Sid Rosenberg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sidney Arthur Rosenberg (born c. 1967 in Brooklyn, New York) is a controversial American radio personality who currently works for WAXY "790 The Ticket" [1] in Miami, where he hosts his own Mid-Morning show. He originally was paired with O.J. McDuffie, formerly a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins; McDuffie resigned his position with the station in the summer of 2006.
Rosenberg, who is the cousin of Minnesota senator Norm Coleman, attended the University of Miami and Brooklyn College in 1984 and 1985 but dropped out of both.[2] He then got an associates degree from Kingsborough Community College in 1990 and a bachelors degree in business from Baruch College in the Flatiron/Gramercy section of Manhattan in 1992.[3]
What jobs and occupations Rosenberg had during much of this time is unknown. However, his radio career started in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he hosted the syndicated sports radio program The Drive in the late 1990s, after starting as an Internet broadcast. In 2000, he moved to New York City to co-host WNEW-FM's turbulent morning show, the Sports Guys. A year later, he joined the Imus in the Morning program. He shared the sports broadcasting duties with Warner Wolf before become the full-time sports reporter. He engaged in heated half-mock, half-serious disputes with the other members of the Imus cast, leading for example to an actual boxing bout with producer Bernard McGuirk. Several months after joining the Imus show, he became the co-host of the midday show on Imus' flagship station, WFAN. Here his strong knowledge of sports and distinctive, high-pitched Brooklyn accent served him well. He would hold both broadcasting positions until 2005. For several years, he also hosted the radio pre-game shows for New York Giants home games.
Rosenberg was no stranger to controversy on the Imus show, which was also simulcast on MSNBC cable television, therein increasing his remarks' visibility. Among other things, he would say on-air that Venus and Serena Williams would be better suited for National Geographic Magazine than for Playboy, that "faggots play tennis" and that the United States women's national soccer team were "a bunch of juiced up dykes."[citation needed] He referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and suggested that "They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now" during the November 12, 2004 funeral of deceased Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat.[4]
To be sure inflammatory remarks in the guise of humor is the central motif of the Imus show, but Rosenberg showed himself to be more than a bit out of control in this regard. He would eventually be removed from the Imus show in May 2005, after saying in regard to Kylie Minogue's battle with breast cancer, that " ... ain't gonna be so beautiful when the bitch got bald head and one titty."[5]
Among other personal problems, Rosenberg has also been involved with a lawsuit for stealing DirecTV, and was taken into a rehabilitation center earlier in 2005 for a triple addiction to crack cocaine, alcohol, and gambling. He and his wife Danielle were married around 1991, and had a daughter Ava around 2003.
Rosenberg's desire to be the Howard Stern of sports radio was wearing on the nerves of both co-workers and listeners alike, especially after his dismissal from Don Imus's show. Among his schtick was insulting his colleagues; starting arguments with callers and with his co-hosts; discussing popular programs such as Survivor and The O.C. in lieu of discussing sporting events; shameless name-dropping of celebrities (mainly D-list or lower) with whom he had come in contact; vivid descriptions (both complimentary and derogatory) of athletes' wives or girlfriends and/or their female relatives, as well as women in the audience of games he watched; spending inordinate amounts of time in flirtatious conversations with female callers; and perhaps the last straw, shortly before his dismissal, was a lengthy, rambling interview with Anna Benson, former Playboy centerfold and wife of then-Mets pitcher Kris Benson. Rosenberg spent the next several days arguing with callers, many of whom felt the interview was both irrelevant and self-serving. His specious defense (and yet another bite to the hand that was feeding him) was to challenge the manhood of anyone who would rather listen to sports talk than listen to a beautiful woman.
Rosenberg would leave WFAN altogether on September 12, 2005. He did so after failing to show up to host the Giants' pre-game show on September 11, 2005 (he made an appearance for FHM in Atlantic City that weekend, and post that has little memory of what transpired [6]). As a result of the no-show, management at WFAN gave him the option to resign from the station, which he did. The New York Post reported that he would likely have been fired if he did not resign. After nine months of unemployment, he found underpowered "The Ticket" in Miami.
