''Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN'' was a

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on ...

talk show airing on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

station

WFAN WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

, hosted by

Mike Francesa Michael Patrick Francesa (born March 20, 1954) is an American sports-radio talk-show host. Together with Chris Russo, he launched ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' in 1989 on WFAN in New York City, which ran until 2008 and is one of the most successful s ...

. The show debuted on September 3, 2008, as the successor to Francesa's previous program, ''

Mike and the Mad Dog ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' was an American sports radio show hosted by Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo that aired in afternoons on WFAN in New York City from September 1989 to August 2008. From 2002 the show was simulcast on television ...

'', which was broadcast from 1989 to 2008 and made Francesa and his partner

Chris Russo Christopher Michael Russo (born October 18, 1959), also known as Mad Dog, is an American sports radio personality best known as the former co-host of the '' Mike and the Mad Dog'' sports radio program with Mike Francesa, which was broadcast on ...

the first nationally known team in sports radio. When simulcast on television, ''Mike's On'' is broadcast under the title ''The Mike Francesa Show''; it was simulcast on the

YES Network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), ...

from its inception until January 31, 2014. On March 24, 2014, Francesa signed an agreement to occasionally simulcast a portion of the show on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

and

Fox Sports 2 Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Cit ...

. The arrangement with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

ended September 11, 2015 with Mike taking the blame for the project not succeeding. Francesa announced his retirement and the final show aired on December 15, 2017. Mike's On returned to the airwaves on May 1, 2018, after what Francesa described as taking "some time off." On December 6, 2019, Francesa signed off his afternoon drive slot for the final time, transitioning to an expanded role on the Radio.com app and a half-hour daily show on WFAN. On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, Francesa's timeslot was expanded to 6pm-7pm, Weekdays on WFAN. On Thursday, July 23, 2020, Francesa announced that Friday July 24 would be his final show, and he once again retired the following day.

Show format

The format of the show is similar to ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' with Francesa giving his opinions on the major sports stories of the day, as well as answering calls from listeners. Also, Francesa brings on guests from various sports ranging from head coaches/managers and players in the NFL, NBA,

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

and

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

to broadcasters, and sportswriters from major newspapers across the country. The radio show includes sports updates every twenty minutes formerly provided by

John Minko John A. Minko (born January 31, 1953) is an American sports radio and television personality. He was a "20/20 sports anchor" on radio station WFAN in New York City and had worked there from its inception in 1987 until 2020. Nicknamed "Coach" by his ...

Name

The show's previous name is ''Mike'd Up: Francesa on the FAN''. Francesa had a TV show on

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo stati ...

entitled '' Mike'd Up: The Francesa Sports Final'', and

had to secure permission from WNBC to use the name ''Mike'd Up''. On January 15, 2012, Francesa announced that the show could not reach an agreement with WNBC to continue to license the name ''Mike'd Up'' and changed its name to ''Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN''.

Broadcast times

The program now airs from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. on

Theme Song

''Mike's on.'' ''He's ready to go.'' ''On the FAN, New York Sports Radio.'' ''Mike's on. Mike's on.'' ''He'll get you the sports any way that he can.'' ''It's Mike Francesa on the FAN.'' ''Sports Radio 66, and 101.9 FM. W-F-A-N.''

Awards

In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Francesa was ranked number one among the 100 most important sports talk radio hosts in America by ''

Talkers Magazine ''Talkers Magazine'' is a trade-industry publication related to talk radio in the United States. Its slogan is "The Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media". In addition to radio, it also covers talk shows on broadcast and cable television, a ...

''. Francesa credited colleagues at WFAN for his success with special salute to Russo. Francesa won the 2012

Marconi Award :''"Marconi Award" links here. Note that in the Netherlands, the radio academy awards are also called Marconi Awards.'' The Marconi Radio Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to the top radio stations and ...

for Major Market Personality of the Year, which is his second since 2000. The announcement was made on September 20 at the 2012 National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

References

{{Fox Sports American sports radio programs American live television series YES Network original programming Fox Sports 1 original programming 2008 radio programme debuts 2017 radio programme endings 2018 radio programme debuts 2020 radio programme endings 2008 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings 2014 American television series debuts 2015 American television series endings Simulcasts