Sal Licata dubs Craig Carton ‘not taking my spot’ comment his ‘worst take ever’

After talking and working around the news Tuesday, Sal Licata and Brandon Tierney addressed the Craig Carton news to open their Wednesday show.

News broke while Tierney and Licata were on the air that Carton was coming back to WFAN. After losing his FS1 morning show over the summer, there was immediate speculation about whether Carton could return to WFAN for a third stint. And that speculation appears to be turning into a reality, with Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reporting Carton will take over WFAN’s afternoon drive show in January. The fallout from Carton’s return is that current afternoon hosts Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber will be moved to middays, leaving Tierney and Licata without a timeslot.

“Talk about your all-time backfires,” Licata said to open Wednesday’s show on WFAN. “I never thought I’d have a take worse than the NL East is over. And unfortunately, ‘Craigy, you’re not taking me spot!’ As we were joking about months ago.”

When speculation began in July about Carton possibly coming back, Licata quickly said he’s not worried because, “You’re not taking my spot.” Several months later, it appears Carton will be taking Licata’s spot, but at least he was able to joke about it.

“Who knows how that’s gonna end up here, BT,” Licata continued to Tierney. “Obviously, we have to acknowledge it to start the show, we read what’s going on, we’ve been in the loop, this is not a surprise… to me it was always inevitable when he left that he would come back. With that said, nothing is official, I’m grateful I have the opportunity to do the show with you every day, and we’ll continue to do that as long as we have the opportunity.”

Tierney noted the station trusts them to continue doing the show the right way in the wake of this news. On the contrary, everyone heard Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker rip SiriusXM on-air after learning Stephen A. Smith was taking over their show last June. The difference, however, is Beadle and Decker were blindsided by that news, while Tierney and Licata state Carton’s addition was not a surprise. The timing of when the news became public may have been a surprise, but the lineup changes do not appear to be.

“Yesterday was a tough spot,” Tierney added. “I think a lot of people want to know why we didn’t get into it on the air as things were breaking in real time – because we’re being professionals, that’s the short answer.”

Tierney said he spoke to an executive with the company this morning who noted Carton’s deal is not official. But even though the contract hasn’t been signed yet, Tierney isn’t ignorant to the fact that Carton is coming back.

“What that means downstream, there will be many days and shows and segments to dive into that, give you guys more clarity,” Tierney continued. “There will be a day where we do this more extensively for sure. This is not our last show, we can promise you this. And as long as we’re here, we’re gonna do what we do, which is what we think a pretty damn good show.”

And most listeners would agree. Because the ratings for Tierney and Licata have been strong, as has the attention and social media engagement the show frequently receives. Unfortunately for Tierney and Licata, once Carton became available again, it was going to be nearly impossible for them to fend off another comeback.