When it comes to sports talk radio in New York City, there’s only one station that matters – CBS Radio’s WFAN. Since it’s inception on September 4, 2007, The Boomer & Carton Show – featuring former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason and former “Jersey Guy” Craig Carton – has become a foundation of success on a station that provides a voice for some of the toughest and most knowledgeable sports fans in the world.
By Michael Parrish
Boomer & Carton
When it comes to sports talk radio in New York City, there’s only one station that matters – CBS Radio’s WFAN. For over 23 years, “The Fan” has been the center of the greatest sports city on the planet. It’s the station where fans of two MLB, two NFL, three NHL, two NBA and numerous Division I college teams that all call the New York City metropolitan area home get to voice their opinion and dissect their favorite teams six ways to Sunday.
WFAN spawned the sports talk format, originally signing on July 1, 1987 at 1050 AM on the dial, before moving to 660 AM on October 7, 1988. The move displaced the legendary WNBC, home of Howard Stern and Don Imus, among others, though Imus was kept on board to help bring stability and introduce a broader audience to the fledgling sports talk format. The gambit worked and Imus in the Morning combined with sports talk all day made for a successful pairing until the politically correct language police caught up with Imus in April 2007, leaving a gaping hole in morning drive at WFAN.
The firing of Imus from WFAN came on April 12, as he was in the middle of his annual radiothon. Oddly enough, former NFL quarterback and current CBS SportsNFL Today studio analyst Boomer Esiason had called in that day for an appearance during the on-air fundraiser, but instead was told by Imus’ producer that he couldn’t go on the show because Imus had just been fired. What followed in the morning time slot was a cavalcade of WFAN personalities and celebrities trying to fill the void, until September 4, 2007 when it was announced that Esiason and Craig Carton would be permanently filling the slot.
“It was later that same day when my agent called me and asked if I would be interested in doing mornings on WFAN and I said, ‘Whatever, I’ll investigate anything’ and that’s where it started for me,” recalls Esiason, who then adds. “So they had to go find me a partner, if they wanted me.”
After a few tryouts with potential partners that didn’t pan out, Esiason began to wonder if this was going to work out. “Nobody could get it, but everybody wanted it,” he says.
Enter Craig Carton, a successful radio journeyman that began his career in 1991 at WGR/Buffalo where his energetic and irreverent show quickly became a ratings hit. After a stop at WWWE/Cleveland, Carton took his skills to WIP/Philadelphia where the New Yorker in him lit up fans and athletes alike in a market where New Yorkers are met with nothing but contempt. His popularity in Philly led to an opportunity to host a syndicated sports talk show on the Sports Fan Network. After being heard on 40 stations throughout the country, Carton was recruited to the morning slot at KKFN/Denver where he became the highest rated show in the station’s history. He was later hired by cross-town rival KBPI, and within one book had the highest rated local morning show in Denver. His path then brought him back to the New York City area where after a short-lived gig at WNEW he joinedWKXW New Jersey 101.5 and had a highly successful run as a member of The Jersey Guys.
Carton had already been on the CBS Radio radar. He was one of the people considered as a replacement for Howard Stern in a few specific markets.
“I was at Jersey 101.5 at the time,” explains Carton. “CBS approached me about replacing Stern on some of his stations and it didn’t work out because of my contract in Jersey. But time passed, Imus said what he said, and I thought there was no way they were coming back to me again after what we had just went through, but my contract only had six months left on it, so it was much better timing and obviously turned out to be a much better gig.”
Both Esiason and Carton credit CBS Radio Senior Vice President of Programming Chris Oliviero and VP Sports Programming and WFAN OM Mark Chernoff as the architects of the show, but there had to be a natural chemistry between the two hosts for the show to work. Their initial introduction to each other was a phone conversation while Carton was on his way down to the Jersey shore to judge a bathing suit competition. Esiason asked right away, “We’re not going to have to do that if we work together, are we?” Carton wouldn’t discount the idea and their relationship was off to the races.
“I started Googling Craig and saw he was embroiled in this controversy here and this one there,” remembers Esiason. “Everyone was telling me he’s going to bring you down. The writers like Raissman and Mushnick all wrote about how this was going to negatively impact my broadcasting career and it’s done nothing but impact it in a positive way and it’s great. The first time we met, I said, ‘Uh-oh, here we go.’ But once we got going and we realized this could be good for both of us, the trust was easily developed and the synergy was created. And now we both get our roles and we both really enjoy coming to work every day. I actually look forward to coming to work at 5:30 in the morning.”
The meeting Esiason refers to came in early July when he, Carton, Oliviero and Chernoff met at the WNEW studios for a trial run. It was the first time Esiason and Carton would meet in person and they were asked to do a trial show. They took five minutes and went into a private room to officially introduce themselves to each other and then returned to the room to wing it with the CBS execs watching from a couch and throwing out topics for the duo to discuss as if they were doing a live radio show.
“The minute we opened up the mic, it’s the way it is now,” says Carton. “I was busting his balls and he was giving it back. After an hour, we looked over at the couch and they were laughing and they said, ‘That’s it. That’s the show. Let’s get it done.’”
Two months later, The Boomer & Carton Show was born and has actually outperformed Imus’ former WFAN ratings in the New York market in most surveys since it premiered. They are currently enjoying a streak of five quarterly Arbitron reports in a row since Spring 2009 as the #1 rated morning show, Men 25-54.
“I wouldn’t say shocked,” says Carton when asked if he was surprised at the success and natural chemistry that the duo has built. “You do go in with a preconceived notion. I knew who Boomer was, obviously, so I went in with certain fears of would he allow me to do what I need to do. Will there be growing pains of him not wanting to do things I want to do? Can he do radio? Will he work with me? I had all these fears going into it, but early on, he never said no to anything I wanted to do and he was very respectful of my radio background. He also trusted in the fact that I had been successful everywhere else and I wasn’t going to come in and blow this up by being a jackass. He trusted my instincts from day one. We’re blessed. He’s been a great partner. He trusts me and I trust him to do his thing and there really have been little to no growing pains at all.”
“I love music, but I was never a big radio listener,” adds Esiason. “My initial foray into this, I didn’t think it was going to be how it has turned out. I thought it was going to be pure sports talk, and I don’t particularly care for all of that analysis of why someone threw a 3-2 curve ball. I can do it, but what I like, and all my friends who have heard me on the air say is I have never laughed so much. And it’s genuine. The stuff we manufacture is all about entertainment and making people laugh in the car. I have friends texting me that they are laughing so hard they had to pull over on the L.I.E., and then I look around and see that everyone is right there with me, that’s how I know that we are touching people.”
Where Imus was a separate entity from the rest of WFAN with guests that primarily drew from the political and entertainment realms, The Boomer & Carton Show fits right in with guy-driven talk that centers on sports but isn’t afraid to deviate into other topics of discussion. And while both are grateful for the position they are currently in, they are also very respectful of how they got there.
When asked about what happened with Imus, Carton responds, “It’s not fair for us to comment on it because it resulted in us getting a job. We should all have careers as long as he did. He was never my kind of guy, but he is obviously talented enough to last a very long time doing this and we should all be so lucky.”
“Imus is a talent in this business and has been for a long, long time” says Esiason. “And you can’t discount or be disrespectful towards that. While he was a fixture here, he didn’t fit the radio station. When you look at what we are doing now and how it ties into everything after us, it fits perfectly. There is synergy now here at the station and we feel very fortunate about that.”
Boomer & Carton don’t do a nuts and bolts sports talk show like middayers Joe Benigno & Evan Roberts or afternoon drive broadcasting legend Mike Francesa. And their show is differentiated by Esiason’s NFL lineage that brings credibility to the show where his background as an athlete comes through in interviews and the way he expresses his opinions on sports-related subjects.
One example was an especially poignant interview with Matthew Stafford, the #1 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Stafford was on the show shortly after the draft and Esiason was giving the kid advice on how to approach his first few years in the NFL and negotiating his first contract. Advice such as that takes on a greater meaning from a voice of experience as opposed to one of the broadcasters in the other dayparts.
The relationship that has been built between Esiason and Carton has been fascinating and entertaining to watch as it grows. Carton loves tweaking Esiason in every way possible, and Esiason is not afraid to give it right back. They are willing to discuss anything and everything as it relates to the male-focused audience they strive to attract. Take a discussion earlier this week when the duo and the rest of the show’s staff were discussing wedding gifts and the appropriate dollar amount to give if you do or don’t go to the wedding. There isn’t another show on WFAN that could get away with a whole segment on that topic the way Boomer & Carton can.
“I’ve never wanted to do straight serious sports talk,” explains Carton. “I’ve done some of it, and I think well, but it better be fun. If I’m having a good time and the people I’m working with are laughing and having a good time, then the listener will like it. I got into radio because I didn’t want to work. I didn’t want a boring 9 to 5 job. So if I’m not having fun, there’s no reason for me to be here.”
“Craig will go where no man has gone before,” adds Esiason. “I don’t think he has a mean bone in his body, but most of the stuff he does, you just have to hope that the people who are the targets can laugh at themselves. Imus used to make fun of me all the time, but I can laugh at myself. I don’t have the insecurities that are associated with that. And I always wonder about the collateral damage that Craig will create for me sometimes, but I always tell people, get over it, and just laugh at yourself. It’s all in good fun and nobody is mean spirited.”
“In person is always better,” says Carton of the interviews they do during the show. “It is disarming if I’m smiling while busting someone’s chops and they can see that, but on the phone you don’t see that expression. We prefer to do every interview in studio, but obviously you can’t.”
Take the case of former ESPN analyst and New York Mets GM Steve Phillips who recently went through his own battles with sexual addiction when it was revealed he had an affair with an intern at ESPN. Phillips was also embroiled in an extramarital affair while working with the Mets. Carton would routinely take shots at Phillips and make Chewbacca references about the woman that Phillips had an affair with while at ESPN, complete with the sound effect of Chewie’s roar. It wasn’t flattering and Phillips was an easy target for his listeners to enjoy the thrashing due to his failures as the Mets GM.
But Phillips recently joined WFAN’s staff with a weekly appearance on Francesa’s show. He was soon filling in for other personalities as WFAN entered its disjointed summer vacation schedule. It was inevitable that Phillips and Carton would cross paths on the air and when they did, Carton went after him about his improprieties. To his credit, Phillips took the beating and earned the respect of many Mets fans and listeners for answering Carton’s questions.
“I had to ask [those questions] because how don’t you ask?” Carton responded in a text after I complimented him on the interview. “The audience would kill me if I didn’t”
And he’s right. It’s what listeners have come to expect from Carton’s interviews: honest, open, tough questioning. There’s no fluff in his interviews. Ok, maybe a little, but he’s not afraid to ask the questions that he knows his listeners would be asking if they had the chance. A lot of that attitude comes from his youth when he was a regular listener of Howard Stern.
“I love when people say I am just trying to be like Howard Stern,” he says “To me, that’s a major compliment. I listened to Howard growing up and I am not ashamed to admit it. He had a major influence of me getting into radio and doing the style of radio I’ve done.”
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is a good example of a guy who “gets” The Boomer & Carton Show. Bettman called into the show on the day after Chicago Blackhawks right winger Patrick Kane netted the Stanley Cup clinching goal in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“We didn’t ask him to call in the day after the Stanley Cup was decided,” says Esiason. “He decided to call into our show by himself. He understands the power of this radio station.”
For a guy with a clean cut image that Esiason has built over the years due to his charity, television and radio work, he is also not afraid to delve into stereotypical guy locker room humor.
“I’m a man!” exclaims Esiason as the subject is broached. News Director Tracy Burgess starts laughing in the background as Esiason continues. “It goes back to the whole thing of will my image be ruined by doing this show, but I’m not worried about that. People know who I am. I’m a former NFL football player. I spent my life in locker rooms, so I know locker room humor better than anybody.”
“We’re not going to say anything worse than he has seen in locker rooms,” adds Carton.
“This is like a family and it has all come naturally,” Esiason continues. “Tracy, Jerry Recco, Al Dukes, Eddie Scozzare,Bob Dwyer, and Nick “Rocco” Columbo. It took us a few months to get comfortable, but everyone understands their roles now.”
“This is the best show I have ever worked with and I’ve been doing this for seventeen years,” Burgess chimes in.
That’s a high compliment from the only female in the group. Burgess and Sports Anchor Jerry Recco (who has the sweetest voice of all the WFAN reporters) are prime examples of how The Boomer & Carton Show differentiates itself from the rest of the station. Both do their segments with a touch of Carton’s irreverent style. Each interacts with Boomer & Carton during their reports, with Recco bearing more interaction during his sports updates. None of the other WFAN hosts throughout the rest of the day would even consider interrupting one of their reporter’s segments.
“When these folks started becoming who they are, like when Tracy finally let loose with us and Jerry realized we were a different deal than what he did on 1010 WINS and started playing to the show, it’s a big part of our success,” admits Esiason. “Their personalities and creativity are just as much a part of the show as we are. [Executive Producer] Al Dukes is brilliant from his podcast to being a guy that really cares about the radio show and what it sounds like. He’s been a godsend and is a part of the fabric of what the show is all about.”
Dukes came along as producer after Boomer & Carton’s deal was sealed to be the new morning team. His lineage includes working with shows such as Ron & Fez, Opie & Anthony and the horrific experience that was David Lee Roth’s show.
“I was kind of weary going into it,” admits Dukes. “It was another non radio guy like I went through with David Lee Roth, but Craig was a radio person and you could tell right away that he and Boomer had a good chemistry. It worked from the start because Boomer let the radio guy do the radio mechanics. A lot of people wouldn’t do that. David Lee Roth wanted no part of having a radio guy with him.”
“I know this is a cliché but we truly have fun,” says Carton. “We haven’t had a single fight on or off the air. The crew we have been lucky enough to assemble are a big part of our success. We don’t do the same show as the other guys on the station do, who are all very good at it, but our style of show works for this station, in this time slot. We’re blessed to be here.”
“I would probably be golfing right now,” says Esiason when asked what he would be doing if this opportunity never happened. “I’ve never had a full time job in my life. I did with summer work when I was a kid, but playing professional football was not full time. The NFL Today on CBS and my Westwood One work are not full time. It’s only during the football season. Who knows what else I would be doing? Nothing, probably.”
Boomer & Carton’s three-year anniversary at WFAN is just around the corner. The show will go to new levels on September 14 when it begins a television simulcast on MSG Network from a new, Allstate-sponsored studio. So how long do Boomer & Carton envision doing this together?
“I’ve been trying to convince Boomer to give me ten years,” says Carton.
“I haven’t committed to anything,” Boomer quickly interjects. “I know we will be here at least another three years.”
“He’ll do it until he stops having fun,” adds Carton.
“It’s been a blast,” continues Esiason. “I come in here and laugh more than I ever have in my life and if laughter is the key to longevity, then I’m going to live into my 90s.”
On a station that provides a voice for some of the toughest and most knowledgeable sports fans in the world, The Boomer & Carton Show has quickly become a foundation of success. They have built a loyal fan base and have the ratings success behind them to substantiate their position as a dominant morning team. In a world where sports writers and radio hosts try to make the news about themselves (Hello, ESPN); it’s hard to find a more down to Earth group of people taking on the world of sports each day.
[eQB Content by Michael Parrish]
