Joe Benigno: WFAN ‘will never be what it once was’

For every sports radio listener and critic who argues WFAN is on the decline or isn’t what it used to be, Joe Benigno agrees.

Benigno recently made one of his regular appearances on The Jake Asman Show, where a listener touted him as the best host in WFAN history, calling his tenure in overnights the “peak of the station.” And Benigno was very quick to agree, WFAN’s best days are behind them.

“The Fan will never be what it once was,” said Benigno, who still hosts a weekly Saturday morning show for the station. “I know I work part-time there, the days of Imus, the days of Mike and the Mad Dog, the days of Steve Somers and myself overnight, all of that, Eddie Coleman and Dave Sims – those days – we’ll never see anything like that again…The heyday, we’ve all seen the heyday of the Fan and sports talk radio in general.”

As far as whether Benigno misses his full-time radio show or wishes he could try to bring WFAN back to its heyday, the answer was a resounding no.

“I don’t miss it at all,” Benigno insisted to Asman. “I’m happy I do my little show on Saturday, I do my little podcast, I do not miss my commute into the city, thank God I’m not going into the city these days, that’s for sure. No. I did it for 25 years, it was a great run, I was fortunate to be able to do what I did, but I really don’t miss it, to be very honest with you. It ran its course for me as far as an everyday thing.”

No one ever believes the era that succeeded them is better than their era. It’s why ‘90s nostalgia is so popular, as proved by the NBA on NBC going all in on it. It’s also why Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal are so critical of the NBA and made the ridiculous claim that Steph Curry ruined the league. Because they believe their era was better than today’s NBA, just as current players will eventually think their version of the league was better than the next generation’s.

This era of WFAN might not have Mike and the Mad Dog or Imus, but it does have the longest tenured morning host in station history with Boomer Esiason. It also has some of the station’s most important hosts in Gregg Giannotti, Evan Roberts and Craig Carton.

More than the station not being what it used to be, Benigno is right in noting sports radio isn’t what it used to be. Outside of Boston, where Felger and Mazz are still capable of pulling a 25 share for The Sports Hub, sports radio isn’t must-listen-to the way it was during Benigno’s heyday on WFAN.

Mike and the Mad Dog was must-listen in New York during their heyday. Today, there are too many options for sports fans for any of them to be dubbed must-listen. The oversaturation of sports shows, podcasts, and talkers creates more content, but it makes it harder to create those shows that fans consider appointment viewing or listening. Although, Felger and Mazz still find a way.