While most of us have put this incident behind us — for the most part — one of the most recent instances of WFAN garnering a lot of attention was Carl Banks’ high-profile exit from his weekly hit on WFAN’s The Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata Show.
Banks’ exit originally stemmed from an argument with hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata regarding the play of New York Giants second-year linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux. The argument — in which Banks was defending the Oregon product against criticism from Tierney and Licata — got so contentious that the hosts hung up on the Giants Ring of Honor member, who later canceled his weekly paid appearance with the program.
The New York Giants legend had previously spoken about leaving the show, and Tierney and Licata had also shared their opinions. During a recent episode of the Awful Announcing podcast, where the Vice President of Programming, Spike Eskin, spoke out and shared his thoughts.
“It’s hard to say what’s warranted. People clicked on it; you can attest to that,” Eskin told host Brandon Contes regarding if the coverage around the Banks situation was warranted. “I think New York Post could attest to that. So, people were obviously interested, so I can’t say it wasn’t warranted. Overall, the reaction to it was probably outsized from the actual event. When they did it — Sal and Brandon — they knew immediately afterward that it was like, ‘Ah, shoot. Shouldn’t have done it.’ They went on the air and said they shouldn’t have done it, reached out to Carl, and said, ‘I apologize’ for it.
“We had numerous conversations with Carl…Which Sal and Bradnon kept off air; kept those conversations like off air. They said it shouldn’t have gone there on air. They knew it. I knew it. I had mentioned to them previously, I was like, ‘Eh, the guest stuff, maybe not be as quite as contentious as it seems. Be contentious with each other. Be contentious with the caller.’ They could feel it going there. They were disappointed that it went there. And, I thought the reaction to it, for a number of different reasons, kept going maybe longer than it should have or that I would have liked it to be. I think if you listen to it, you can understand what happened. If you listen to the entire segment, you can be like, ‘Oh, I can kind of hear what happened there.’ It was it was it was. Carl seems good, fine, happy, but it was certainly a ride.
Contes asked Eskin if he was surprised that Banks ended his weekly radio spot.
“No. I think he would tell you that, and he said it himself, actually, that he doesn’t want to debate back and forth with them,” Eskin said. “That wasn’t what he wanted to do. And I think if we could go back and say, ‘What is our aim?’ That wasn’t our aim either, which is why we’re disappointed that it went there. It just sort of happened. That’s what happens when you argue about sports, right? Sometimes, it gets there. But, I think, after talking to him in the beginning, I sort of felt that it might go that way. So, I wasn’t surprised.”
Eskin reiterated that Banks was “kind” about the ordeal. During their phone call, he expressed respect for Tierney, Licata, and the station while telling Eskin that the weekly spot was not something he wanted to do anymore.
“That’s as much as he said publicly afterward,” Eskin said. “So, it’s all good.”
One of the biggest hangups is that Banks had been a regular on the midday show for over 15 years. However, he decided to end his weekly appearances during Tierney and Licatas’s first NFL season.
“There’s no reason why we should assume that whatever worked for a show, as far as guest and structure 15 years ago, should also work a show today,” added Eskin. “There’s no reason. I have tremendous respect for the fact that he did it for the entire time, absolutely. And it does show that the decision shouldn’t be taken lightly, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. And he wouldn’t do it anymore, so I really didn’t know else to do after that.”
Contes later asked Eskin if he thought Banks’ weekly spots were entertaining radio segments. If you can recall, WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti said he wouldn’t miss Banks’ “boring as hell” segments.
“I think Carl is a good color broadcaster in that he is not afraid to be critical of the Giants when you’re listening,” said Eskin. “It was one the first things that struck me when I got up there, and I listened to it. And as somebody who played — and I’ve worked with a lot of hosts or air talent who played — they do provide insight that nobody else can provide. It’s on us to make the spot entertaining. That’s on us to put him in the correct position, to have him be able to deliver the sort of information that becomes, at least, insightful for the listener. I think you could probably say that we probably weren’t good enough at putting him in the right spot.”
Despite the controversy, both WFAN and Banks seem to have moved on, highlighting the dynamic nature of sports radio and the ever-evolving relationship between station, host and guest.
The full episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast with Spike Eskin will be released Friday morning. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
