and it was infectious.

On a personal note, I do want to take this opportunity to thank Mike. I was such a big fan of him and Mad Dog, listening to them everyday was a joy. Hearing them on WFAN was a big reason why I wanted to get into the broadcasting profession in the first place. They were the reason why I wanted to host my own radio show. Just hearing the emotion he had in his voice and the passion behind every one of his arguments made for fantastic radio. It really helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my career.

When Francesa closed out his final broadcast on WFAN by saying this: “More than anything else going out, I want to thank you guys, the listeners, the audience, because without you, we don’t last a week, we don’t last a month. So what I’d like to say to you is I’ll miss you, I thank you, and from the bottom of my heart, I love you. Goodbye.”

No Mike, thank you. Thanks for keeping us entertained all this years and making it fun to tune into the fan each and every day.