Radio Alert: It?s Now Mike Minus Mad Dog
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Published: August 14, 2008
Martin and Lewis broke up, and so did the Beatles.
And on Thursday, WFAN?s ?Mike and the Mad Dog? became just Mike, when Chris Russo left the station abruptly, ending a nearly 19-year partnership with Mike Francesa that had made them perhaps the most formidable duo in sports-talk radio.
Russo?s divorce from the station came in the early evening, leading WFAN to swiftly name Francesa the sole host of the popular afternoon drive-time show, starting immediately. For now, it will be called ?Francesa on the FAN.?
Russo?s departure is the second time in little more than a year that one of the station?s stars has left: Don Imus?s long-running show was canceled by CBS, which owns WFAN, after he made racially insensitive remarks about the Rutgers women?s basketball team in April 2007.
Russo and Francesa have had an occasionally fractious personal relationship, but Russo insisted that his decision to leave had nothing to do with the friction.
?The idea that we hate each other and I had to get out, trust me, that?s not true,? Russo said. ?I?m 48 years old. It?s time for a change, and I?m looking for a new challenge.?
He said he had no other jobs waiting for him.
He and Francesa have had rocky moments as a team. Russo said the most recent one lasted from late February to mid-May until station management asked them ?to get along better because we?re important to the fabric of the station.? Francesa called the recent period ?our first prolonged stretch of ugliness in about eight years.?
There had been speculation that either Russo or Francesa might not work through the end of his current contract. Russo and his agent, Sandy Montag, had been negotiating a possible extension beyond the March expiration of his contract.
But Russo was unwilling to commit to five more years and WFAN officials needed to plan for the post-Labor Day period, when the football season starts and the baseball pennant races and postseason heat up.
?We mutually agreed today that if he were going to leave, now would be the time to do it, from both parties? standpoints,? Montag said.
Russo?s sudden departure means that he will not have a farewell show. He had been on vacation this week, but admitted he would have liked to say goodbye to his listeners.
?I?ve learned this,? Francesa said. ?You only get a goodbye show when you retire. No company gives you a goodbye show unless you?re no longer going to be a competitor. And we all know that Dog will work again.?
Both men know that some listeners and critics have noted that they were better as a team. Each faces a future in which his efforts will be compared with the partnership.
Francesa will surround himself with other personalities, but his plans are evolving.
?I don?t think anyone wants to hear one voice for five and a half hours,? he said.
Russo said: ?I?m not sure I?ll take another partner on, but before Mike, I was solo. I can do a talk show. Solo, partner, anything I?m on, I?ll do a good talk show.?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/15/sports/15wfan.html?embeen listening/watching for years. this sucks. they\'re definitely better together. but there\'s been some indication on the air recently that this was going to happen. just didn\'t expect it to be this abrupt.
When was the last time they were on the air together? I\'m not the most frequent listener, but seems it\'s just been one or the other all summer. The solo shows are brutal too.
Too bad. I am also a big Mike and the Mad Dog fan, but you could see this coming. Based on the way Francesa put it earlier in the summer I was pretty certain that they would be done as a tag team by the end of the summer.
Personally, I am not looking forward to have Francesa just do a solo gig (or Russo for that matter either). Together they have great chemistry, but apart they are ehhhh...
I love Francesa during Football season (he does the Sunday morning pregame) because he has all the long time connections to get you the best, accurate, inside info., but him alone for 5 1/2 hrs. in the afternoon is a snoozefest...and Chris Russo is way too whiny by himself. He needs Mike to even him out.
It\'s been a great run. I will miss them. Please don\'t promote Beningo and Angry Roberts. Even as a Mets fan, those guys (especially Beningo...mostly Beningo) are terrible.
When was the last time they were on the air together? I\'m not the most frequent listener, but seems it\'s just been one or the other all summer.
They did a show together from either Jets or Giants training camp 3 or 4 weeks ago. Before that I think they had done one other show in June, but for the most part they have been seperate since May
i think i like carton & boomer more than i ever liked mike & the mad dog
as someone who works on the staff of one of their competitors, while they had an excellent show and this sucks, it, um, kind of doesn\'t. They always have the one up of the afternoon drive slot though and a format where people call in all day long where we\'re on in the mornings, but still this isn\'t going to exactly hurt us.
i think i like carton & boomer more than i ever liked mike & the mad dog
I like Boomer (obviously for his time with the Jets), but Carton is a plain ass and is a major band-wagon jumper. His positive support of the Mets depends on whether they are winning or not. When you are the station for a team, you should be supportive regardless of how they are doing. He should be more concerned with the fact that his team is barely holding onto a lead in a division where they should be at least 5 games up; not so much on have a burial procession if the Yankees don\'t make the playoffs. He\'s a whiny
**** who\'s ego has been inflated because he\'s on the radio. Another thing that bugs me about him is how he calls himself a blue-collar guy; the day he took a seat behind the mic, he became white collow. He\'s unbearable when Boomer is on vacation.
Sorry, but I hate this guy and only listen when 1050 is on commercial.
i think you have to take everything carton says with a grain of salt. probably easier for me since i\'m not a ny sports fan, and i really just listen to the show for entertainment value. if i were a mets or yankees fan, i could definitely see him pissing me off
fwiw, i think mike & mike are the suckiest couple of sucks that ever sucked
fwiw, i think mike & mike are the suckiest couple of sucks that ever sucked
:shrug: never said you had to like them, I just work with them. I do get to be ridiculously creative when we do the stone cold lead pipe locks in football season which is only like 3 weeks away though. It\'s a really fun show to work on. I can\'t tell you how many times we hang our heads while laughing at something and someone points out that we\'re getting paid to do this.
i think you have to take everything carton says with a grain of salt. probably easier for me since i\'m not a ny sports fan, and i really just listen to the show for entertainment value. if i were a mets or yankees fan, i could definitely see him pissing me off
I\'m sure Met fan would appreciate Carton, but as a life-long Yankee fan, he makes my blood boil the same way that Sean Hannity does (hate him too).
fwiw, i think mike & mike are the suckiest couple of sucks that ever sucked
[BANANA]Yeah That...[/BANANA]
I actually find M&M amusing more than anything. I get more sports information from them than I do Sports Center (which just regurgitates the same thing over and over again).
probably easier for me since i\'m not a ny sports fan, and i really just listen to the show for entertainment value.
If that\'s your idea of entertainment, maybe you should lay off the pipe.
Speaking of... are you going to Daniel St. tonight? I\'d like to get that glass piece of yours out of my garage, so I can start parking my truck in there again before winter comes.
Not being a fan of any New York teams, except for the Shitty Knicks, I would occasionally get tired of Mike and the Mad Dog. And, like any radio show, a lot of the callers were unbearable. But, regardless, it still sucks to have lost my old reliable radio show for when nothing else is on. I just hope they don\'t get another Yankee fan to partner with Mike; the show would be unbearable if it just turned into Francesa and someone else agreeing with each other and/or bitching about the same things all of the time.
As far as Mike and Mike, I do enjoy when they actually talk about sports. Otherwise, unless you watched the same TV shows as Greenberg did the night before, there\'s not much that\'s interesting. Although I am glad that you like your job, PR.
probably easier for me since i\'m not a ny sports fan, and i really just listen to the show for entertainment value.
If that\'s your idea of entertainment, maybe you should lay off the pipe.
Speaking of... are you going to Daniel St. tonight? I\'d like to get that glass piece of yours out of my garage, so I can start parking my truck in there again before winter comes.
lol yes i will be there...sorry i haven\'t picked it up yet, but u-hauls are expensive these days
probably easier for me since i\'m not a ny sports fan, and i really just listen to the show for entertainment value.
If that\'s your idea of entertainment, maybe you should lay off the pipe.
Speaking of... are you going to Daniel St. tonight? I\'d like to get that glass piece of yours out of my garage, so I can start parking my truck in there again before winter comes.
lol yes i will be there...sorry i haven\'t picked it up yet, but u-hauls are expensive these days
I\'m gonna drive your travel piece to the show tonight.