Life can be full of agonizing decisions. 77 WABC host Frank Morano was recently confronted with one of these exact situations: either give up his nationally syndicated radio show — The Other Side of Midnight — or not take a seat on the council of Staten Island, his longtime home.
Morano decided to take the path of public service, leaving his job with Red Apple Audio Networks and 77 WABC behind.
He admitted he was — and still is — torn about the decision.
“It was the most difficult decision that I’ve ever made and in some respects, it was the easiest,” he shared. “It was difficult because I have a great passion for both of these worlds, the world of public service and the worlds of broadcasting. I agonized about whether or not I should step away from a job that I genuinely love and from an audience that I genuinely care for in order to try something that I’ve never tried before, when I could’ve easily been happy doing that job for the rest of my life.
“But on the other hand, it was a very easy decision, because I kind of felt like I’d be ok no matter what. If I ran and lost, I thought, ‘Ok, that’s part of God’s plan, and that’s you know his way of saying that should continue on the radio.’ I ran and won. I had this other great opportunity, so it was in some respects a very challenging decision, but in another respect, it was a no-lose proposition.”
Morano ran as a Republican for a seat on the council of Staten Island in a special election. After winning that special election, he now moves on to a Republican primary, where he needs to win again in order to attempt to win the seat in the general election in November.
The decision was such a challenge for Frank Morano due to his strong feelings about working in the radio industry.
“To me, being involved in the world of radio is like breathing,” Morano said. “I can’t imagine any scenario in which being part of the world of talk radio wouldn’t be of interest to me. It’s been my greatest passion since I was eight years old, and I’d love to find a way to continue doing something regularly on radio. If it can’t be done on a daily basis, maybe on a weekly basis. And if that’s not able to happen, then I would love to substitute for different hosts around the country.”
Despite his passion for the medium, Morano said he felt called to serve his community due to future conversations he might need to have with his young son.
“I have a strong desire to help people. My wife and I have a three-year-old, and so many people that I grew up with in New York City and Staten Island — as soon as they were able — they moved off of Staten Island and moved out of New York City,” said Morano. “And when my son is an adult, I’d like to be able to tell him I did everything that I could in order for him to stay on Staten Island. That’s what I wanna do. I wanna make it a place that’s more livable for him and for all my neighbors.”
So, with his win in the special election, Morano was forced out of his radio show due to concerns about the equal time laws — which require access to equal time for political candidates on media outlets — and his ability to juggle being a full-time councilmember with being a full-time overnight radio host.
He called the situation “really disappointing.”
“I was planning to be back on here the Thursday after the election,” said Morano. “I had booked guests and I planned a lot of content that I was looking forward to. And I knew that once I got sworn in as a council member, it was uncertain whether I’d be able to continue. So I was really looking forward to going out with a bang and planning some really great shows. Not being able to say a proper goodbye to the audience … it was really disappointing.
But I don’t harbor any bitterness towards Red Apple at all. They gave me the opportunity to do this show for the last five years, which has been a dream come true,” he continued. “They let me build such an audience and some remarkable things. That’s the show I’ve always dreamed of doing. I think they were doing what they thought they had to legally.”
In spite of not getting a farewell send-off he had hoped for, The Other Side of Midnight host had a message to send to the radio industry and his regular listeners.
“I’d really like to say thank you,” said Morano. “I’m incredibly grateful for your support, your patronage, your criticism from time to time, your calls, and your patronizing of our advertisers. I am really grateful, because our show was so different in all the stations that carried the show that they were willing to take a chance on a show that was really different from everything else that’s on the radio these days … The other thing I would say is, because my access to email was cut off kind of suddenly, the people who sent me an email and are wondering why I didn’t respond, that’s why. It’s not something they should take personally.”
The Other Side of Midnight originated from 77 WABC in New York. The program — distributed by Red Apple Media — was heard on stations like KMOX in St. Louis, WGN Radio in Chicago, and 830 WCCO in Minneapolis, among dozens of others. It was heard live from 1-5 AM ET.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
