Pete Franklin - Later Career

Later Career

In August 1987 Franklin announced he had been hired by upstart all-sports station WFAN in New York to be their afternoon host starting in September 1987. His initial contract with the station was for two years and paid him $600,000. Franklin's act wore thin in the Big Apple, where critics and callers alike disapproved of his condescending style. New York Times columnist George Vecsey wrote that Franklin was a "so-called big name ... whose specialty was hurling insults at fans who knew vastly more than he did." After much controversy and dismal ratings, he resigned in July 1989, two months before the end of his contract, and was replaced by the Mike and the Mad Dog program.

Franklin made a return to Cleveland and "3WE" in 1989. The station even held a press conference to herald his homecoming, but management dropped him after a year. He moved west, working at KNBR 680 AM in San Francisco from 1991 to 1997, and hosting his own show for much of that stint. Franklin's featured bits included "Winners and Losers of the Day" for daily sports happenings, while during football season he reprised "Pigskin Pete Predicts" from his Cleveland days. He later joined Bob Fitzgerald as co-hosts of The King and The Kid.

Franklin returned for a third time to the WTAM airwaves in 1998, briefly hosting Sportsline but from a studio in his California home. He joined KNBR's sister station KTCT 1050 AM in 1999, finishing his broadcasting career there in 2000.

Franklin was the author of a 1988 book, You Could Argue But You'd Be Wrong.