NorthEast Radio Watch 4/22/2024: It is High. It is Far. He is Gone.

In this week’s issue… Sterling’s abrupt Yankees exit – Columbia strife affects WKCR – Zeman exits WVTK – Buffalo Broadcasters name honorees

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*It’s always jarring when someone who’s been a fixture on the airwaves just walks away abruptly. When someone’s been there as the voice of all sorts of big events and everyday moments, listeners can’t help but wonder when they drop the mic and disappear.

Sometimes, as it turns out, they’ve just had enough – and so it was with legendary New York Yankees radio broadcaster John Sterling, who called the Yankees’ win over Toronto on April 7, was out for the following week’s games, and then put out word through the team last Monday that he had retired, effective immediately.

That Sterling was stepping down was no surprise. Approaching his 86th birthday and in his 36th season with the team, he’d been pulling back from his duties in recent seasons, in part due to health problems.

Blunt as ever, Sterling explained himself at a news conference Saturday before his official retirement ceremony at Yankee Stadium, saying he had intended to retire before the start of this season but felt compelled to call the first few series, deciding during a long Western road trip that he’d had enough.

“I’m not going to miss coming to the ballpark,” he told reporters. Love him or loathe him – there was never any middle ground – Sterling’s run was one for the ages. He’d already been a successful talk host at New York’s WMCA and made his name in play-by-play for the Islanders and Nets in the 1970s before spending much of the 1980s in Atlanta working at WSB and at Turner Sports.

Sterling came back to New York in 1989 to replace Hank Greenwald on Yankees radio broadcasts, then on WABC (770), going on to work 5,060 consecutive games from then until 2019.

Given the abruptness of his retirement, Sterling’s replacement hasn’t been named yet, and it’s complicated by the likelihood that his on-air partner since 2005, Suzyn Waldman, will also step down soon. Justin Shackil and Jeff Nelson have been this year’s backups for Sterling and Waldman, and will be continuing in those roles while the team figures out its long-term strategy.