The New York City Radio Host Everyone Wants to Talk To

How did the more-than-once fired—and more-than-once canceled—former addict Sid Rosenberg find his way to the pinnacle of New York City talk radio?

How did his show become the place for political heavy hitters like President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and New York Mayor Eric Adams to talk with the Brooklyn native about the most important issues of the day?

“My kids, my wife, my job. I transitioned from sports talk to politics because I quote-unquote ‘grew up,’” said the top-rated morning talk radio show host in a recent interview with The Epoch Times, as he acknowledged some “15 years” of bad behavior including an arrest for a DUI in 2013.

“And all this is on the internet. It’s one thing—30, 40 years ago, guys did all this crazy stuff and nobody knew about it. Now if you’re somewhat famous, and I’m a little more than someone at this point, it’s all over the internet. My kids can see everything.”

Rosenberg had a reckoning. “I just got to the point where I was tired,” he said. “I’ve got so many good things going on. So many wonderful things, two amazing kids. I’m 59 years old. It would be a shame if I blew all that. So I really have no desire to go back to where I was. But I was there for a long time and I blew a lot of opportunities. But thank God I’ve gotten more than one second chance.”

It’s a second chance he’s not going to waste. In addition to his morning show, he hosts the radio show “Sid Sports Sunday,” a daily sports podcast called “WABC Sports Top 5 with Sid Rosenberg,” and along with his wife Danielle is a founder of the foundation Dyspraxia DCD America.

“My job is basically to fundraise because I’ve got my friends, politicians, entertainers and TV stars,” said Rosenberg about the nonprofit they started after years of struggling to find appropriate support for their son, after his diagnosis of dyspraxia, a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects motor skills. “Danielle does all the real work.”

In the last two-plus years, since the horrific Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Rosenberg, a Jewish American, has also found time to make several trips to Israel and become a leading and unapologetic supporting voice. In fact, he interviewed Trump live from Israel on the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, and was touring Israel when the president appointed him to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in May 2025.

He’s grateful to Trump for the recent hostages’ release. As for what comes next in the Middle East, it’s a wait and see, said Rosenberg, depending on if Hamas upholds their end of the agreement. “There are a lot of terrorists still on their streets killing innocent civilians,” he said.

The Powerful Foundation of Family

This turn toward family and faith is clearly rooted in the support and love from his own childhood, as evidenced when talk turns to his father Harvey’s death in 2020—the father he talked to “every day” and called his “best friend.”

“I tell this story,” explained Rosenberg, whose 90-year-old mother Naomi calls into his show regularly. “My dad would text me after every show that I did. At 10 o’clock in the morning, he’d go, ‘Son, great show.’ I’d go, ‘Dad, you’re biased. Not every show’s a great show.’ He goes, ‘I am biased. But it really is a great show.’ That first Monday [back at work after his dad’s death], I’ll never forget it. I’m looking down at my phone. And it’s 10 o’clock and there’s no text. And I was like, ‘He’s really done it. He’s never going to text me again.’ That was rough.”

Now that Rosenberg’s found stability and popularity, it should be smooth sailing. But of course, there’s always something rocking the boat.

“I get a lot of people. I mean a lot. I had real politicians, important people in New York who came to me six months ago and begged me to run for mayor,” he said. “Obviously I didn’t do it. If [Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani] actually wins, I think I’m going to start getting pressure from local politicians to consider running for mayor in 2029.”

However, he’s not quite there—yet. “My wife doesn’t want me to do it. My kids don’t want me to do it. It’s a huge salary cut and it’s a very invasive job, but I think that there’s a possibility somewhere down the road that I could run for office,” he said.

No matter who becomes New York City’s next mayor, “Sid & Friends In The Morning” will do what it always does and call on America’s top conservative voices, Rosenberg said.

“I’m hoping it’s going to be President Trump,” he said of the first post-election day interview. Trump, along with his son Eric and daughter-in-law Lara, are no strangers to the New Yorker’s guest list.