The New York Sports radio WFAN, first broadcast on July 1, 1987 at 1050AM replacing WHN. WFAN was the first all sports station in the United States. The station's current frequency, 660AM. was formerly known as WNBC and first transmitted on March 2, 1922. WFAN moved to 660AM at 5:30PM Eastern Time on October 7, 1988 when WNBC signed off for the last time.
Early history
The 660 AM frequency in New York originated as WEAF on March 2, 1922, owned by AT&T. In 1926, WEAF became the flagship station of the NBC Red Network, one of two radio chains operated by the National Broadcasting Company. By 1928, WEAF was purchased by NBC's parent company, the Radio Corporation of America.
As a result of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement of 1941, WEAF became a clear-channel station and could be heard across most of the eastern half of North America at night. In 1943, the United States Supreme Court, citing antitrust concerns, ordered RCA to sell off one of its radio networks. The company decided to keep the Red Network, and it was rebranded as the NBC Radio Network after the Blue Network was divested to Edward J. Noble.
WEAF's call letters were changed to WNBC in 1946, then to WRCA in 1954, and back to WNBC in 1960. During the 1960s, WNBC relied less on network programming and adopted a talk format, followed by a switch to a middle-of-the-road music sound. The station spent much of the 1970s and early 1980s flipping between the Top 40 and adult contemporary formats, with varying success. By the middle of the 1980s, WNBC played less music and relied more on personality-driven talk programs with hosts such as Don Imus, Howard Stern, Joey Reynolds, Alan Colmes, and Soupy Sales.
The beginning of WFAN
Meanwhile, at 3:00 p.m. on July 1, 1987, Emmis Communications-owned country music station WHN changed its call letters to WFAN and branded itself as the world's first 24-hour-per-day sports talk station. The first voice heard on WFAN was that of Suzyn Waldman, with a sports update, followed by the first show, which was hosted by Jim Lampley. Waldman reported for the station, covering the New York Yankees and New York Knicks, for 14 years. Ann Liguori was the first woman to host a call-in sports show on WFAN when her ‘Hey Liguori, What’s the Story’ show debuted on Saturday morning, July 4, 1987. Her first show featured an exclusive interview with Doc Gooden, the Mets star pitcher from their 1986 World Series win, who had recently gotten out of Smithers Rehab. Ann continued to host a weekly show on WFAN for 26 years and continues as the station's golf and tennis correspondent, covering The Majors. Other hosts besides Lampley in the 1050 kHz years included Bill Mazer, Pete Franklin, Greg Gumbel, Art Shamsky, and Ed Coleman. WFAN also inherited the radio broadcast rights to the defending World Series champion New York Mets, which WHN had held since 1983.
In early 1988, General Electric, which now owned NBC through its purchase of RCA two years earlier, announced that it would sell the NBC Radio division. In February of that year, GE completed a multi-station deal with Emmis and, in New York City, the WNBC license for 660 was included in the sale. On October 7, 1988 at 5:30 p.m., WFAN moved down the radio dial to replace WNBC at 660 kHz. The last voice heard on WNBC was that of Alan Colmes, who counted down the seconds to WNBC's demise with the legendary NBC chimes (the notes G-E-C) playing in the background. After 66 years, the long history of NBC radio in New York had come to an end.
In the complicated switch that saw WFAN move to the 660 frequency, the 1050 frequency that was formerly the home of WFAN became that of Spanish-language WUKQ, owned by Spanish Broadcasting System. However, SBS already owned an AM station in the market, Newark-based WSKQ at 620 kHz, and in those days Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules stipulated that companies could own only one AM station per market. As a result, SBS received a temporary waiver to run 1050 while exploring the sale of either AM frequency. SBS chose to keep 620 (it is now WSNR), and 1050 was traded to Forward Communications, which owned WEVD, then at 97.9 FM. After that deal was approved, WEVD's call letters and programming moved to 1050 AM (it is now WEPN and ironically a sports station), and SBS took over 97.9 as WSKQ-FM. The October NBC-Emmis switch also saw Emmis's WQHT (then at 103.5 MHz.) move to 97.1 MHz., which had been the home of NBC's WYNY. Emmis sold the 103.5 frequency to Westwood One, who also acquired the WYNY call letters and its country music format.
In all this, WFAN retired two of the oldest radio call letters from the dawn of commercial radio: WHN and WNBC.
After the switch One of the keys to WFAN's early success on 660 was acquiring Don Imus to do the morning show. WFAN's original morning show on 1050 was hosted by Greg Gumbel. The show was a straightforward sports show, but was not doing well in the ratings. At the time of the switch, sports talk radio was still an untested format with questionable prospects, and the idea of bringing on board a host that appealed to a broader audience would get more people to try the station out. WFAN also benefitted from the inertia from Imus's fans who were used to tuning into 660AM on weekday mornings to listen to Imus on WNBC. WFAN instantly took advantage of its Imus inheritance, for example, it featured a special live monologue by Imus character Billy Sol Hargus from Shea Stadium moments after taking over the 660 frequency.
It quickly became apparent that WFAN's gambit of bringing Imus on board worked. Ratings for the morning show were strong, and it was successful to a point in driving ratings for the rest of WFAN's programming day. This model of using a general-interest morning host for a sports talk radio station (especially at launch) has been used at other sports radio stations across the country and proved that sports radio could indeed be a profitable format.
WFAN was also the first station in the country to roll out sports updates every 20 minutes. These updates, called 20-20 Sports Flashes, are now considered an industry standard. When WFAN first started updates were done every 15 minutes. Additionally, in a nod to the former WNBC, update anchors often end their top-of-the-hour updates with the catchphrase "And that's what's happening...", which is how WNBC on-air news readers had ended their updates.
Other programming that WFAN had at its launch included a mid-morning show with Ed Coleman and Mike Francesa, and an afternoon drive time show with Pete Franklin, who in Cleveland had become one of the first polarizing, outrageous talk show hosts. During his stay in New York, Franklin was probably best known for an incident where he used a four-letter expletive on air, in error, when trying to say "All you folks" (he was not disciplined for the incident.)
Running a close second was a 30-second Franklin diatribe on whether he had been offensive – "Do I offend anyone? I'm not here to offend you, dammit!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jAZv2cyTVI YouTube: Pete Franklin Goes Out on Top – that has been replayed ever since, especially on the July 1 WFAN anniversaries.
In a further drive to boost ratings, Imus instigated a feud with Franklin, much as he had with Howard Stern at WNBC in the mid-1980s. Both Imus and Franklin took shots at each other during their shows, Franklin calling Imus "Minus" and Imus recording parodies of radio commercials where he bashed Franklin as a "dinosaur", among other things. Franklin left WFAN in August 1989.
On September 5, 1989, a jointly hosted afternoon drive show with Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo - who had been a weekend/fill-in host to that time - would premiere. The Mike and the Mad Dog show became the defining show of WFAN, one of the most consistently popular radio shows in New York, and one of the most influential sports talk radio shows in the country.
Recent history Over the years WFAN has continued to have a broad-based sports talk and play-by-play format. WFAN ratings gradually rose and at some points it was the top-billing station in New York and the country. In 1992 Emmis sold WFAN to Infinity Broadcasting, which would be purchased by Westinghouse Electric Corporation – CBS' then-parent company—in 1997, ironically, making WNBC's old frequency a sister station to its former rival WCBS 880AM
WFAN's broadcast day begins at 6:00 a.m. (Eastern time) with Boomer and Carton, hosted by former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason and radio veteran Craig Carton. As of September 13, 2017, Craig Carton officially resigned from the Boomer & Carton show following alleged fraudulent activities in running a ticket reseller business. The new morning co-host is Gregg Giannotti. The midday timeslot is now called “Moose and Maggie, co-hosted by Marc Malusis who has been with WFAN for 15 years and Maggie Gray. As of 2022 they have been replaced with Tiki Barber & Brandon Tierney. The new midday hosts are Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata.
The afternoon drive slot is now hosted by Evan Roberts and former New York Giant football player Tiki Barber. Joe Beningo retired from that spot in late 2020.
On Monday nights during the NFL season, Kimberly Jones hosts a football show leading into the Monday Night Football broadcast, working during the 2009 season with former NFL players Roman Oben. Jones, who was a member of the Yankees' broadcast team on YES, also hosts other shows during the baseball off-season or when regular hosts are on vacation.
John Jastremski who was the winner of the 2011 Fantasy Phenom contest, hosts weeknights or following coverage of live game broadcasts. Jastremski is no longer with the station. He also hosts "Odds on Sports", a half hour sports gambling program that offers insight into the lines of the games. Keith McPherson currently hosts the 7PM to 12 Midnight shift. Other overnight hosts include Sal Licata, Chris McMonigle and Danielle McCarten . Another WFAN host is longtime New York rock radio fixture Richard Neer.
WFAN stands out in that all of its sports-talk shows are currently local in origin, not syndicated as is the practice of most sports-talk radio stations (usually except during the morning and/or drive-time periods).
Over the years WFAN has established a tight bond with its listeners, to the point where one of them eventually landed a regular on-air spot. Joe Benigno had been a frequent caller to "The Fan" (especially the Mike and the Mad Dog show) as "Joe from Saddle River", and his calls were typically interesting and insightful. In 1994 he was chosen to host a one-hour show during a promotion where listeners were invited to host a show. The test went well, and he later parlayed it into a regular overnight shift, which started in 1995.
WFAN also features the "20-20 Flash", a one- to two-minute update on sports scores and news, which occurs every 20 minutes (on the hour, twenty after and forty after). The update team consists of Rich Ackerman (no longer) Harris Allen (no longer), Mike McCann, Erica Herskowitz, Bob Heussler (no longer) Marc Malusis (no longer, John Minko (no longer, Jerry Recco and Greg Tartaglia (no longer). The station also employs beat reporters to cover the Mets (Ed Coleman), Yankees (Sweeny Murti, no longer), Jets (Peter Schwartz) and Giants (Paul Dottino).
In 2010, the station was honored by the National Association of Broadcasters with the Marconi award for Sports Station of the Year.
Team coverage