Boomer Esiason admits Chris Oliviero ‘would have loved’ to reunite him with Craig Carton

Craig Carton wanted to reunite with Boomer Esiason when he returned to WFAN the first time, and apparently, the station wanted it too.

When Carton made his most recent return to WFAN, Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti were untouchable, with their morning show already cementing itself as a pillar of the station. But when Carton made his initial return to WFAN after being released from prison in 2020, there was a thought about reuniting him with Esiason.

Esiason recently became the longest-tenured morning host in WFAN history, surpassing Don Imus, with the accomplishment prompting Carton to joke about his former co-host being a “compiler.” Monday morning, Esiason reflected on his time with Carton and the show’s immediate success back in 2007. And according to the former NFL MVP, Audacy executive Chris Oliviero, who oversees WFAN, would have liked to reunite Boomer and Carton in 2020, but Esiason wasn’t interested in breaking up his show with Giannotti.

“Craig was gone for three and a half years. I think Oliviero would have loved to put us back together. But because Gio had really come into his own and was so great to work with and was so much fun, and we had a lot in common, there’s no way I could change that,” Esiason said of his loyalty to Giannotti. “If Gio and I were failing, then that would have been a completely different set of circumstances.

“But because Gio really became what he has become, and has become uber-talented doing this, and then the impressions and just the thought process about sports – which is the basic foundation for what we talk about – every day is a different day with him too.”

It would have been interesting to see how the lineup would have been altered if Esiason was on board with bringing Carton back to mornings. Giannotti had already proved to be an important part of the station and deserving of a drive-time show, which likely would have been in the afternoons. It’s also fair to wonder if Carton would have been willing to leave Esiason a second time for the TV opportunity that later came his way from FS1.

Carton has been open about wanting to reunite with Esiason when he returned the first time. Carton has also been very open about it being his fault that his show with Esiason ended so abruptly in 2017, which opened the door for Giannotti to take his place. Giannotti stepped into a great situation when he was tasked with replacing Carton because the station’s morning show was already immensely successful, but he also had a tough act to follow and high standards to meet.

With Boomer and Gio exceeding those standards, WFAN ultimately kept the morning show intact, likely at Esiason’s request, and paired Carton with Evan Roberts in afternoons. And it proved to be the right decision, with Boomer and Gio continuing their morning dominance, while Carton was able to bring ratings success to afternoon drive.