NYC Radio: Veteran WFAN Programmer Mark Chernoff To Retire

Mark Chernoff, the longtime WFAN program director and a part of the New York sports media scene for nearly three decades, will retire from the station later this spring.

The NY Post reports Chernoff joined the FAN in 1993 after rising to prominence during Howard Stern’s stardom on 92.3 K-Rock. At FAN, he managed the egos of “Imus in the Morning” and “Mike & the Mad Dog.”

Mark Chernoff

In the 2007, he successfully helped the station regain its equilibrium after Don Imus was fired for making racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. He was a key part of the group that chose to team Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton, allowing the station to successfully transition in the mornings, while finding success when Chris Russo left for SiriusXM and Mike Francesa was solo in afternoons.

Chernoff, who is approaching 70, is a legendary figure in the radio business. He has been a frequent topic of on-air conversation through the years, with Gregg Giannotti often impersonating him in the mornings. Hosts, producers and updates often had a good laugh about his well-known thriftiness with the company budget.

Chris Oliviero, Entercom's SVP/Market, made the announcement in a staff memo:

Good morning TEAM NEW YORK, 

Today, I’d like to share significant and meaningful news regarding WFAN.

After nearly 30 years of unmatched success, our colleague and industry programming icon, Mark Chernoff, will step down from day-to-day oversight of WFAN and CBS SPORTS RADIO later in 2021 after a worthy successor has been identified – which trust me will be no easy task. 

Since no one knows the job better, Mark will be a member of the search committee for the next sports content lead for both brands and, until that time, will remain fully responsible for all operations. Also, Mark will continue on as an advisor to WFAN after the search and transition is complete.

I was lucky enough to first meet Mark in 1998 in his windowless sub-sub-basement office out at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. I was a college grad groveling for part-time board op shifts at WFAN. That began a relationship that has evolved into one of the most rewarding, important and genuine friendships of my entire life. One that I have and always will cherish.

When people think of WFAN, names like Imus, ‘Mike & The Mad Dog’ or Boomer often come to mind, but no name has been more responsible for the consistent excellence of THE FAN than “Chernoff.”

Again, nothing is changing right now, so business as usual. But it was important for Mark that we share this news well in advance with all of you as we begin this process.

And, of course, when the time is right, we all look forward to celebrating Mark for a career of contributions to our New York cluster unlike no other.

Thanks all for appreciating this special moment,

Chris  

Chernoff plans to stay involved in media in some form. The FAN will begin a search to replace him, as it looks less for a radio program director and more for a multi-media focused executive to run the station with an eye on digital platforms.