The chances of New Jersey governor Chris Christie replacing Mike Francesa as a sports talk host on New York Cityâs 660 WFAN appear to be rising. Francesa will leave the station this December, and Christie leaves office three weeks later. Thereâs been speculation about Christie as a possible Francesa replacement for months, as heâs regularly called into Francesaâs show, has served as a recurring popular guest host on WFANâs morning Boomer and Carton show, and has expressed interest in the role, and now we have confirmation from Dustin Racioppi of NorthJersey.com (owned by Gannett) that a possible deal with Christie is âworth pursuingâ for WFAN:
WFAN 660-AM, the regionâs dominant sports-talk radio station, will âbe looking to do stuffâ at the end of the year, when longtime afternoon drive host Mike Francesaâs contract with the station ends, said Mark Chernoff, the stationâs program director and vice president of its parent company, CBS Radio New York. Christie, whose name has been rumored as a possible replacement for Francesa, is among âplenty of candidatesâ the station is contemplating to fill the void left by Francesa, Chernoff said.
âI would certainly at least want to consider him,â Chernoff said in an interview this week. âIf heâs interested and weâre interested, itâs worth pursuing.â
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For one thing, Christie might make more in a high-profile WFAN gig than he would in many of the Washington jobs heâs been linked to. Heâs also talked repeatedly about how he doesnât want to work in D.C., and heâs expressed interest in a sports broadcasting job, as in an interview on SNY last week that Racioppi quotes:
âAs my son said â he said, âI canât believe Iâve been listening to you talk about sports my entire life and that someone might actually pay you to do that.â He said, âI canât imagine how great that would be for you,'â Christie said during an appearance on the SNY cable network last week. âAnd so, yeah, thatâs certainly one of the things that I hope Iâll have a chance to consider when I get out and stop being governor.â
Christie also called in to Francesaâs show last month, and Francesa asked what Christie was going to do after he leaves office (at 7:45, after quite the digression about why Christie was calling him instead of Boomer and Carton, and a discussion of Christieâs Cowboys fandom (see the photo of him with Jerry Jones above, from a September Cowboys-Giants game in Texas):
At 8:45, after Christie talks about how he wants to make money, have fun and spend more time with his family, Francesa says âI can think of a job that fills all those, the job Iâm going to vacate in December next year.â Christie demurs by saying that both he and Francesa have their future speculated about a lot, and after he says âIâm going to have wide-open ears, itâs going to be the first time Iâm a free agent,â Francesa pushes with âWould you throw your hat in the ring for that, is that a possibility?â
Christie then responds âMike, you donât throw your hat in the ring for that kind of thing, you see what happens.â Francesa then asks âCould you see yourself talking sports daily, or talking whatever you want to talk about, sports or whatever you want to talk about, could you see yourself doing this kind of show every day?â Christie responds âWell, you can tell that I love to talk, and I love sports.â
Christie then talks about how he enjoys filling in on Boomer and Carton (heâs guest-hosted that show 10 times in the last year), then says âI enjoy doing this kind of stuff, I enjoy talking about news also, and current events, but I love sports,â and then says heâd be open to potentially doing both news and sports shows.
I donât know why youâd have to do either/or,â the Republican governor said. âYou could do both. I think if you have a passion for both, then thereâs no reason why you shouldnât have an opportunity to do both if someone thinks that you bring value.
âYou know as well as anybody in this business â and thereâs lots of different kinds of personalities that succeed in this business â but what matters is do people want to listen to you, do people want to watch you?â he added. âIf they do, youâll find a way to make a good living and have some fun.â
Meanwhile, NJ.comâs Steve Politi wrote last October that Christie seemed to be positioning himself for a move into radio:
The WFAN studios are the one consistent place where you actually can find Christie these days. If heâs not filling for one of the co-hosts on the Boomer & Carton Show, he sometimes calls in just to add his two cents. I imagine the speed dials on his iPhone are listed â1. The Donald. 2. CC/Booms.â
And that, I think, is also the order of his post-gubernatorial career choices. Sure, Plan A was to become Trumpâs consigliere in Washington for the next four years, but now that this is looking about as likely as Rutgers making the Rose Bowl this season, is Plan B yapping about sports for a living?To be clear: I donât have any inside information here. This is just a guess, based on what I know about Christie and his clear affinity for the spotlight and for sports. But it sure seems like heâs auditioning for a job at WFAN, and maybe for the job: Replacing the soon to retire Mike Francesa.
Whatâs also notable from the NorthJersey.com piece is that Christie might get some more regular guest-hosting slots this summer if he is serious about this, and that itâs ânot likelyâ WFAN will fill Francesaâs 1-6:30 p.m. slot with just one show (so Christie might be just part of the overall replacement plan):
Francesa typically takes about six weeks of vacation during the summer, and Chernoff said that if Christie has the time, âweâll probably let him do some afternoon showsâ to test him out in an unfamiliar time slot.
Chernoff said Christieâs appearances have been popular with listeners, regardless of whether they agree with his opinions.
âŠFrancesa has been a mainstay of WFAN from 1 to 6:30 p.m. since 1989 and a perennial ratings leader, whether by himself or with his longtime on-air partner, Chris âMad Dogâ Russo, who left in 2008 for Sirius XM Radio. Chernoff said âthose are huge shoes to fill,â but it is ânot likelyâ that whoever replaces Francesa will do so for the full afternoon drive.
âI canât say that the next person or team doing the show will do five-and-a-half hours,â Chernoff said.
If anything, that might add to the case for Christie as at least a partial Francesa replacement. Throwing someone who hasnât regularly hosted a daily show into a prime five-and-a-half hour slot is risky regardless of their profile and other work, and that might also be a substantial grind for a relative radio newcomer like Christie. Meanwhile, going with a few different Francesa replacements might let WFAN play around to see what works best, and it could mitigate at least some of the risk of going in an unconventional direction with Christie. Thereâs still a long time until Francesa leaves in December and Christie exits office in January, and this is far from locked down, but it certainly sounds like the chances of Christie taking at least part of Francesaâs old slot are becoming higher and higher.