Mike Francesa

Michael Patrick Francesa (born March 20, 1954) is an American sports-radio talk-show host.

Francesa attended Maria Regina High School in Uniondale (now known as Kellenberg Memorial High School) and graduated from St. John's University in 1977 (transferring there after one year at the University of South Florida), majoring in communications and athletic administration.

Francesa started his career by spending six years at College and Pro Football Newsweekly.

He was hired by CBS Sports in 1982 as a researcher, focusing primarily on college sports.

At CBS Sports, he was initially a behind-the-scenes, statistics-wielding editorial assistant, but network executives were so impressed by his knowledge that he was made a studio analyst for college basketball and football and acquired such a reputation that The New Yorker termed him "Brent Musburger's brain."

Francesa said that the most common complaint about him while he was a studio analyst at CBS Sports was about his New York accent.

When WFAN was launched in 1987, Francesa applied for a host job.

However, station management was looking for top-shelf types rather than someone with no experience, and he was only offered a producer's job, which he ended up rejecting.

With his then-wife Kate's encouragement, Francesa continued to pursue WFAN.

Finally, WFAN gave him a job as a weekend host talking college football and basketball in August 1987.

Because of the positive reviews, Francesa began to guest-host other shows.

Because of his initial success as a weekend and fill-in host, he was teamed with local New York City host Ed Coleman, and the duo had a popular show on the 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. slot.

Francesa also hosted a weekly radio show called The NFL Now, which originated from WFAN and aired from 1987 to 2016.

It eventually became syndicated and at one time was simulcast on MSNBC and later via video Webcast on NBCSports.com.

The NFL Now became a syndicated program again when WBZ-FM in Boston started airing the show, a few weeks after the station's launch.

Francesa also provided the nightly "Sportstime" commentary on the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One.

Francesa regularly contributed to the Imus in the Morning program with his views on sports while it aired on WFAN and Westwood One.

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 sports-talk radio programs in American history.

In 1989, WFAN was looking for hosts to replace the controversial Pete Franklin in the afternoon drive time period between 3 and 7 p.m. Station management decided to team the knowledgeable, but somewhat dry Francesa with the young and vibrant Chris Russo.

While Francesa's brand of sports commentating was considered hard-hitting and serious, Russo's was lighter, unconventional, and more entertaining.

The show was dubbed Mike and the Mad Dog.

The show quickly gained popularity and was a staple of the New York sports scene from 1989 to 2008.

He has an older brother John and had a younger brother named Marty who committed suicide on November 27, 1990.

ESPN tried to lure Francesa as its studio expert for college football, college basketball and the NFL in 1991, but he declined their offer.

Francesa announced on the radio that he quit CBS on April 1, 1993 before the 1993 Final Four began.

The duo won the 2000 Marconi Award for Major Market Personality of the Year.

They were the first sports-talk hosts ever to win the award.

On August 14, 2008, it was announced that Russo had decided to leave WFAN, and thus ended the Mike and the Mad Dog show two weeks shy of its 19th anniversary.

This ended two months of speculation regarding the show's future.

At the same time, Francesa signed a five-year deal to stay at WFAN.

On September 8, 2008, Francesa's new solo WFAN program began, titled Mike'd Up, the same name as that of his former weekly television program on WNBC.

On December 15, 2017, Francesa retired from his own show, Mike's On: Francesa on the FAN, which had been airing in the afternoon-drive slot formerly occupied by Mike and the Mad Dog.

He was succeeded by Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott in the same time slot for the first ratings book of 2018.

On April 27, 2018, WFAN announced that Francesa would return to the station for a 3 1⁄2-hour afternoon show, a shorter shift than his original slot.

Francesa hosted this shortened afternoon drive WFAN slot during a tumultuous tenure through the end of 2019 before he retired for a second time, moving to a half-hour evening slot on WFAN while also producing content for the Entercom-owned Radio.com platform, which began in January 2020.

On March 24, 2020, Francesa was tapped to return to the station for a daytime slot on Sundays, and on May 26, 2020, he returned to WFAN on weekdays for an hour each day.

On July 24, 2020, Francesa retired for the third time, citing the desire for more time with his family.

Currently, he hosts The Mike Francesa Podcast with BetRivers Network.

Francesa was born and raised in Long Beach, New York.

He is the second son of Michael Anthony Francesa, who abandoned the family when Francesa was eight years old, and his mother Marilyn, who raised him as a single parent..