John Minko Leaving WFAN New York Sports Radio

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, April 3, 2020 | 7:43am CT

John Minko

Amid extensive cutbacks and layoffs at Entercom, John Minko has decided to take an early buyout on his contract. According to Newsday, Minko recalled what an early WFAN executive named Rick Cummings said when he saved Minko's job in the station's first year. "I said, ‘There's no way I can thank you for this,' " Minko said. "And he said, ‘Yes, there is a way . . . You could do this for somebody else someday.' "

Thus Minko stepped aside by accepting a buyout and leaving effective Friday, ending a run as its best-known, best-liked, longest-running update man.

"I thought that if I took it now, which was the right thing to do, if that prevented somebody else from getting fired, then I thanked Rick [for what he did]," Minko told Newsday after announcing his departure on Mike Francesa's Radio.com show.

Minko, 67, started two days before the launch of the nation's first 24-hour sports station, on June 29, 1987. He went on to a long run as the update man for "Mike and the Mad Dog" and later for Francesa's solo shows, among other roles. He will continue calling St. John's basketball games.