NY Sports Media Personality Craig Carton Leaving WFAN, Which Had Rehired Him After Prison Stint And HBO Documentary, To Focus On FS1 Show

Craig Carton, a New York sports media personality who was rehired by WFAN three years ago after his gambling addiction landed him in prison for fraud, is leaving the radio station to focus on his deal with Fox Sports.

Addressing listeners of the Audacy-owned station Thursday afternoon, Carton said, “Today is a happy day and a very sad day for me.” His decision to leave at the end of June came down to lifestyle and his family, he explained. “It has nothing to do with anybody here,” he said. “It has everything to do with me and my personal life, and the opportunity that I have with Fox Sports to do a show on Fox Sports 1.”

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Fox Sports set a deal with Carton last fall, with a morning show launching on FS1. The contract is reportedly worth multiple millions.

Carton, who rose to fame as co-host, alongside former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, of the morning show that replaced Don Imus on WFAN in 2007, was welcomed back to the station after his stint in prison. He served a bit more than a year behind bars on fraud-related charges, earning his release in 2020. Soon thereafter, HBO also aired a documentary, Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth, in which he discussed being the victim of sexual abuse as a child and his later participation in a ticket-sales fraud scheme designed to cover his gambling debts.

As a part of being allowed to return to WFAN, Carton agreed to host a Saturday morning show focused on offering resources to those affected by gambling addiction, Hello My Name is Craig. That show is expected to continue airing after Carton’s departure from his weekday afternoon slot on June 30.

Audacy, which was known as Entercom until 2021, acquired WFAN and other radio assets from CBS Corp. in 2017.

“Making a decision not just to walk away from radio, and very specifically, from WFAN, is not an easy decision,” Carton said. “I sadly put myself in a bad place a number of years ago, and three years ago today, I was known as nothing more than a number. I woke up three years ago today in federal prison, a place I was for a year based on bad decisions I made. When I was that number, I dreamed about the possibility, among other things, of one day being able to restart my career. It might have seen silly at the time, but that dream helped me survive prison.”

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