John Minko

Nice article in today's Newsday about Minko's retirement from WFAN.
Best part is a quote about the fact that he will continue to call St John's games.

"They're going to have to pull me out of Carnesecca Arena", he said. "I love doing it".

Gotta love the Mink Man!!!!
 
[quote="Room112" post=384107][quote="NCJohnnie" post=384075]Neer used to be pretty friendly with Bruce and promoted his music a lot on WNEW when Bruce first started out.[/quote]

Yep. Neer wrote a good book "FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio". It's a good read and he shares stories of promoting Bruce early on.[/quote]

You mean the Bruce who made a fortune writing about the “working man” and then went elite after he made all his money? Great songwriter, performer and bandleader, phony as a three dollar bill as a person.
 
[quote="Logen" post=384111][quote="Room112" post=384107][quote="NCJohnnie" post=384075]Neer used to be pretty friendly with Bruce and promoted his music a lot on WNEW when Bruce first started out.[/quote]

Yep. Neer wrote a good book "FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio". It's a good read and he shares stories of promoting Bruce early on.[/quote]

You mean the Bruce who made a fortune writing about the “working man” and then went elite after he made all his money? Great songwriter, performer and bandleader, phony as a three dollar bill as a person.[/quote]

Well part of that is covered in the book. Unfortunately Neer never heard from him again after his single took off.
 
John Minko the town of Bergenfield NJ's pride, and his daughter's softball coach, managed to stay on Mike F's good side, but laughing at Mike F's constant "good natured" put downs got to be too much for me to listen to. Minko a proud Butler Bulldog.

Ride off into the night John, and keep calling Johnny games, a class guy all the way.

Neer I think was moved to like 2 Am Sundays to keep him in a short slot, he goes back a long way with Chernoff the GM of the station, back to their WNEW days.

Neer is smart and ran a good show Sat and Sun mornings I will miss him.

Dennis Elsas another old WNEW jock, has had a long time gig as a DJ on WFUV Fordham's public radio station and a very good listen.

Interesting fact: back a long time ago way before the FAN, WFUV had a long running weekly sports call-in show I think it was called One on One.
 
[quote="BrookJersey Redmen" post=384281]John Minko the town of Bergenfield NJ's pride, and his daughter's softball coach, managed to stay on Mike F's good side, but laughing at Mike F's constant "good natured" put downs got to be too much for me to listen to. Minko a proud Butler Bulldog.

Ride off into the night John, and keep calling Johnny games, a class guy all the way.

Neer I think was moved to like 2 Am Sundays to keep him in a short slot, he goes back a long way with Chernoff the GM of the station, back to their WNEW days.

Neer is smart and ran a good show Sat and Sun mornings I will miss him.

Dennis Elsas another old WNEW jock, has had a long time gig as a DJ on WFUV Fordham's public radio station and a very good listen.

Interesting fact: back a long time ago way before the FAN, WFUV had a long running weekly sports call-in show I think it was called One on One.[/quote]
WFUV went back to back with Mike Breen and Michael Kay as hosts, two pretty big big timers.
 
I was reading this thread and was remembering WFUV. They had a sports talk show late 70’s early 80’s every Sunday night of the NFL season recapping all the games. Give the stats, talk about all the games not just local games. Now remember this was before WFAN and cable and everything. Game stats from around the league usually waited for the Monday morning paper. Show was on really late. Kept it low so my parents couldn’t hear it school the next day and all. Something like 12-2 or even later. I fell asleep many times listening to that show. I do not remember what they named the show. Amazing how much everything has changed.
 
[quote="BrookJersey Redmen" post=384281]John Minko the town of Bergenfield NJ's pride, and his daughter's softball coach, managed to stay on Mike F's good side, but laughing at Mike F's constant "good natured" put downs got to be too much for me to listen to. Minko a proud Butler Bulldog.

Ride off into the night John, and keep calling Johnny games, a class guy all the way.

Neer I think was moved to like 2 Am Sundays to keep him in a short slot, he goes back a long way with Chernoff the GM of the station, back to their WNEW days.

Neer is smart and ran a good show Sat and Sun mornings I will miss him.

Dennis Elsas another old WNEW jock, has had a long time gig as a DJ on WFUV Fordham's public radio station and a very good listen.

Interesting fact: back a long time ago way before the FAN, WFUV had a long running weekly sports call-in show I think it was called One on One.[/quote]

Thanks, I never knew that. I went to High School in Bergenfield, NJ.
 
I can't remember if it was the Atlantis or Orlando tournament, but my family and I were in the hotel and next to him near lobby / elevator. I recognized him, told my wife he's from sports radio etc.

I go to say hello, with wife & teen daughter( in St. John's shirt) and that I was a fan of his work etc. Very low key, casual way.

He basically nods his head, not even a smile, looked more like a sneer, turns around and walks away. Very curmudgeon like... I could not believe it. I remember staying to myself " What an a-hole!"

Maybe just caught him at a bad moment, as we all have them, but it really turned me off from the guy I has heard on radio since I was a young teen listening to WFAN every day.
 
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[quote="ctstorm" post=384331][quote="BrookJersey Redmen" post=384281]John Minko the town of Bergenfield NJ's pride, and his daughter's softball coach, managed to stay on Mike F's good side, but laughing at Mike F's constant "good natured" put downs got to be too much for me to listen to. Minko a proud Butler Bulldog.

Ride off into the night John, and keep calling Johnny games, a class guy all the way.

Neer I think was moved to like 2 Am Sundays to keep him in a short slot, he goes back a long way with Chernoff the GM of the station, back to their WNEW days.

Neer is smart and ran a good show Sat and Sun mornings I will miss him.

Dennis Elsas another old WNEW jock, has had a long time gig as a DJ on WFUV Fordham's public radio station and a very good listen.

Interesting fact: back a long time ago way before the FAN, WFUV had a long running weekly sports call-in show I think it was called One on One.[/quote]

Thanks, I never knew that. I went to High School in Bergenfield, NJ.[/quote]

Had the immense pleasure of getting to know John Minko a bit when I coached against him in the UGALS softball league back in the day. Just a classy man.
 
[quote="Logen" post=384111][quote="Room112" post=384107][quote="NCJohnnie" post=384075]Neer used to be pretty friendly with Bruce and promoted his music a lot on WNEW when Bruce first started out.[/quote]

Yep. Neer wrote a good book "FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio". It's a good read and he shares stories of promoting Bruce early on.[/quote]

You mean the Bruce who made a fortune writing about the “working man” and then went elite after he made all his money? Great songwriter, performer and bandleader, phony as a three dollar bill as a person.[/quote]

I completely disagree with Bruce's political views. However, he at least admits to what you're talking about. At one of his last shows at MetLife, on stage he said something along the lines of, I'm a phony, I've never worked a 9-5 job in my life, I've never been in a union or had to do any manual labor in my life either, yet I've made my career because of the working man.
 
[quote="Chris7" post=384356][quote="Logen" post=384111][quote="Room112" post=384107][quote="NCJohnnie" post=384075]Neer used to be pretty friendly with Bruce and promoted his music a lot on WNEW when Bruce first started out.[/quote]

Yep. Neer wrote a good book "FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio". It's a good read and he shares stories of promoting Bruce early on.[/quote]

You mean the Bruce who made a fortune writing about the “working man” and then went elite after he made all his money? Great songwriter, performer and bandleader, phony as a three dollar bill as a person.[/quote]

I completely disagree with Bruce's political views. However, he at least admits to what you're talking about. At one of his last shows at MetLife, on stage he said something along the lines of, I'm a phony, I've never worked a 9-5 job in my life, I've never been in a union or had to do any manual labor in my life either, yet I've made my career because of the working man.[/quote]

The man takes phoniness to an art form.
 
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=384064][quote="Paultzman" post=384062]Minko said the timing of his departure is not what he would have wanted, but he said he had been considering leaving for some time now.

Neil Best[/quote] Big cutbacks and layoffs and going to all the big radio guys for paycuts

damn. I like Minko. Only met him a couple times but he is real nice guy[/quote]

Especially with CBS/Entercom. They just fired the morning drive Radio Hall of Famer on their Alt Rock affiliate a couple weeks back.
 
RedStormNC

Sosorry about that encounter with MInko, is it possible you had the wrong guy? Doesn't sound like him at all. Maybe he was having a really really bad day that day. I hope that was it.

I heard once Francesa tell a listener, that he didn't want to hear anecdotal stories of a regular fan's experience with an athlete for a similar reason, everyone has a bad day now and again. (And I hate to agree with Francesa on anything, and didn't like how he treated Minko on the air.)
 
[quote="BrookJersey Redmen" post=384517]RedStormNC

Sosorry about that encounter with MInko, is it possible you had the wrong guy? Doesn't sound like him at all. Maybe he was having a really really bad day that day. I hope that was it.

I heard once Francesa tell a listener, that he didn't want to hear anecdotal stories of a regular fan's experience with an athlete for a similar reason, everyone has a bad day now and again. (And I hate to agree with Francesa on anything, and didn't like how he treated Minko on the air.)[/quote]

You can add Russo to that list. He wasn't all that kind, at times, to The Mink Man either.

I remember, and this was years ago, it was John's birthday and Russo said: Wow you are (whatever age) and you're still doing updates. Personally, I thought that remark crossed the line. No need to belittle someone on the air, especially a colleague.
 
It was definitely him, as I knew what he looked like and saw him rest of weekend, at hotel and games.

Agree, could have just been a single moment, and we all have them and happy to hear others know he's a great guy. All good.
 
JSJ: you're right Mad dog was just as bad mocking Minko, and poor John had to play along. He was so self-effacing I bet he didn't even hold it against them.

Minko might have been the very first employee at the station or if not one of the first.
 
I remember one day that Mike and the Dog were trying to get John to give them a name of someone at the station that had done something that upset them . The questioning went on for several minutes and the Mink man was cringing and holding . You could feel for him but it was funny but excruciating . Mike and the Dog were not being mean but seemed to enjoy John on the hot seat .
 
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