Craig Carton recently made his official return to WFAN following a saga that saw him serve time in prison following a conviction on securities and wire fraud. In his return to the airwaves, Carton opened up about his gambling addiction, which was a major force in what drove him down that road, and how the business of sports radio can conflict with his recovery process.
.@CraigCartonlive opened up about a lot of his personal demons during his one-hour return to WFAN today. pic.twitter.com/s6ajKXGhwg
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) October 29, 2020
He mentioned in that discussion that WFAN has given him the chance to do some “specialized programming” on the station. Now, Carton is following through on that with a new weekly radio program on WFAN dedicated to gambling addictions.
“Hello, My Name is Craig,” which will air every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. starting January 9 on the New York sports station, intends to be “a responsible gambling show” and will be sponsored by 1-800-GAMBLER, a hotline to help those with gambling addictions.
“They’re going to bring their expertise into it,” Carton said on Thursday per Newsday. “I’ll tell the stories of gambling and the way my addiction manifested itself in the bad decisions I made, which became criminal. They’re the experts. They’re the ones that are going to walk us through what’s going on inside our noggin that makes us irrational and leads to an addiction.”
Carton does not make any gambling picks on his main WFAN program, “Carton & Roberts.” As part of his sentence, he also is required to serve 150 hours of community service.
There are still many who can’t set aside what Carton did and the victims of his scheme. But he’s hoping that this program, along with the messaging he provides during his other WFAN programming, will make a difference for others dealing with addition before they end up in a similar place.
“I’m looking forward to that part of my life,” he said on Thursday. “I’m looking forward to making a positive change in the world and using my mistakes…Hopefully, that will resonate with you.”
Carton’s problems with gambling and the fallout of his addition were also the topic of the HBO documentary Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth.
