This September will mark five years since former long-time WFAN host Tony Paige did his last show and said goodbye to his many listeners in the New York Metropolitan Area. There have been other hosts that couldn’t stay away. Mike Francesa returned to re-assume his chair in afternoon drive but that didn’t last very long. Joe Benigno has returned for a regular Saturday show and some fill-in work and Steve Somers has even returned for some cameo appearances hosting shows.
But Tony Paige has resisted the temptation to return and he’s adamant that he never will.
“It’s been wonderful,” said Paige of retirement. “My wife and I have done a lot of traveling. To be perfectly honest, I don’t miss it at all. When I retired (Mark) Chernoff asked if I wanted to do some weekend stuff and I’m like ‘Nope I’m good. I’m done.’”
Paige does continue to write some sports articles for the New York Daily News, a side gig that he has enjoyed since 1996. That’s been enough for him since retiring for WFAN. He’s enjoying spending more time with his family and not being obligated to watching every single game every single day.
He’ll put a game on here and there, but he also enjoys watching a movie or other shows on television.
“I’m good,” said Paige. “I’m happy. I don’t miss it at all. Part of being retired is after all these years is that I don’t have to watch sports.”
From a personal standpoint, I do miss hearing Tony on WFAN. One of my favorite things about covering the New York Jets for FAN from 2010 to 2012 was my weekly guest appearances with Paige to talk about what was going on with Gang Green. I did hits on multiple shows on WFAN during the course of the week, but there was something special about my chats with Tony every Saturday night during the season.
It was just two guys talking football and it was wonderful. And while Tony has shut the door on doing shows, he will come on a show from time to time as a guest to talk about a specific subject, especially something very close to his heart, like boxing.
“I don’t miss it at all,” said Paige of hosting. “I have no desire, but I told the producers when I left that if you guys want me to come on and talk about a specific topic or a controversy or anything that’s fine but I’m not going to call you and say put me on the air to talk about something.”
There have been many hosts who have retired but kept their toes in the sports radio waters doing a podcast just to be able to comment on big sports stories that come up. For hosts who did shows five days a week, doing a podcast once or twice a week to stay active turned out to be a good thing and if done correctly could generate some income.
Paige initially gave it a thought because his family tried to push him in that direction.
But, at the end of the day, he decided not to.
“I thought it would be a nice thing to do with me and my two sons, but I don’t have the desire,” said Paige. “I worked at the number one radio station in the country and got to interact with fans and guests and all that. The three shows I always loved doing were Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Thanksgiving because I could get away from sports a little bit.”
And it was a non-sports moment that ranks as one of Tony’s more memorable shows on WFAN.
There was an occasion when someone called the show and wanted to commit suicide.
“I told my producer to call 9-11 and tell him to listen,” recalled Paige. “We blew through update after update, and we just kept talking and talking and then one guy called me and said I think I know who that is. He went to the house with the cops, and they talked him out of it.”
The man who contemplated suicide called Tony the next week and said that Paige had helped save his life.
That was a night to remember as well as so many others during his almost 20-year run as a host at WFAN. Paige has no regrets about retiring and is at peace with retirement.
“I had a hell of a run,” said Paige “I loved it. It was great. Everybody said, ‘did you leave because you were angry or mad?’ No. It was time to go. It was enjoyable. I tried to give boxing a home and I covered the NBA for three years, so I thought I brought something to the table. It’s an itch that’s been scratched.”
WFAN recently celebrated its 37th anniversary of being the world’s first all-sports radio station. Tony Paige played a huge role in the station’s success and while he’s enjoying retirement, there’s a huge part of WFAN’s listeners that still wish they could hear his calming and soothing voice talking sports.
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
