On April 15, New York Yankees play-by-play announcer John Sterling announced his retirement, effective immediately. He had been behind a microphone for 65 years and as it turns out, he didn’t go a full month without coming back on the air. While not calling a Yankees game, he did do a 90-minute call-in show over the weekend and led WFAN up to its pregame baseball coverage.

“Live From the ‘Evan and Tiki Studio‘ here at WFAN, this is John Sterling and I’m here for an hour and a half before the Yankee game, how noteworthy,” Sterling said as the show began.

“Now, some of you know that I am retired,” he continued. “So, what am I doing here? The General Manager Chris Oliviero…he thought I should come in because some people didn’t have a chance to say goodbye and I’m all for it. But I’m also for, you know I watch every game. Being retired is fabulous. I see every Yankee game every Met game, I listen to every Yankee game and Met game, and then the Knicks and the Rangers and the rest of the basketball and hockey playoffs. Anyway, I don’t miss a game.”

Then he gave out the phone number and the calls poured in.

Sterling, it seemed, would have much preferred to talk Yankees baseball or about the basketball and hockey playoffs. But, as one could imagine, everybody who called in wanted to thank Sterling for his years calling games and many were emotional speaking to him as they shared their thoughts, memories and well-wishes.

One caller asked Sterling what retirement has been like and he said, “Basically living a very easy life…I’ve had a wonderful time. Dinners with friends and family…It’s been wonderful and it’s going to stay wonderful too.”

The show was filled with great memories from both those that called in as well as Sterling.

“I guess it’s time to hit the road jack, huh?” Sterling said as the show wrapped up. “I loved being here. I loved it as much as you can imagine. Think of how lucky I am to hear all these wonderful things for the last hour and a half. Upcoming is Yankee baseball as the Yankees try to make it two in a row against Tampa. And who knows where we will meet each other next but you know what, we are going to meet each other next, I don’t know where, I don’t know when, but I believe it. This is John Sterling. Thank you so much for listening. I am a very lucky person and I wish you all the very, very best.”

As the spring ratings period continues, The Greg Hill Show on WEEI is maintaining its tradition of live broadcasts on the road. At the end of this week, the program will broadcast its Friday edition live from the CCBA Witherell Recreation Center in Lebanon, N.H. starting at 6 a.m. EST, the third live show of the spring. On the night before, the show is holding a meet and greet event with its listeners featuring Greg Hill, Jermaine Wiggins and Courtney Cox. Following this week’s program, the show will broadcast from Flying Bridge Restaurant in Falmouth, Mass. for another live show on Thursday, May 23; however, there will be a wrinkle in that Cox will not be present.

Cox had been waiting to share the news with her co-hosts, and it was keeping her up at night since they had not yet discussed it. She will come to the meet and greet the night before before departing for vacation the next day. The news surprised Hill and Wiggins, which led to a discussion about Cox’s whereabouts and what the show would be like without her present. Hill in particular was not aware of this and articulated that he did not think anyone had “ever flexed a road show” in the past.

“I was given the dates, and that week was supposed to be off for road show,” Cox said. “I have something next week, and when it came out, I tried to get Ken [Laird] to finagle and move it earlier in the week and he couldn’t do it.”

Wiggins acknowledged that Cox trying to get WEEI to change the date of the live show was indicative of power, to which she replied that it was not the case since the effort was unsuccessful. Nonetheless, she is going to make the drive to Falmouth to be present at the meet and greet but wanted to get in front of the news.

“I am sorry,” Cox said. “When I tell you it’s like everyday when we talk about the road show, I’m hoping Greg brings it up and I can’t hold it in anymore because I don’t want [it] to be next week and people come to the road shows and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Hill referred to Cox as the “road show queen” and remarked that she takes the on-site broadcasts very seriously. Wiggins then offered her advice about how to approach this time of year going forward to prevent this kind of a situation from occurring. While Hill conveyed that Wiggins was big on giving unsolicited advice, Cox was open to hearing the feedback.

“Spring book – road show time,” Wiggins said. “Try not to plan any vacations around that unless it’s like something you can’t control and you’ve got to miss. Vacation – summer, winter or holiday book. Fall and the spring, especially like May and June, because you know that’s the road show time.”

Cox read a comment from a listener who asserted that not having her at the road show would be a bonus, to which she replied, “You’re welcome.” Hill, Wiggins and Cox will be present at this Friday’s road show emanating from Lebanon, N.H., continuing the eight-show schedule that began a few weeks ago in Brattleboro, Vt. Hill and Cox hosted episodes of the show from Bermuda last week for The Greg Hill Classic, a golf tournament benefiting The Greg Hill Foundation, taking place from Tucker’s Point Golf Club. 

The NFL will release its 2024 regular season schedule on Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST, officially revealing the 272-game slate spanning 18 weeks to determine seeding in the playoffs. Aside from a variety of prime-time matchups in the United States, the league will once again present five international games – three in London, England; one in São Paulo, Brazil and one in Munich, Germany. At the moment, the only complete matchup that has been revealed is for the Week 1 game in Brazil, which will be an NFC showdown between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles. Sean Pendergast and Seth Payne reacted in real time to the announcement that the Baltimore Ravens would open the NFL season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday, Sept. 5, a game that some people speculated would include the Houston Texans.

There is excitement surrounding the schedule release each year, underscored by a 2023 regular season campaign in which games averaged 17.9 million viewers, a 7% year-over-year increase and the best figure since 2015. Tradition grants the defending Super Bowl champions the Thursday night opening matchup that generally includes recognizing the preceding triumph as the team looks to remain at the top of the NFL world. Pendergast described the Ravens being subjected to watching the Chiefs raise a banner, especially when they were defeated in the AFC Championship Game, represents a form of punishment.

“There’s a Wild Card element to the first game of the season too, with all due respect to Andy Reid,” Payne said on Monday’s edition of Payne & Pendergast on SportsRadio 610. “Sometimes there’s wrinkles and there’s things that can happen, especially when you’re the Texans and you haven’t had this three wide receiver formidability that you can unleash some stuff that teams aren’t ready for. I wouldn’t have been scared of it.”

Pendergast acknowledged that Texans fans have had to wait until the night of the schedule release to discover the team’s array of games. The team is expected to contend for a playoff spot this year with quarterback and reigning NFL offensive rookie of the year C.J. Stroud, along with new offensive players in Stefon Diggs and Joe Mixon. Pendergast conjectures that the team will either be granted a Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Dallas Cowboys or one of the international games in London.

“I like the idea of the London game,” Payne said later in the show. “I don’t like it in terms of, for one, it’s not a prime time game. It’s the opposite of a prime time game; they play at like 5 a.m. local. I’m exaggerating there obviously, but it is. It’s a prelude to the rest of the NFL action for the day, so that part’s kind of fun and cool, but it’s not like the schedule makers look at it and think, ‘Ooh, here’s a chance to get C.J. Stroud in front of more eyeballs on national television.’”

NFL Network televised four of the five international games last year and accumulated an average of 5.8 million viewers. The league-owned television entity is currently distributed to approximately 50 million homes. Part of the rationale behind Pendergast’s projection is that the team has road games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Minnesota Vikings, both of which have been revealed to be home teams for two of the three games taking place in London. The Jaguars also played in London last year during which ESPN+ and Disney+ presented the Toy Story Funday Football broadcast. This alternate presentation featuring real-time animation and commentary accounted for the most-viewed event in ESPN+ history, along with the biggest live event to date on Disney+.

“You’re right,” Pendergast said, concurring with Payne. “For TV, it’s not a marquee TV event. I would say they haven’t even gone out of their way to make sure that they’re sending over the best teams just so there’s more appeal to the live audience in those. Those live audiences don’t care; they’re just, ‘It’s American football. Let’s go!’”