Boomer Esiason collaborated with Craig Carton for a decade, but he drew the line at Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo. WFAN approached Esiason about hosting morning radio following Don Imus’s firing in 2007, and while they considered names like Geraldo Rivera, Lou Dobbs, Jim Cramer, Joe Scarborough, Monica Crowley, and even Jon Stewart as possible successors, they ultimately decided on Esiason but still needed to find him a co-host.
This week, Esiason was featured on Andrew Marchand’s The Main Event sports media podcast, where he shared his experience doing a test show with Russo before WFAN confirmed Carton as his partner. Despite Russo being a Radio Hall-of-Famer, Esiason found that working with him wasn’t a good fit. “I did one with Chris Russo,” Esiason told Marchand. “I wanted to shoot myself after we were done. I said, I can’t do four hours with this lunatic. There is no way.” While Mike Francesa managed to last 19 years with Russo, Esiason struggled to handle just four hours. Stephen A. Smith does it for only three hours a week, and even that’s quite enough!
The reason Esiason even had a test show with Russo was that WFAN was contemplating splitting up Mike and the Mad Dog. Following Imus’s firing, Francesa and Russo filled the morning slot while continuing their afternoon show for several weeks. Russo showed interest in transitioning to morning drive permanently, but he later conceded it would not have been a suitable role for him, as his style leaned toward a straight sports show, vastly different from Imus’s approach.
Russo ultimately remained with Francesa in the afternoons for one more year before departing WFAN for SiriusXM. In hindsight, despite doubts about his suitability for local morning radio, Boomer Esiason is now considered one of WFAN’s most significant hosts, having enjoyed success with both Craig Carton and Gregg Giannotti on two prominent morning shows.
