Former 77 WABC host Curtis Sliwa ran for mayor of New York City, falling in his bid to capture the top office in the Big Apple.
In the run-up to the election, Sliwa’s polling numbers showed him behind fellow candidates former New York governor Andrew Cuomo (I) and state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D). That data led to 77 WABC hosts like Sid Rosenberg, Greg Kelly, Dominic Carter, and station owner John Catsimatidis to call for Sliwa to drop out of the race.
To say Curtis Sliwa didn’t take kindly to those calls would be an understatement.
In an appearance with Rosenberg, Sliwa revealed he would never return to the station after the way the hosts and Catsimatidis treated him during the campaign.
Despite the comments from Sliwa, and his subsequent appearances on competitor 710 WOR, where he heaped praise on the station and its morning show host, Larry Mendte, 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis said he would welcome back the longtime New York news/talk radio host and let bygones be bygones.
During an interview last week, Sliwa reiterated that his days of working at 77 WABC are behind him.
In this Q&A, Curtis Sliwa discusses his reaction to his concession speech, what his talk radio future looks like, and whether or not he was surprised by the reactions from his former co-workers in the lead-up to election day.
Garrett Searight: I don’t know if you have seen the reaction to your speech from Tuesday night. A lot of folks were really impressed that you would say, “Hey, Zohran Mamdani’s success is our success, it’s New York’s success.” What has your reaction been, that so many people have been so receptive to your speech?
Curtis Sliwa: Well, that’s the right thing to do. We want him to be successful because if he’s successful, the city’s successful. The same way there are a lot of people who did not wish Trump congratulations after that overwhelming victory over Harris. “Oh, you won the popular vote at seven battleground states?” Why wouldn’t you want Trump to succeed? What are you, a masochist? It’s the right thing to do.
But then also, the caveat to that is I am the loyal opposition. I have rallied my supporters to the barricades. This is like Les Misérables. I’m not naïve. My biggest concern is when he finally takes control on January 1, 2026. Will he weaken an already weakened Police Department? Will Public Safety suffer anymore? That’s when the battle begins
GS: So for you, what do the next steps look like?
CS: Well, number one, unlike all of those who have been gripped by this hysteria, fear, and fright, ‘Oh, I’m leaving, I’m out of here’, I stay and I fight for what I know is right. I believe you improve, you don’t move. That’s number one.
In terms of my own career outlook, I can be very specific with you: I will never return to WABC. My voice will never be heard on that station, other than, obviously, if they accept it as part of a news story. I will have nothing to do with all of them because they were all part of this dropout effort. It started at WABC. It spread like a virus through the ranks of people there who wouldn’t be working at WABC if not for me. You could be opposed to me, you could say ‘I don’t think he can win,’ but the vicious vitriol that came from some of these hosts, this cannot ever be rationalized in my mind.
GS: Is that about John Catsimatidis? Sid Rosenberg, Greg Kelly or Dominic Carter? If those people someday we’re not there any more, would you reconsider? Or is it just flat out ‘that ship has sailed’?
CS: No, none of this. It was all organized by John and John alone to get me to drop out and to harp on this over and over so that I would be denied an opportunity to run for the mayoralty and discuss issues. Every day it was “dropout, dropout, dropout, dropout.”
Sid (Rosenberg) proved to be like the character Tessio in The Godfather. He actually tried to lure me into a meeting with Andrew Cuomo at Fresco’s, 12 noon, in the middle of the campaign. I’m saying to myself, “That’s where Andrew hangs out. Why would Sid be there?” But he wanted to create the impression that I was somehow open to the idea of dropping out and supporting, which let me tell you something, like the scene in Braveheart, that last scene where Mel Gibson is on the gurney and the executioner looks at him and says “Bow to the king of England, or we will impale you”. I say ‘impale me now'”, get me out. That would never happen. I would never have anything to do with Andrew Cuomo. So he tried to set it up.
And Greg Kelly and Dominic Carter? It was vicious, their criticisms of me. Greg Kelly saying I was running a “lazy campaign.” Lazy? No one ever accuses me of being lazy. 20 hours a day. All you had to do was see all the places I was. And Dominic Carter was attacking my family, saying that they were profiting from this. They were like Brutus and Cassius. They were just sticking the long knives in. I can’t look at them. I will never have a conversation with them. With me, I cannot forgive, nor forget. I don’t listen to WABC. I love talk radio, but I listen to WOR. That’s my alternative, and I suggest everybody do likewise.
GS: Were you surprised that reactions, statements, comments, whatever word you’d like to use, got to be — as you said — “vicious”?
CS: No, because obviously the man who signs their check wanted it that way. I’ve got to take you back to the 2021 campaign. So, I ran. John decides he’s not gonna run. I run instead. Running in the primary against Fernando Mateo, in the newsroom, they put up a big sign, which everybody remembers, “Do not discuss Curtis Sliwa on the radio.” They never once were permitted to discuss my run against John’s candidate in the general election, Eric Adams. Never once. But I forgave them. I forgot that. I sucked it up.
And I continued to do my job. I came back. Talk show host, obviously always available, a sort of program director also, helping them, guiding them. Any talk radio station always has drama. So I was the one they would come to to stabilize things, and I did it willingly, because I love doing talk radio. At this time, with a real opportunity to win in a three-person race, and then at the end, they turn WABC into “Always Broadcasting Cuomo.”
I mean, every day he was on. What happened to the Fairness Doctrine? You said you could only give me 10 minutes, I accept that. You’re giving him like 70 minutes. And then he gets into a discussion with Sid about the World Trade Center attack and Zohran. Sid is the only talk show host, he’s like bearing down, almost laughing. So when Cuomo had to take the heat on the campaign trail because his critics were calling him an Islamaphobe, he threw Sid under the bus. “Oh, that wasn’t me. That was Sid,” because he doesn’t understand talk radio. So I would suggest to John, give a nice radio show position to Andrew Cuomo, the most boring guy I’ve ever heard on radio.
GS: So with all that being said and knowing how much you love the medium, do you still want to do talk radio in New York?
CS: I don’t know. at this point. I know I love listening to WOR. I’m addicted to talk radio. That’s my alternative right now. I have so many other things to do. But I think everybody at WABC, they know me. I will not forgive. I will not forget. And I am looming over that station. They know that if I dig in, I’m coming right at WABC.
GS: What does that mean?
CS: Well, depending on what I decide to do, they thought they ruled the world. They took out one of their own or as they described me “a family member”. They left me on the side of the road, bloody, bruised, and battered. And they wouldn’t even urinate on me to put out a fire if I was in the street. I will not forgive. I will not forget. I’m old school. I’m Old Testament. If I get back into the game, I’m coming right a WABC. Make of it what you want, but I am the guy with legacy in New York history and talk radio, and a huge following.
GS: If there’s anything else you want to add, you have the floor.
CS: Elections have consequences. WABC picked the loser three times: Cuomo the first time, then Eric Adams, and then Cuomo this time. So if you wanna know, why there’s a Zohran Mamdani, just listen to WABC. They created the atmosphere for him to win instead of supporting their own person, the person they knew.
Call me selfish? That this was an ego trip? When I was always there to help them in their time of need? Always. And I never thought twice about it. But selfish? The last thing in the world you can call Curtis Sliwa is selfish. I dedicated my life to New York City. They know it more than anybody else. It’s a shanda. And they cannot wipe that stain from their legacy. I may become their worst nightmare.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
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.
