WFAN host Craig Carton is leaving the network with radio show to end on June 30 to join FS1

Longtime WFAN New York radio host Craig Carton is leaving the network.

The 54-year-old is focusing on his cable TV role on FS1, where he is set to earn seven figures, according to the NY Post.

Carton confirmed his exit by starting his afternoon show an hour earlier than normal to allow himself time for a lengthy monologue about his career before his announcement.

‘Happy day and a very sad day for me, it’s one of the most difficult days I’ll ever do in radio, because I’m leaving WFAN,’ Carton said.

He will now focus solely on his show that debuted last September known as ‘The Carton Show.’

Longtime WFAN New York radio host Craig Carton is leaving the network to focus on FS1 show

Carton, whose last day at the local radio station will be June 30, reportedly debated long-and-hard on taking the lucrative offer due to his loyalty to FAN.

In November 2020 the station gave Carton a second chance to work for FAN.

He was sentenced to 42 months in prison in Manhattan in April 2019 for his role in a $5.6million ticket fraud scheme.

The former radio co-host of 1988 NFL MVP Boomer Esiason, Carton was convicted of conspiracy as well as wire and securities fraud and faced up to 45 years in prison. 

Carton resigned from his radio show following his 2017 arrest when he was accused of swindling investors in a ticket reselling business.

WFAN radio personality Carton behind the microphone in the WFAN studio during his morning show, ‘Boomer and Carton’ in Queens, New York on February 20, 2008

Carton reportedly made about $2m when he was paired with ex-NFL quarterback Esiason on a popular WFAN ‘Boomer and Carton’ radio show before his 2017 arrest forced him out.

At his 2019 sentencing, Carton said memories of sexual abuse he suffered at age 11 were triggered by revelations about sex crimes by Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant Penn State football coach who was convicted of child sexual abuse in 2012.

He said he turned to blackjack and became a gambling addict, oblivious to winning and losing.

‘I didn’t celebrate winning $4million in three days … in the Bahamas. I didn’t bemoan losing $700,000 in less than 24 hours a few weeks later in Atlantic City,’ he said.

He credited his arrest as a ‘lightning bolt of awareness’ that led him to Gamblers Anonymous and therapy.

A native of New Rochelle, New York, Carton attended Syracuse University with a degree in broadcast journalism in 1991 and began working in Buffalo, before ultimately moving on to radio jobs in Cleveland, Philadelphia, and eventually New York.

Carton suffers from Tourette syndrome and was previously involved with charity efforts to address the disease.

FS1 reportedly has confidence in Carton and his abilities, and despite the fact that ‘The Carton Show’ has not had good ratings since its inception, the network believes that this will improve once he is no longer splitting attention between TV and radio.