Craig Carton reportedly returning to WFAN afternoon drive

When Craig Carton lost his FS1 show, there was immediate speculation about whether he will return to WFAN, and that speculation is reportedly coming to fruition.

According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, Carton is finalizing a deal to become the station’s afternoon drive host beginning next year. Carton’s third tenure with WFAN is expected to push current afternoon drive hosts Evan Roberts and Tiki Roberts to middays. Additionally, current midday hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata are expected to be cut from WFAN’s weekday lineup, according to Marchand. Tierney and Licata were on WFAN when Marchand broke the news.

The reported lineup changes come after Licata said he wasn’t worried about the prospect of Carton returning to WFAN several months ago, adding, “You’re not taking my spot.” Less than six months later, Carton appears to be taking his spot.

Carton’s return to WFAN five years ago was considered a successful one, rebuilding the station’s afternoon timeslot into a ratings winner with Evan Roberts. But Craig Carton opted to leave WFAN to focus on his FS1 show. And after several iterations of Carton in mornings on FS1 were unable to gain traction, he was part of sweeping lineup cuts at the network last summer.

Since losing his FS1 show, the former and seemingly future WFAN host has been working on a daily podcast with Tyrone Johnson, The Craig Carton Show through Fox Sports and Red Seat Ventures. Carton recently shared metrics and said the show’s growth was “beyond anything” he could have imagined. But regardless of how well his daily podcast was doing, Carton was always going to be interested in returning to his radio roots if WFAN came with an offer.

The interest was expected to be mutual, with Audacy executive Chris Oliviero still at the helm. Oliviero was instrumental in bringing Carton back to WFAN when he was released from prison five years ago. The hurdle with Carton returning to WFAN this time appeared to be the lack of an opening. And unfortunately for Tierney and Licata, they will reportedly be WFAN’s path to making an opening for him.

WFAN won’t seek to pair Craig Carton with Roberts again this time around, with Marchand reporting current overnight host Chris McMonigle is the leading candidate to join the new afternoon show. McMonigle was a producer for Mike Francesa and Carton and Roberts before getting the overnight gig.