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WFAN host Steve Somers leaving sports radio station this fall

Steve Somers
Steve Somers
Photo courtesy of WFAN

Long-time sports radio host Steve Somers revealed early Thursday morning that he will leave WFAN “sooner rather than later.”

The 74-year-old added that this is his choice and that he is not being fired from the station.

“Yes, sadly it is true,” Audacy senior vice president Chris Oliviero told Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. “Steve will be wrapping up his full-time run at WFAN sometime this fall. He is without a doubt one of the most important building blocks in the history of WFAN.

“Steve and The FAN became stars together in this town. The voice, the wit, the humor, the catchphrases, all iconic. Now we have to convince him to give us all, especially the listeners, a chance to celebrate him because he is worthy of the accolades.” 

Somers is the last original member of WFAN that helped the station rise to power throughout the 1990s — alongside the likes of Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo — where it stayed atop the ratings since then alongside ESPN Radio. The San Francisco native joined the station for its launch in July 1987.

He quickly rose to fame manning the late-night slots, becoming a regular voice after New York Mets broadcasts throughout the 1990s and early 2000s — a monotone delivery and dry humor further enhancing his personality that is affectionately known today as “The Schmooze.”

Somers currently appears on weeknights from 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., but isn’t looking for the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the departures of his former colleagues.

“One thing I don’t want to do is have a farewell tour. [Mike] Francesa had that, and Joe Benigno had that, and I don’t want to go through all of the glad-handing, the hugging and the kisses and all that stuff,” Somers said (h/t Neil Best, Newsday). “That would embarrass me, number one, and number two, I would rather share the information with those people who gave me the support and gave me, really, a life and gave me a career as far as that goes and that’s the audience late at night.”