Sal Licata details first firing from WFAN: Mike Francesa ‘tried to save my job’

15 years before WFAN moved on from Sal Licata as a midday host, they fired him as Mike Francesa’s board operator after a behind-the-scenes incident.

Like many on-air personalities in radio, Licata broke in as a producer. Prior to getting his shot on-air, Licata worked as a board-op for Mike and the Mad Dog, and continued in the role on Francesa’s show after Russo left for SiriusXM. But in 2010, Licata was abruptly fired.

Details weren’t reported at the time, but the firing was believed to have stemmed from what a prominent station sponsor considered to be an alleged extortion attempt. And the fact that Francesa was unable to keep Licata on his production staff implied this was a big deal. But on the latest episode of Licata’s podcast, he described what led to his first firing from WFAN as a “nothing story.”

“I went to Connecticut School of Broadcasting,” Licata said before explaining that then-midday host Joe Benigno was getting paid to read commercials for CSB on-air. “But I was reaching out to them, saying, ‘Hey, I went to the school, I’m on Francesa’s show, I’d love to be able to endorse the spot.’ They were not responding to the email. And then I guess one email I sent, they took it as a threat. But it was not a threat because, usually, to threaten, you have to have some kind of power. I never had any power. I was on Francesa’s show, but I was barely on the air. And I guess they took it as, ‘If you don’t sponsor me, I will then rip you on the air,’ which was not ever gonna be the case.”

Licata remembered Connecticut School of Broadcasting founder Dick Robinson calling the control room to address the supposed threat. Immediately, Licata said he attempted to explain that the email was not a threat, and further stated his desire to endorse the school on-air. But according to Licata, Dickerson was not interested in the explanation and took his issue to higher-ups at CBS, which owned the station at the time.

“They didn’t know who the hell I was,” Licata said of the higher-ups at CBS. “I was just a board-op on Francesa’s show. But when you start talking about threatening a sponsor or any issue with a sponsor…they weren’t gonna worry about me, they were gonna say, ‘Just gonna keep the sponsor happy, we’ll just fire him.’ That’s what happened, even though Mike tried to save my job.”

To this day, Licata swears the email was not threatening. He admitted it may have sounded frustrated because he was trying to get a response, but there was no threat. And as a board-op with no airtime, Licata wasn’t really in a position to issue any credible threat.

Three years later, Licata returned to WFAN as a fill-in host, which would imply the station never thought much of this incident with CSB. Eventually, Licata’s fill-in work led to a full-time opportunity in overnights before ultimately landing the midday show with Brandon Tierney. Licata’s most recent WFAN tenure ended last December, seemingly on better terms than when he was fired in 2010. But if he was able to go from being a fired producer to a prominent full-time host at the same station, then it’s reasonable to wonder if Licata will eventually work his way back to WFAN again in the future.