These New Yorkers Actually Like Trump
In the spring of 2016, the surprising presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump seemed to be all anybody could talk about. On New York radio stations, much of that talk was decidedly negative. But suddenly, one voice, from an unexpected source, began an eager and aggressive defense of the eventual Republican nominee. WFAN’s Mike Francesa, known as “the pope” of New York sports talk radio, began spending hours on air explaining not only why Mr. Trump was not a racist and sexist, but also why he could win.
Mr. Francesa’s pugnacious and prescient political arguments with outraged callers, as well as the thank yous from those in agreement, became such a dominant feature of his 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. show that his producers asked him to get back to sports. But there was no boycott, nor any significant decrease in his ratings. Rather, it seemed there was an audience for a pro-Trump message, which at the time was available from very few outlets in the New York metropolitan area, even those on the right.
That this tolerance of pro-Trump views came from listeners of a sports radio station raises some interesting questions. Are sports fans more conservative than other New Yorkers? Is WFAN actively pushing a conservative political agenda? And finally, is it possible that New York City is not the hotbed of fragile blue flowers that conservatives elsewhere believe it to be?
According to research, sports fans in general skew somewhat right, but not by much. The vast majority of WFAN’s listeners and callers are, however, men, a key voting group for Mr. Trump. But by digging deeper into the demographics of New York radio ratings, an important fact emerges. WFAN does much better with 35- to 55-year-olds than it does with 18- to 35-year-olds. Older listeners mean two things: They are more conservative and have more spending power. They are also more likely parents, mostly fathers, and more likely to have jobs.
But even if WFAN’s listeners are more conservative than the average New Yorker, is there any evidence that the station is actively courting people on the right? In fact, there is. The most popular WFAN show after Mr. Francesa’s is the morning program hosted by Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton. The show regularly partners with law enforcement to promote charities, and Mr. Esiason got in hot water last year for criticizing the San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protests during the national anthem before N.F.L. games.
More obviously, a regular guest host during Mr. Esiason’s frequent absences is the early Trump supporter Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor whose term, and possibly political career, ends in January. The station has also confirmed that Mr. Christie is being considered as a successor to Mr. Francesa, who is retiring this year. Mr. Christie is actually quite entertaining and knowledgeable in his guest appearances. But it strains credulity to imagine the station is not taking his Trump-boostering, right-of-center street cred into account in considering him for its top job.
WFAN’s conservative bent may also tell us something about the city whose sports fans it serves. New York City has never been as liberal as the popular imagination has it. There is a reason no Democrat won the mayoralty from 1993 to 2013. But New York’s conservatism is not that of Rush Limbaugh — it is Francesian. It’s guys who drive trucks and install air-conditioners saying, “Why can’t I have my say?” On WFAN they do have their say, often in eloquent and impassioned tones.
So if you want to understand conservatives in New York, WFAN isn’t a bad place to start. The Iras from Staten Island and the Joes from Bay Ridge are not the typical callers you hear on public radio. And while most of the time they will be discussing the disappointing Mets or overachieving Yankees, political and cultural issues creep in more often than you might expect.
Their kids might come home from high school or college with progressive views on privilege and notebooks full of ways their fathers perpetuate outdated and traditionalist attitudes toward issues like identity, gender and capitalism. But as they listen to the Fan during their workday, they know somebody gets it. Not just the station itself, or its hosts, but also their fellow conservative-leaning listeners and callers. That is a reason to tune in, and a reason for WFAN to continue its unlikely role as a home for right-of-center talk in New York City.
We live at a time when politics apparently intersect with everything. And in its own way WFAN has carved out a niche as a secret home for conservative views. Tellingly, at the end of the “Boomer & Carton” show, its producer Al Dukes signs off with the progressive mantra, “Stay woke.” It’s meant as a stab at the left — and the listeners get it.
[NY Times]
You know there's going to be made up bullshit as soon as someone abbreviates it 'N.F.L.'
- Francesa proclaimed Donald Trump had NO SHOT in the spring of 2016. Later no way Trump could close the gap and beat Hillary Clinton.
- You have no idea what Craig Carton's political leanings are. Socially liberal, yep. Politically? You do not know. The mid day moronic cretins are liberal stains, yep but Steve Somers? Tony Paige? Really?
- Al Dukes saying 'Stay Woke' - yep that is 100% a stab at the left. You have even less a clue of his political slant than you do of Carton's. Plus he's not clever enough to think something like that through. Perhaps it's his hippie sound guy, The Eddie Scozzare.
And the Boomer & Carton demographic? Yep...they're tuning in for the political right-of-center talk.
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