In recent weeks, no one shy of the candidates inside the race has had a bigger impact on the race for Mayor of New York City quite like Sid Rosenberg and 77 WABC.
First, Republican candidate and 77 WABC host Curtis Sliwa shared his extreme displeasure with fellow hosts Sid Rosenberg, Greg Kelly, and station owner John Catsimatidis for calling for him to drop out of the race due to lackluster polling numbers.
At the time, Sliwa declared that the “ABC” in the station’s call letters — which he had previously argued stood for “Always Broadcasting Curtis” — now stood for “Always Broadcasting Cuomo” — arguing that the station had placed its backing behind independent candidate Andrew Cuomo.
The station returned to the spotlight after Sid Rosenberg argued that Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani would be cheering if another 9/11 took place in the city. Those remarks caused backlash for Cuomo, before Rosenberg took a stand and reiterated that he, not Cuomo, made the statements. The statement by Rosenberg led to words like “vile” and “disgusting” being associated with the comments by the likes of Mamdani, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), among others.
He, however, said he wouldn’t apologize for them.
In advance of the mayoral election, the 77 WABC morning host was asked about his comments, if he regretted them, or if he was just trying to stir controversy by making them.
“I’ve been called a Jewish shock jock,” Rosenberg said. “I haven’t heard the term shock jock since Howard Stern and Don Imus. It’s gotta be decades since I’ve heard shock jock. But if you Google my name, you’ll see the phrase ‘Jewish shock jock’ about 100 times in the last two weeks. But this is real. Look, I’m a Jewish kid. You have a guy there (Mamdani) that refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. You’ve got a guy that would love nothing more than to globalize the Intifada, where they kill Jewish people. He’s had countless opportunities to come across as someone that cares.
“What has he done that doesn’t prove my point? Everything he does says ‘I’m a terrorist sympathizer.’ No, this is not a shock jock. I legitimately hate this guy. I hate him.”
Rosenberg admitted he was surprised by the backlash he received from those statements.
“First of all, I’m not President Trump, I’m not a Congressman, I’m not a Senator. I’m a radio guy,” said Rosenberg. “I’ve certainly said some things in the past that — good and bad — I have apologized for … Thinking back at it, I shouldn’t have been surprised because that was their ticket to try to destroy any chance of Cuomo upsetting Mamdani.”
Few news/talk radio hosts in America enjoy the spotlight like Sid Rosenberg. And yet, even he, who enjoys being in the headlines and the topic of conversation, has said the election season has taken a toll.
“It’s been no fun. I hate it. I can’t wait for the electio to be over,” he shared, adding “I think I’ve lost a pretty good friend in Curtis Sliwa.”
Sliwa is, by the data collected by every poll, unlikely to win the election for the Big Apple’s top office. He’s consistently polled around 20%, well behind Mamdani and Cuomo.
And in recent weeks, he has been at odds with his longtime home, 77 WABC, after station personnel and owner John Catsimatidis have encouraged him to drop out of the race in an effort to help the chances of Cuomo.
In a fiery exchange with Rosenberg, Sliwa argued that “you will never see me at the studios of WABC again, never, no matter how this election turns out.” He added that he felt “personally offended” by what his “friends and colleagues, many of whom I trained at WABC, many of whom wouldn’t have a job at WABC without me, have done.”
Rosenberg admitted that he and Sliwa — who made daily appearances on the station’s morning show before running for election — haven’t spoken since that moment on the air last month.
He’s not thrilled about that development.
“He’s very angry with some of the hosts, calling us backstabbers and sellouts, not having any loyalty to him. He spent most of his time in the last days of the election bashing the radio station and very little time bashing Mamdani. So, after talking to Curtis upwards of five times a day for the better part of six years, we have not had one conversation in the better part of the past two weeks.
“I was upset. Now I’m angry and upset. Because I was very honest with Curtis. I told him on the air and off, that even more important than you winning is Mamdani losing. I had Eric Adams on the show, I had Andrew Cuomo on the show. I’ve had them all because, yes, given the choice, everything equal, I’d love Curtis to be mayor. I waited until two weeks, not two months. Others left him months ago. I waited two weeks from the election to make a difficult decision. And I really thought in my heart of hearts he would handle it well. He has not.”
Despite the hostilities with Curtis Sliwa, which has included some of the followers of the Guardian Angels founder lambasting the morning show and 77 WABC, Sid Rosenberg said he holds out hope that the divide between Sliwa, himself, and the station can be mended and someday the Republican challenger will return to New York news/talk brand.
“He was on a competing station again — and I say competing, but no one will ever compete, we destroy them six to one — he talked about how their hosts have been so nice to him and that we were mean on the morning show,” Rosenberg said, alluding to 710 WOR. “I suggested that he drop out of the race one time. Their morning show did it 10 times. Some of the things he says, they’re pretty ugly.
“But if you’re asking me and John (Catsimatidis), would we want Curtis back? The answer is yes, but Curtis has done a pretty good job the last couple of weeks of burning that thing to the ground. He continues to blame WABC … He can’t win in this city. He’s a Republican, and they just don’t like Republicans in New York City. That’s the bottom line. And if he comes to that realization, and says, ‘You know what? I’m sorry.’ I think maybe we would have him back. But at this point right now? I’d probably bet against it.”
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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.
