77 WABC has seen a renaissance under the ownership of billionaire John Catsimatidis. Part of that rebirth has happened in mornings with Sid Rosenberg leading the daypart to unprecedented success. Rosenberg celebrated that success Tuesday morning.
During Sid and Friends in the Morning, Sid Rosenberg shared his recent ratings success, and compared his ratings to those of Len Berman and Michael Reidel, who host mornings at competitor 710 WOR.
“We do okay throughout the day here at WABC. But you have to understand there’s only one show that goes up against another local show. Most of our shows go up against syndicated programming, and that’s easy,” said Rosenberg. “The hard part is to beat a local show in your own market. And what we do to these guys is humiliating. Average quarter hour — without giving up the numbers because Nielsen gets all bent out of shape — we tripled them WOR. That’s never happened here. Tripled them.
“Those guys make a decent amount of money, especially Len Berman. I think Len makes more than I do, which is an absolute crime,” Rosenberg continued. “Not that I’m pissed about it, but I am because I destroy these guys. I destroy them. I have basically put WOR out of the game. They had a run there when they had (Mark) Simone, Rush Limbaugh, God rest his soul, Sean Hannity, and the Mets. And they did very well. They killed WABC. And it wasn’t until I started murdering the morning show — and I murdered them — that we won other day parts throughout the day. I am the one that actually buried WOR.”
Later in the show, Sid Rosenberg returned to the topic of New York radio ratings, and revealed that when he decided to return to the Big Apple in 2010, he attempted to speak with 710 WOR Program Director Tom Cuddy, but never really got the chance.
“If you’re Tom Cuddy, you’ve got to feel like the biggest moron today,” said Rosenberg. “I told Tom Cuddy years ago ‘I want to come back and work, and host your morning show.’ He didn’t even take me seriously. And how did that go for him? Every salesperson he’s got would hang themselves by their testicles to get me to come to that station.”
However, Rosenberg said he can’t call anyone a “prick” or an “ass munch” if he worked for iHeartMedia, so he’s in the correct place for him.