Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Mark Chernoff | Former WFAN Program Director Reminisces with Sid Ahead of NYSBA Hall of Fame Induction

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Mark Chernoff | Former WFAN Program Director Reminisces with Sid Ahead of NYSBA Hall of Fame Induction · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: I don't think I'd be here today. I wouldn't be
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: here today. I can make that definitive statement. I would
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  Speaker 1: not be here today if Mark Chernoff never gave me
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  Speaker 1: a shot. And he gave me a lot of shots
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  Speaker 1: at WFAN many years ago. Believe it or not, 25
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  Speaker 1: years ago. So I'll always love Mark Chernoff, me, Danielle,
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  Speaker 1: the kids, all of us. He's probably the greatest. I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to say it. He's the greatest, I guess, front
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  Speaker 1: office guy, if we're talking baseball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Greatest front office guy in the history of radio. Programming. Programming,
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  Speaker 1: all of it. Operations. All of it. And listen, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Chad Lopez is terrific here, and I'm also proud of
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  Speaker 1: Chris Olivero, but I'm sorry. It all begins with Mark Chernoff. Chernoff,
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  Speaker 1: good morning, my friend. How are you?
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  Speaker 2: My head is swelling, by the way, after that introduction.
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  Speaker 2: I have to tell you something, Sid. Yeah. There is
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  Speaker 2: somebody who's not getting into the Hall of Fame today
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  Speaker 2: who's more deserving than you.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 2: One person.
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  Speaker 1: Joe Beningo.
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  Speaker 2: No. No.
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  Speaker 1: You?
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 1: You're in the Hall of Fame, though.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, but that's not me.
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  Speaker 1: Give me a hint. Give me one hint, Johnny.
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  Speaker 2: You know her very well.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I know it. You ready for this? Because I
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  Speaker 1: know you so well. And this is part of the
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  Speaker 1: reason why I love you. You believe the Rosenberg that
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  Speaker 1: should go into the Hall of Fame today is Danielle.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh, God.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I told this story this morning, and it's true.
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  Speaker 1: When you had given me so many chances and I
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  Speaker 1: love you forever for that. And I really do. But finally,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you could nothing you could do anymore. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I kept screwing up. And when that phone call was made,
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  Speaker 1: we were on the on the bridge heading to Astoria.
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  Speaker 1: Me and Danielle left the Atlantic City trip and she
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  Speaker 1: was going to beg you to, you know, to save
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  Speaker 1: me one more time. And you had done everything you could.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll never forget that phone call because I was
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  Speaker 1: sitting in the passenger seat. You and Danielle, the both
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  Speaker 1: of you are in tears. It was actually a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: phone call at a very, very, very difficult time. I
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  Speaker 1: never forgot that.
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  Speaker 2: The fact that she has put up with you for
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  Speaker 2: all these years, she deserves to be in the Hall
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  Speaker 2: of Fame and deserves medals of all kinds.
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  Speaker 1: You believe we're going to be married 35 years in June. 35.
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  Speaker 2: As we say, mazel tov. Congratulations. That's great. And to
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  Speaker 2: your beautiful, wonderful kids, Ava and Gabe as well.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Charney. Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You're also going to be getting into the tanning hall
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  Speaker 2: of fame from what I can tell.
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  Speaker 1: I am very tan. I look good. I got to
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  Speaker 1: say it myself. You're going to die, Sid. You're going
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  Speaker 1: to die, Sid. I say, all the stuff I've done
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  Speaker 1: to my body over the years, and you're familiar with
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  Speaker 1: a lot of it, okay? I don't think that tanning
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  Speaker 1: is going to kill me, but who knows, Sean? You
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  Speaker 1: never know, you know?
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  Speaker 2: But I remember— I have to bring up one baseball
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  Speaker 2: thing for you, okay?
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  Speaker 1: Sure, sure.
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  Speaker 2: Because, you know, my son is the general manager of
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  Speaker 2: the Cleveland Guardians. Yes. Did you know that they had
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  Speaker 2: the lowest payroll in baseball at $ 74.
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  Speaker 1: 2 million? Yes, yes.
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  Speaker 2: The next closest team were the Marlins at 83. The
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  Speaker 2: Mets were number one, and the Mets had a payroll
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  Speaker 2: of $ 347 million. The Dodgers, 336. The Yankees, 304. Now,
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  Speaker 2: who made it to the ALCS?
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  Speaker 1: Cleveland. And they won that division. Listen, your son does
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  Speaker 1: a tremendous job. He really does. And I literally just
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  Speaker 1: hung up the phone with John Heyman, who was a
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  Speaker 1: great baseball guy. We talked about the improbability. of two
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  Speaker 1: small market teams, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay, being in the
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  Speaker 1: World Series. And your son's baseball team was right there.
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  Speaker 1: So the irony is, as you know, John, we're about
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  Speaker 1: to endure a work stoppage, maybe a month, maybe two,
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  Speaker 1: maybe the whole season. And the irony is, Cleveland, Milwaukee,
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  Speaker 1: Tampa Bay, those are some of the best teams in baseball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Tampa Bay was 25th in payroll at $ 98 million.
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  Speaker 2: And the Brewers actually had a... They were in the
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  Speaker 2: middle of the pack. They were 19th with $ 143 million.
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  Speaker 2: But Tampa... And Cleveland, I heard John, you know, John
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  Speaker 2: worked for us back at FAN for many years, and
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  Speaker 2: he is a great, absolute writer and guest on the
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  Speaker 2: air and even hosted some shows for us. He's terrific.
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  Speaker 1: I remember. Yep.
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  Speaker 2: And like you, I love the guy as well. He's just,
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  Speaker 2: you know, right on top of stuff. But he also
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  Speaker 2: pointed out all the prospects that Cleveland has, you know, Bazana, DeLauder, Messick. Williams,
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  Speaker 2: the pitcher, I mean, they got a lot to be
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  Speaker 2: proud of. Now, we'll have to see what kind of
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  Speaker 2: lockout there is and how long it lasts. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the owners, I think, would have preferred to have the
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  Speaker 2: Dodgers win. Then they could say, well, look, we really
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  Speaker 2: need to have more equality out there. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: three of the four teams that got to the championship
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  Speaker 2: series were low-payroll teams. So, there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Bottom line. So, that didn't work out well for baseball.
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  Speaker 1: And talking about baseball, Jern, our... whole relationship started during baseball.
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  Speaker 1: I was working at WNEW and the Mets were playing
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  Speaker 1: the Yankees in the World Series. And I made my
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  Speaker 1: way over to Rockefeller Center, where I'll be today, ironically,
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  Speaker 1: at the Rainbow Room. And you guys, Mike and the
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  Speaker 1: Mad Dog, were doing this outdoor show. The whole city
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  Speaker 1: was wild with this Met Yankee World Series. And I
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  Speaker 1: was wearing a jersey. I forget whose jersey, but you
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  Speaker 1: walked over to me.
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  Speaker 2: You were wearing a Ranger jersey.
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  Speaker 1: Ranger jersey. There you go. And you walked over to me,
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  Speaker 1: and you were so kind and so sweet. And that
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  Speaker 1: was our first conversation, the beginning of what was quite
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  Speaker 1: a marriage, Mark Chernoff.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Sid, you know, it was a treat having you
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  Speaker 2: work for us at the radio station. It was not
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  Speaker 2: a treat that you just had so many issues back
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  Speaker 2: and forth. You know, we put you on wins for
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  Speaker 2: a while doing sports reports of 15 and 45. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that last straw was when you were down
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  Speaker 2: in Atlantic City and didn't come back for the Giants
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  Speaker 2: pregame show. And, you know, it was a sad day
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  Speaker 2: for me. It was a very sad day. And when
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  Speaker 2: I saw your father watching, he was there to watch
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  Speaker 2: the pregame show, and I said, where's Sid? And he said, uh-oh. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: He probably turned white, my dad. And that's, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And that's the one thing about today. You know, my mom,
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  Speaker 1: who you also know pretty well, she's 91 Naomi, and
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  Speaker 1: she came to the house last night. She's going to
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  Speaker 1: join us. later on today. But that is the one
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  Speaker 1: thing about today that, um, that makes me sad. Otherwise
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  Speaker 1: it's a very celebratory great day, but my dad's been
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  Speaker 1: gone for six years and he would have loved this today.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he would have.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, Sid, the fact that you were able to
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  Speaker 2: turn your life around and, and do all the things
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  Speaker 2: that you've done, um, has really been amazing because there
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  Speaker 2: was that low point, you know, many years ago now
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  Speaker 2: where I said, I just hope you stay alive. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I remember you went up in Sussex County for rehab,
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  Speaker 2: and you were supposed to stay there, I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: three weeks, four weeks. And, you know, after like three days,
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  Speaker 2: I'm done. I got everything I need out of this.
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  Speaker 2: And I said to Danielle, we met at the Forum
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  Speaker 2: Diner out on Route 4.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, we did.
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  Speaker 2: Which isn't there anymore. And it's like, Sid, what are
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  Speaker 2: you doing? And I'm good. I'm completely clean. I'm healthy.
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  Speaker 2: Even Danielle's looking at me like, you're nuts. You're my husband,
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  Speaker 2: but you're nuts.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. You guys were awfully good to me then.
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  Speaker 2: You know what, Sid? You deserve a medal for being
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  Speaker 2: able to come back from all of that. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's really amazing that you were able to make your way,
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  Speaker 2: you know, found your way and, you know, do do
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  Speaker 2: what you do on New York morning radio. And I
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  Speaker 2: think it's just truly amazing. So it's it's it's well
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  Speaker 2: deserved the honors that you're getting. Um, if I wasn't
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  Speaker 2: under the weather today, I have a deeper voice, which
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  Speaker 2: is nice. I was actually planning on being.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, really? Oh, that would have been great. That would
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  Speaker 1: have been great. But I will say this, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I I've lost many brothers and sisters in recovery over
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  Speaker 1: the years. And every now and then I'll go back
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  Speaker 1: and take a look at the big book, which a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of folks signed when I was in rehab. The
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  Speaker 1: first time I went to two and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: those folks are dead. And the reason why is because
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  Speaker 1: they never had the support. You know, I, I get
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  Speaker 1: a lot of credit. You just gave it to me
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  Speaker 1: for coming back. And yeah, at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 1: it was me, right? I had to get up in
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  Speaker 1: the morning and go to bed at night. But the
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  Speaker 1: fact that I had... Naomi and Harvey and Danielle and
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  Speaker 1: Ava and Gabriel and Mark Chernoff. And even when I
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  Speaker 1: went to rehab that second time, you guys didn't fire me.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, what you guys did was you said, go
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  Speaker 1: away for 30 days. And when you get back, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to be back on Imus. You're going to be
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  Speaker 1: back with Joe Beningo. You're back. And then, of course,
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  Speaker 1: it took me about four months to blow the whole
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  Speaker 1: thing up. But the truth is, I've had so much
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  Speaker 1: support between friends and family. And look at this, Charney.
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  Speaker 1: I'm staring right now with Lou Ruffino. You worked with
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  Speaker 1: that guy for like 30 years. He's still here. That's
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  Speaker 1: why I'm sober today. I wish I could take all
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: the credit, but it's just not true.
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  Speaker 2: By the way, Lou, congrats on the great music you
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  Speaker 2: still pick.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Mark.
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  Speaker 2: Whether it was, you know, the Beatles, Chicago. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I love hearing the music. You know that.
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  Speaker 1: I do know. I'm thinking of you actually a lot
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  Speaker 1: of times. Are you still doing that? Are you still
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  Speaker 1: spinning records, Sherm?
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  Speaker 2: I am at WFDU, which is Fairleigh Dickinson's commercial-free public
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  Speaker 2: radio station, 89.1 FM. I do Wednesdays, 9 a.m. to
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  Speaker 2: 1 p.m. I do some fill-in as well. It's just
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  Speaker 2: a wonderful place to work. It's retro radio, so it's 60s, 70s,
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  Speaker 2: and we can play anything we want. I try to
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  Speaker 2: come up with themes and stuff, and I haven't had
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  Speaker 2: this much fun on the radio in a million years.
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  Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable. It's a great place. Our program director,
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  Speaker 2: her name is Opie. She's a terrific leader. Um, and
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  Speaker 2: all the other jocks, my, my buddy, Lonnie strum, who, uh,
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  Speaker 2: he and I worked together at, um, uh, WRSU at
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  Speaker 2: Rutgers years ago, um, does a show on Thursday. So
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  Speaker 2: today from nine to one and just, I like all
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  Speaker 2: the people there. Um, it's, it's a lot of fun and, um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, be able to just play the songs that
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  Speaker 2: I want to play. And I think that listeners want
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  Speaker 2: to hear. So.
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  Speaker 1: That is great. I'm happy to hear that. I really am. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I got to tell you this.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when Cousin Brucey, you know, needs to fill in.
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  Speaker 1: Yes. I told these guys here. I told you. I said,
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  Speaker 1: we got to get Churney on here at Music Weekends.
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  Speaker 1: That's the guy. We got a bunch of great people here, too.
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  Speaker 1: But you're amazing. You'd be perfect here. So I'll tell
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: him again today. I think you just told him, actually, Churney.
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  Speaker 1: Good job. Listen, on a serious note, you found me
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: way back when. And you've been, you know, on my birthday,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the very first text I get every year is still you.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. 26 years. The first text I still get
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  Speaker 1: is yours and the holidays and, and my family loves
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  Speaker 1: you and I love you and New York loves you.
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  Speaker 1: You're just an absolute legend. So thank you for all
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: you've done for me. And thank you for calling in
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  Speaker 1: this morning. I love you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, congratulations. Have a great time and make sure you
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  Speaker 2: give Danielle plenty of kudos at the luncheon today.
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  Speaker 1: I promise I will. Okay. Johnny, I love you. Thank you, buddy.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all you're the best. Come on. You're the best. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: There he is. Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing Mark Chernoff.
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  Speaker 1: When they write the book, about the greatest people to ever,
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  Speaker 1: ever program radio. I'm telling you, Chernoff, and no disrespect
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to Chad and Chris, Chernoff is number one.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: mornings at 6. If you like the podcast, share it
• 11:38
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• 11:43
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• 11:47
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• 11:53
  Speaker 3: and X. See you next time for a new episode
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: so you never have to wonder.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?