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| Tony Paige |
Paige announced his retirement during his show early Tuesday morning. He said his last day will be Sept. 14, three days after his 66th birthday.
"There's nothing wrong," he said. "I'm not mad at anybody. I'm not disappointed at anybody. I've had a blast. I've had a nice run. But I just think it's time."
Paige, who underwent kidney surgery last year to have a cancerous tumor removed, stressed that his health has nothing to do with his decision.
"I still think I'm in the last third of my life, and so there's more stuff I want to do," he said.
Those things include continuing to cover boxing, write freelance for the Daily News, possibly author a book and teach, he said.
Paige started at WFAN in 1995, hosting one night a week for five years. He left the station to pursue other opportunities but returned in 2003.
"I've enjoyed every moment of this," Paige said. "A couple of people say to me, 'Oh, man, you should be working during the day.' But you know what? It's the way life goes. If I somehow was working during the day, I never would've saw my son play sports. I never would've been able to coach him the way I did. I never would've been able to see him get his first varsity base hit or be there when he pitched a whale of a game and the team gave him the game ball because he pitched a six-inning shutout. ... I wouldn't have had those memories if I was working a different time."
Said Mark Chernoff, WFAN's senior vice president of programming: "Tony has been a pure pleasure to work with as he's manned the overnight spot and developed a very loyal audience for his 16 years of holding down the fort during the overnight hours. His warm style, along with sports knowledge, has made his many listeners look forward to being a part of the show as both callers and 'listeners.' We all wish Tony the best and are glad he'll be a part of Sports Radio '66' and 101-9 FM as he turns '66.'"
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