Joe Benigno reminisces about the past at the WFAN studios on Oct. 8, 2009. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
The advent of 24-hour sports talk radio in 1987 delivered a shock to professional media members and sports figures alike: the voice of fans, who turned out to be even more cranky than journalists.
Previously, they mostly were limited to booing in stadiums, venting to friends and perhaps writing letters to editors. But here they were, free to complain over 50,000 watts.
Enter Joe Benigno, who as much as anyone in the history of the genre embodied a fan’s sensibility as a longtime caller who later became a host, first on overnights, then in middays and finally in afternoon drive time.