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Despite a spirited attempt to convince New York City voters that he was the best choice for mayor last November, Curtis Sliwa finished a distant third behind Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo in the race. Luckily, he had two career choices to fall back on, Guardian Angels crime-fighting founder and “rock-ribbed, all-American, cut my veins and I bleed New York Yankees pinstripes” radio talk-show host. Unfortunately, most of his backers at WABC rubbed him the wrong way when they publicly called on Curtis to drop out of the race and avoid a humiliating defeat rather than fight the good fight on behalf of New Yorkers.
Disturbed by their lack of faith in his abilities as the leader of the Angels and as a curmudgeonly lover of the Big Apple, Curtis quit WABC and vowed never to return. On December 22nd, Curtis will make good on that promise, as he will fill in for a vacationing Mark Simone for two weeks. Sliwa appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program to hype up his hosting appearances at his former radio rival- even insisting that “I no longer listen to WABC; the acronym there stands for Always Blaming Curtis.”
Sliwa told host Larry Mendte that this guest-hosting stint is a homecoming of sorts, as he got his very first chance to talk on the air at WOR at the age of 17 in 1971. “I actually come back, believe it or not, to the first location that I was ever interviewed on radio. I was the Newspaper Boy of the Year, had gone to the White House to receive an award from then-President Richard Nixon, and upon my return, I went to the old studios of WOR at 1440 Broadway and was interviewed by Arlene Francis, who was the hostess of the mid-day program… Once they told me, ‘Speak into the microphone,’ I haven’t stopped speaking since.”
Sliwa vowed to hold Zohran Mamdani accountable for his political agenda as he runs New York- unlike some of the other figures in his recent past, who seemingly have forgotten how much they opposed the socialist candidate in the first place: “I’ll certainly be there as part of the royal opposition. I’ve already assembled people to hit the barricades because we’re not going to move, we’re going to improve- and by the way, Larry, what happened to all of the billionaires who were my nemesis in the campaign? They were all threatening they were going to sell their businesses, they were going to leave, pack up, head to Texas, Florida, Tennessee and parts unknown, and if you notice, the moment Zohran Mamdani was announced the winner, they were all reaching out with their olive branch to make their deals with the new mayor.”
Remember to catch Curtis Sliwa at 10am on Monday, December 22nd on 710 WOR, as he makes his first guest-host appearance on the Mark Simone Show, where he’ll be behind the mic for “Mr. New York” through January 2.
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