Mike Francesa to Return to WFAN 4 Months After Leaving

“It’s time to return,” former “Mike and the Mad Dog” co-host tells Newsday

Mike Francesa WFAN

Mike Francesa is returning to WFAN four months after walking away from the popular sports talk radio station.

“It is time to return to WFAN,” he told Newsday on Tuesday.

The rest of Francesa’s words were pretty cryptic.

Francesa told Newsday that he has been working on a project with agency CAA for months and that he “will do everything to work WFAN into an integral part of the project.”

“This is for those who started this campaign in recent days. I didn’t decide to go back to WFAN until I was told I better not go back,” Francesa told Newsday. “For those behind it, that was the moment I decided to return.”

CAA did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

The New York Post reports that Francesa, who anchored 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the station for over two decades, will host from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

WFAN declined to comment to TheWrap.

The trailblazing sports radio host, who co-hosted the “Mike and the Mad Dog” afternoon show with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo until August 2008, dominated ratings for two decades before signing off what appeared to be for good in December. The duo’s combustible relationship was the subject of an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary in 2017 that bore the title of their iconic show. Francesa was replaced by the trio of Chris Carlin, Bart Scott and Maggie Gray on December 19.

Since his “retirement,” Francesa has appeared on the Bill Simmons Podcast numerous times and teased he’d wind up elsewhere, but those plans appear to have never come to fruition. His return to WFAN would come after he received a year-long sendoff, coinciding with the release of a “30 for 30” documentary on ESPN.

The “Sports Pope” had been sharing his takes from his radio throne at WFAN since 1987, building an audience that tunes in waiting for one of his trademark rants. For those unfamiliar with New York sports radio, @BackAftaThis on Twitter has chronicled Francesa’s biggest blowups, including the clip below:

https://twitter.com/BackAftaThis/status/940483972169195520

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