Sid Rosenberg: Fill-In Hosts ‘Did a Very Good Job, But They’ll Never Be Me’ | Barrett Media (2024)

Like many radio hosts, 77WABC morning man Sid Rosenberg took extended time off at the end of the calendar year. While he appreciates the efforts of those who filled in for him, he knows they can’t produce the impact he does.

In his first show returning to the airwaves in 2024, Rosenberg discussed the job the fill-in hosts of his show did with one of those tasked with hosting in his stead, Curtis Sliwa. Rosenberg shared his appreciation for Sliwa before noting that the longtime New York host joked about his ego, before saying Sliwa did “a very fine job” hosting the program. The morning host then joked that if his ego was going to be fair game for criticism, he was going to share his true thoughts.

“What the hell is a ‘very fine job’? That’s like kissing your sister on the cheek!,” argued Sliwa.

“You want the answer? The answer is (the hosts) did a very, very good job, but you guys will never be me. There’s your answer. And if people want to get upset with me upstairs, so be it. I don’t care,” Rosenberg admitted.

Sid Rosenberg’s revelation comes after Andrew Giuliani, Sliwa, and 77WABC owner John Catsimatidis filled in on the station’s morning show while Rosenberg was off for the entire week of shows from December 25th through December 29th.

Sliwa said he had a bigger ego than the morning host. Sid Rosenberg joked that if Sliwa didn’t stop talking about his ego, he’d limit the appearances Sliwa sees on the station’s morning show from every day to three times per week.

Brian Kilmeade — in addition to hosting Fox & Friends on Fox News — hosts a successful talk radio show syndicated by Fox News Radio. He believes that program wouldn’t have reached the heights it has without the help of Sid Rosenberg and 77 WABC.

While joining Rosenberg on Friday, Kilmeade gave the New York host and station props for where his own show is in its success.

“You are killing it, Brian Kilmeade,” Rosenberg told the Fox News host.

He had congratulated the host for his ability to secure an exclusive interview with former President Donald Trump this week. That interview was originally scheduled to last for 10 minutes, but the Republican nominee ended up speaking for 25 minutes.

“I appreciate the support, man,” Kilmeade said during his weekly appearance on the 77 WABC morning show. “This show would not be close to successful without you, so I appreciate it, and everybody there at WABC.”

The Brian Kilmeade Show is heard from 9 AM-Noon, and airs from 10 AM-Noon on the Red Apple Media-owned station.

WGN Radio afternoon host Lisa Dent has plenty to celebrate, as she was named the Best Non-Morning Drive Talk/Personality Host in a major market in the 49th annual Gracie Awards.

Dent spent decades working on country radio — being inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2016 — before shifting to working at WGN Radio in 2021.

And while she spent the majority of her career outside the talk radio space, she shared that she’s always been a talk host at heart.

“Always,” she said. “That’s why I think for 25 years in my career I did mornings, so I had more freedom to talk about what was happening and get away from the music a little bit and really be focused on what was happening in Chicago.”

Lisa Dent started her radio career as an assistant chief engineer in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, because the station wouldn’t put women on the air. She eventually worked her way to stations in Rockford, San Diego, Minneapolis, and other stations in Chicago before signing on with the news/talk outlet. And despite all of her travels, she says she had her sights set on her current station.

“The whole time, from the moment I left Rockford, my focus was always WGN,” Dent told hosts John Williams and Bob Sirott after the news was announced that she took home the Gracie Award.

Dave Ramsey has built a multi-million dollar company on a set of principles entitled The Ramsey Way. However, he admits it wasn’t easy to get that foundation set completely.

While discussing hiring and getting employees to operate in the manner he’d like them to with an entrepreneur during the EntreLeadership Podcast, Dave Ramsey shared with the contractor from Atlanta that he himself had to go through some trial and error to get his business working the way he envisioned it.

“We’ve got like a ‘Ramsey Way’ to do things. So if you come in and do sales, and you’re a good salesman, that’s different than doing sales at Ramsey,” the company founder said. “And so you’re gonna walk with one of our salespeople for a little while, and you gotta learn the ‘Ramsey Way’ to make that sale.”

Dave Ramsey admitted the process takes time, and Ramsey Solutions is proof of that.

“It took us a while to get good at that. We sucked at it at first. And so we would have salespeople doing sales five different ways. And we had all these inconsistencies and different kinds of complaints from different kinds of customers, depending on who their rep was,” said Ramsey. “Somebody can function within their personality, but we’ve got some core tenants on accounting, some core tenants on project management, and some core tenants on sales.”