In one of the rare occasions when Phil’s point isn’t merely something that can be hidden under a hat, the New York Post’s Mushnick casts a torchlight on the enablers at WFAN and their handling of self-described addictive personality Sid Rosenberg.
Amazing how, overnight, Sid Rosenberg’s “personal issues,” which previously included gambling and substance abuse, went from lap dance-joint hilarious – the stuff that made him a valued foil for Don Imus and a star of WFAN’s all-day promos – to emergency-room serious.
WFAN reminds us of the casino that keeps plying a guy with booze while continuing to extend him tens of thousands of dollars in credit. The guy is neither a problem drinker nor a problem gambler, right up until he can’t pay his markers.
It’s the same as the Yankees feigning shock to learn Jason Giambi wasn’t naturally muscled.
Everyone in a leadership position at WFAN knew – long knew – that Rosenberg had serious “issues.” But they remained eager to try to cash in on them, to promote them, to display Rosenberg as the house fool, the house lout.
It makes for perverse comedy that WFAN has issued a statement claiming it’s fully behind Rosenberg as he seeks help. Truth is, WFAN always was behind him, giving him that extra shove, allowing him to serve as the station’s say-anything, do-anything crazy man and professional low-life.
Rosenberg’s only discernible, WFAN-enabled talent is gall, the nerve to proudly mouth vulgarities and defamations into a microphone. All for our listening pleasure, of course.
And while Rosenberg, Imus & Co., and WFAN found the personal problems of public figures to be food for cheap hilarity and ridicule, WFAN tells us Rosenberg’s problems are none of our business, what station GM Lee Davis calls “a personal matter.” And we’re expected to treat his problems with solemnity and sensitivity.
That, naturally, means showing respect for his family’s feelings and privacy at this difficult time. See how it works?
Oh, yeah, now that Rosenberg is on an open-ended leave, seeking help, WFAN, which was behind him all along, is behind him all the way.
Mushnick brings to light an issue with some real meat. WFAN for the most part assumes the position that “we will judge and vocalize what we view wrong”. Growing up Catholic I never once viewed a pic. of what they told us God looked like that now resembles Fat Ego Mike F., Chris (PHONEY) R. or Don (BIG FRAUD) I. Allowing Sid to portray a character that in fact was, who he truly is for ratings ignoring the sad conseq. (Sid has a daughter & wife) is what makes WFAN and it’s crew a soul-less bunch! 🙁
Too bad Phil M. did not have better motives for airing his Sid diatribe.
Joe A.
for the record, I don’t consider Steve Sommers to be part of a soulless bunch. For eons, he’s done funny radio shows that aren’t about making himself look good at the expense of others (well, aside from The Chief) and while he’ll never be the sort of yack-meister to anchor a drive-time gig, he (along with Gary Cohen) are reason enough not to wish a big bolt of lightning on ‘FAN’s astoria studios.
I listen to Imus some in the morning and listen to Mike and Dog some in the afternoon. This has to do with the whole Sid- Imus situation. It has long annoyed me that Imus and Sid will take full shots and celebs and non celebs. Sid always has a wise guy bottom line street throw-away line about anybody who manages to get in a mess. I feel sorry for his wife and baby at the moment. For their sakes, I hope he gets his act together. As for Sid- I hope he does also. As for sympathy for Sid- as Tony Soprano might say: “Boo-freakin-hoo.”
Sid found a way to make a lot of money at the expense of others. Do I blame him? No, call me a low-life, or tell me that I have no morals, but somebody thinks that he is a funny guy. I personally don’t like Sid Rosenberg, but I now respect him for trying to get his act together. With a wife and a kid it is probably about time
I think Don Imus will support Sid no matter what on this. If anyone is an expert on how low drugs or alcohol can drag you, it’s Imus. And in spite of the image he portrays, I think Imus has a heart. I’m not sure I can necessarily say the same about Sid, but we’ll see what he learns from this. – Chuck
I’ve been watching Imus on MSNBC since 2000 and so am probably a “newbie” compared to those of you who can actually listen to WFAN, but I’ve watched Sid do a downward spiral over the years. Yes, he can be funny, but more and more, it seemed to me that he could hardly get more than a phrase out without guffawing about something that at least the tv audience was in the dark about–like the guy at a party giggling to himself. Anyway, I wish him the best, but he’s got to be serious about getting better. Don’t know whether or not he’s in 30-60-90 day rehab, but I hope it’s the 90. He really needs time for counseling and real detoxing.
This Clown gets no sympathy, He would be the first to abuse some celebrity with the same trbls he has.
Sid is the srereotype of the Queens blvd. Commando. He has a big mouth,thick skin,obnoxious and filthy mouthed. The so called comedy with sid on the Imus show is so set up you always know what sid is going to say. I hope he never comes back to the show. Bernie is the real backbone of that show,with the quickist wit I have ever heard.
sidney is just a big moma’s boy and needs help. too bad he did not have to get his mouth wired shut when bernard took it to him.
Stop bashing Sid…everyone has issues…leave the man alone!
If you all think that bashing a guy when he is down is going to make you feel better than go ahead,Mr.Mushnick for as long as i can remember has never had anthing good to say about anyone on that station.
I for one love the I-man and his crew and also know when i am being put on!!!So i wish my man Sid well and hope he gets his life in order and gets back to the show!!!
when you’re a jerk, and you do not see what you are doing to yourself, you need to learn and in his case clean up. personally i think bernard and sid show no class and even less intelligence than a pile of dog stuff. imus doesnt need idiots around to seem smart or be a wise ass. it shows just how low the media monkeys can go. wanna improve your intellect? turn off the tv and the radio? ever wonder whay much of the world thinks we’re a-holes over here? travel abroad and you will see what i have seen over the years. our arrogance is legendary, and yes it starts with the decisions to put certified morons on the air. that’s sid and bernard for starters. good luck sid, get better and you will think and act better too… the moron act is very very soggy.
Don Imus is a horrible bigot and an enormous roadblock to racial & ethnic harmony in NYCbut it doesn’t surprise me that his show is extremely popular in New York. Jews only worry about prejudice and bigotry when it is directed at them.
Jewish groups in NYC would never ever complain about anything these losers say as long as it is not criticism of other Jews. The truth is most Jews love this kind of demagogery. You can just look at the ratings to see that.
That’s the way anti-semitism works.
Lois
Lois,
Phil Mushnick has been a vocal critic of the Imus program for YEARS and I can’t recall his ever bashing the I-man + peanut gallery for anti-Jew remarks.
And what does “just look at the ratings” mean? You can prove Imus does well with jewish listeners? Just who is the bigot in this instance?
You guys should take it easy with Sidney Rosenberg. This guy, with the wise guy attitude and smart remarks, that’s what he is there for. He is there specifically to banter and give the smart remarks, and like Don Imus, Bernard, and the interim sportscaster, the personalities on the air are very unlike the ones in thier personal life..It just so happens that some aspects of thier guy’s personal life (Imus Drug abuse, Sid’s Rehab) they choose to not keep private. How can you get upset about them making fun of other peoples, C’mon, THEY ARE THERE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, not a hardball or O’Reilly factor. Take it what it’s worth.
Sid as the sideman/character Sid is one issue. Love him or Hate him.
Sid making an attempt at recovery is another issue and I wish him all the luck in the world. I don’t particularly care for his choice or method of delivery as an entertainment personality, but anybody who tries to clean up his act should be applauded. You can hate Sid, you can hate addiction, but you can’t fault a guy for trying to get straightened out.
God Bless Sid for making a significant change in his life!
I watched Sid’s return on IMUS this morning and, like him or not, almost cried along with him when he told the story about almost jumping out of the hotel room window in Cleveland. Let’s all stop the rhetoric about Sid and his on-air personality for a minute and consider that he is still a human being.
It too a lot of courage to bear his soul on TV this morning and I admire his courage at doing so.
I don’t know if the rehab will work or not, but Sid certainly has my best wishes and hopes that his recovery goes well.
I heard from a friend that Sid got popped for DUI so the rehab thing is to make him look good for court. Anyone else hear this or is this just another vicious rumor?
I am a physician in training, thankfully nearly complete. In my chosen field of Anesthesiology we have the highest rate of substance abuse among physisicans. While it is true that there were apparently several signs of his addictions, they kept propping him up day after day. Sort of sad, but I look at it from a different perspective. After years of school, med school, residency and hundreds of thousands of dollars of med school debt, the average physician in training could get canned and be unable to practice after a single DUI let alone be a substance abuser. Yes, you could throw yourself on the mercy of the medical system as a “victim” of disease and possibly switch into another program and MAYBE complete your training.
If Sid and company wants sympathy from me he is barking up the wrong tree………….
For Sid, good luck to you. For Mrs. Rosenberg… you are raising a child in a disfunctional environment. Take my advise….support your husband with his recovery, but you and your baby must be #1. Be ever mindful of any relapse. Everyone deserves a second chance…but we are talking about a baby now. A baby that is deserving of a Father who will be there for her.
Phil is no better then those who he writes about.
It’s all about ratings/viewers/readers.Don’t believe the hype.
Phil, like Sid,Howard and Opie & Dopie, do what they do to insure they get a pay check at the end of the week.
It’s one thing for someone like Imus to reveal things he may or may not have done 25 years prior. I do find it hard to believe that sid could conceal such behavior from the people he worked with and his wife. I did not say he did conceal, I said I find it hard to believe.
Remember, don’t believe everything you hear or read.
I enjoy Sid and his ability to take all the “shots” that Imus and Bernie throw at him. He never fails to give a big, welcome laugh and is able to handle personal attacks against him as good as anyone and never loses his “cool” Go Sidney!
I have read many comments which make good sense ( to me) and many which dont(to me, though I am sure they are well meaning and make perfect sense to the writer). Here is my take on it, for what it is worth.
On Sid: his behavior has been atrocious at times…he is dealing however, with a disease. A problem recognized fifty years ago by the AMA as a disease. Thats why men and women go to rehab. But guess what rehab doesnt necessarily work. But if Sid wants sobriety and to be clean bad enough and will stop at nothing to achieve that, it will work for him. He will have to change his playgrounds and his playmates and take care of himself and do it for himself and not because someone else wants it for him. In the process his wife and dtr will benefit and his life will improve. He will first of all have to be honest, and GUESS WHAT, I HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THESE MATTERS.
ON Imus: The guy, in my judgment, has a heart. Whether he will admit it or not, on the air, he will do what he can to help Sid in his recovery. It is part of Imus’ ongoing recovery. Sure, he too can be obnoxioius, overbearing, a bully and any number of things. But he has sworn loyalty to Sid and aside from his on side bashing of Sid, he is there for him.
to all of us: remember , it is just a tv program
Billy G
Betty Ford ’01
im worried about sid can anyone give me an update
From Wikipedia:
Sid Rosenberg is an American radio personality who currently works for WAXY in Miami, Florida, where he co-hosts a Mid-Morning show along with O.J. McDuffie, former Miami Dolphins wide receiver.