Can WFAN Sports radio Gregg Sussman be this generation's Mike Francesa?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hicksville, New York, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) June 1, 2011 -- Gregg Sussman - This generations Mike Francesa

I have written many articles on www.66wfan.net, but rarely do I write praising a specific person, or radio program, in fact there have been only two of these types of articles. The first was Adam "The Bull", and the second was about www.puregoldpg.com. With the start of WFAN Phenom Fantasy 2 upon us, I thought it would be the perfect time for the tri-fecta, and write about one of my other favorite host's Gregg Sussman, winner of the inaugural Phenom Fantasy Contest.

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Can WFAN Sports radio Gregg Sussman be this generation's Mike Francesa?

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The only reason I even write articles like these is to point out that this person, or website, is worthwhile to spend a little time on. With Adam "The Bull" I wanted both listeners, and WFAN to understand that "The Bull" was ready for prime time, and his on again, off again schedule was hurting the station. With www.puregoldpg.com they have a twice a week on-line radio program that if you were a listener of WFAN, then you would enjoy this program immensely as well.

Now, I would like to take a moment and write about a host that some of you may know, but more than likely many of you have not had the opportunity to listen to, his name is Gregg Sussman and he has the potential to be this generations Mike Francesa.

I am not sure what WFAN's intentions were when they came up with the idea of the "Fantasy Phenom” concept. It could easily just have been a promotional stunt to ride the coattails of the MTV reality craze, or they could have been actually looking for local talent that they would be able to nurture into a long time host. Whatever WFAN's motivation were, clearly they lucked into a talent that has earned more than just the winning prize of a one year, 2 hour weekly program. Gregg Sussman's limitless potential needs to be nurtured so WFAN's sports talk dominance in radio will continue for years to come.

WFAN's chief rival is ESPN, and one of the main arguments that radio critics use to show why ESPN will someday close the gap between these two powerhouse sport talk concepts is the fact that WFAN's hosts are too old to reach a younger audience. Anyone listening to ESPN's station can easily tell that they do indeed have younger hosts, but just as clearly two other more important details emerge that most critics fail to mention. WFAN's hosts are far and away more knowledgeable, and WFAN's focus for the most part is on New York sports teams.

Gregg Sussman reaches a far younger fan base than WFAN has when their older hosts are on. Sussman, if given the proper push, and a larger time frame will be able to develop a long-term loyal base with his younger audience. While he is young compared to some of the old warhorses at WFAN, he maintains the high knowledge standards that WFAN has been known for, and without the gimmicks that ESPN uses to mask their incompetent shows, and even more inept hosts.

Tune in any Saturday at 1am and to the older veteran listeners, you'll be transformed back to a time when WFAN was just starting to pioneer sports talk radio. WFAN introduced Mike Francesca to their listeners and every sports fans IQ immediately went up a few notches. Francesa was young, he was talented, and more importantly he was extremely knowledgeable. This combination made a powerful impact on young fans that before listening to Francesa actually thought they knew what they were talking about when it came to sports.

WFAN spent years nurturing Francesa's talent and with each subject discussed he kept building a loyal following that today has made Mike Francesa far and away the most popular, and the most powerful voice in sports talk radio worldwide. In 30 years these 20 year olds could be talking about Gregg Sussman as today's 50 year olds do about Francesa.

The problem I see with the older hosts is they do not understand today's knee-jerk reaction type fans. In today's computer age based sports fans, they get to see every game, they can pour over stats that the older fans when they were in their 20's could only dream of having. The old guard like Mike Francesa has no patience for these types of reactionary fans, because he cannot understand where they are coming from.

Most of Francesa's listeners have been loyal followers for the past 20 years, and Francesa has done a marvelous job of teaching them patience, so when a new caller rants about trading a guy who dropped an easy fly ball in last night's game, Francesa makes fun of him and hangs up. Gregg Sussman understands this caller, and he will talk him down off the ledge using today's terminology, knowing this fans rant was probably derived from playing a Madden 12 video game.

As Francesa once did for us, Gregg Sussman can do for all the under 30 sports fans again. He can train these newbie’s patience, and to look at the bigger picture. WFAN needs to start understanding that a host using Eminem as an opening song is a good thing. I can't imagine what a 19 year old driving with his friends is thinking when they hear the outdated, and completely last century type opening of Mike Francesa's theme song. To me it's just the type of song he has been using for the past 20 years, to a 19 year old, it's lame.

I can't envision what Francesa would do if a caller opened with "Hey Dude, about last night's game...." One thing for sure it would be hysterical to watch Mike’s face on his YES simulcast. If Gregg Sussman heard a young caller saying "Dude" he would understand it for what it is, and nothing else.

WFAN should without a doubt sign Sussman to a long term deal so they could explore his limitless potential. WFAN must be aware that their most popular talents like Benigno and Francesa are far closer to the end than they are from the beginning. Signing Sussman to a long-term contract, and along with their other stable of talents like Adam "the Bull", and Evan Roberts will assure WFAN of remaining on top of the sports talk radio pile for many years to come.

Put it this way Mike Francesa probably still thinks a "Tweet" is only what birds do...LOL

By Dominick Mezzapesa
twitter @dmezz1120
Email mezz1962@gmail.com
WFAN Caller : Dominick from Hicksville

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