Earlier this year, 77 WABC host Curtis Sliwa was one of three hosts on the New York news/talk station forced to step away due to their political aspirations, due to Fair Time regulations.
Sliwa is running for mayor of New York City and secured the Republican nomination late last month. It marks the second time that he’s seeking the office, which means he knew launching the campaign would mean he’d have to step away from his talk radio show.
And despite knowing that stepping away from the show was a requirement as he sought the top job in New York, he said it didn’t make him question whether he should run as the Republican candidate for the office.
“I’ve been doing talk radio for 35 years, mostly at WABC,” he shared. “At times, the acronym has stood for ‘Always Broadcasting Curtis,'” he said with a laugh, noting that he’s hosted mornings, middays, and at nights on the legendary New York station.
In spite of the campaign, Curtis Sliwa has still found a way to scratch the proverbial itch that exists in his radio blood. He has guest hosted some shows for WABC, while also giving credit to his longtime friend and morning show host Sid Rosenberg for allowing him to make appearances on the program.
“(Sid) has really given me the opportunity to respond to a lot of my critics,” Sliwa noted. “So when you consider that all of my critics are telling me I should resign or not run, it’s Sid who has used his enormous bully pulpit, and not only given me tactical air support, but shoot down all the critics with facts. Because he’s been out there in the streets and subways.”
Interestingly, Curtis Sliwa did not have the backing from 77 WABC’s billionaire owner, John Catsimatidis, as he seeks the position of mayor.
When asked how he felt about not receiving the endorsement and support of the owner of his radio station, Sliwa had a logical response,
“He’s a businessman,” Sliwa said of Catsimatidis. “Like Trump said when he first ran for office, ‘I supported everybody — Democrats and Republicans — and who I thought would be best for my business.’ That is what businessmen do. I am not the choice of the billionaires … I’m the blue collar candidate. I think people have known me for 46 years. You can’t rent me. You can’t lease me. I’m not for sale, and I’m not gonna allow City Hall to be for sale to billionaires or anyone else. And they know that.”
And while he says he’s not the candidate for billionaires, he said he’s welcoming the chance to speak with other New Yorkers and not just talk radio listeners.
“I love the fact that I am not just talking to people over the radio because (my show) was caller-driven,” he said. “I didn’t have guests. I’ve never had guests. Everything was me and the callers, and obviously entertaining them and not just beating them over the head from a bully pulpit on the most powerful AM station in the nation. and that your role as you talk to your host is to entertain and engage.”
Sliwa added that campaigning does mimic talk radio in some aspects.
“When I’m in the subways — and I’m the only candidate who actually is in the subways every day, they’re never in the subway — it’s the perfect focus group. It’s like having talk radio callers,” Sliwa said. “You drill down on it, and there’s no escape when the door is closed. There are a lot of people, so you’re on the spot in front of an audience.
“So even though it’s not an audience of hundreds of thousands listening, you’re in a contained atmosphere. You can’t escape,” he noted. “Now they’re asking you tough questions and they expect answers because one person chimes in, another person doesn’t like the answer, and now you’re being double-teamed, which I love. I love retail politics. I love being out there and engaging with people.”
Sliwa shared his belief that he’s “synonymous with radio” in the Big Apple, noting that he has an audience that’s also on the younger side due to their parents listening to him while they were growing up.
“A lot of them, they would say, ‘Curtis, I listened to you while I was growing up.’ And I said ‘I know you didn’t do it by choice. You did it because you were a prisoner in the backseat of the car. Your mother and father were driving while listening to me and you were screaming for them to the station. And they said no.’ They laugh, because they know that was the case.”
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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.
You don’t discuss the legal deadline for when Curtis needs to get off the radio