NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – John Montone is retiring from radio at 1010 WINS, where he has become not only a familiar voice over the years but a legendary storyteller of New York news.
“It’s been almost 40 years that I’ve had the honor of working for what I call the world’s most important radio station in the world’s greatest city,” John told anchor Lee Harris in announcing his retirement Thursday. “And today, I hang them up for the fishing pole, the bicycle and the pickleball paddle. I am retiring.”
John, whose voice became the personification of 1010 WINS to many, got up well before the crack of dawn to report across the New York area on the news of the day. He was on the frontlines of many of the biggest stories, from 9/11 to Sandy and the pandemic.
John is known for his very New York take on local stories, often with a comedic twist. But it hasn’t been all fun.
On 9/11, John was caught in the middle of the chaos in lower Manhattan. For a time, we didn’t hear from him, and everyone was a wreck. You can imagine how relieved we were when Ben Mevorach, our brand manager and director of news and programming, spotted him on the street covered in ash. It turns out he had escaped death because a quick-thinking stranger pulled him inside a building as the first tower fell.
Throughout the years, John’s trademark man-on-the-street interviews kept listeners informed while staying true to the life of the city and its people.
“I just somehow developed this back-and-forth with people, where I would have conversations, and I would make their conversations, their take on the issue of the day, the big part of the story—so they were the stars,” John said.
In a letter to staff, Mevorach said, “No single person has been more identified with the WINS call letters than John.”
“He is a masterful writer, an extraordinary story-teller, and -- perhaps most incredibly -- he creates an intimacy with the people he interviews…the result is some of the most memorable moments in the station's history,” Mevorach said. “This concrete jungle has been his playground. His stories are recited back to him by listeners… sometimes years after they first aired. That is the kind of impact that can never be over-stated.”
“It has been a magnificent run, a magnificent career, and this station and all who work here, owe you a gigantic debt of gratitude for everything you have accomplished and everything you have meant to these call letters and the people they serve,” Mevorach said. “Your visibility may lessen but your impact, legacy, and name will never fade!”
John will be making periodic appearances on air and will keep his Facebook Live at 8:05. But as of Thursday, he finally gets to sleep in.
Watch John's Facebook Live tribute here:
Read John’s letter to listeners:
My first story for 1010 WINS was a police search for a serial killer in the hills of northwest Jersey. My last, the Pandemic. In between were blizzards, the crack war and firefighters and police officers killed protecting the rest of us. On 9/11 I witnessed up close the worst of humanity and the best. In the days that followed people who knew me only through my voice on the radio invited me into their homes and shared their memories of loved ones lost. Ten years later I stood with a crowd at Ground Zero as they hugged and shouted and sang, God Bless America celebrating the death of the terrorist mastermind. And a day later when our armed forces slid his body into the sea I reported on 1010 WINS, "Osama Bin Laden sleeps with the fishes."
I covered elections, strikes, grand parades, protests and riots. A stone Mafia killer hovered over me as I reported LIVE on what a Bad Fella he was. Then he shook my hand and said he was a fan. I witnessed John Gotti sentenced to life and got Sammy the Bull Gravano to admit that if he met Gotti in the afterlife he'd put a bullet in his head.
There was the devastation of Super Storm Sandy. Cars floating, a parking lot attendant who swam to safety as the Hudson River exploded and the Jersey Shore town of Sea Bright which when I arrived I reported, "This town drowned." I drowned the company car, AKA the 1010 WINS Mobile Unit during a flash flood. It cost the company money, but made for great LIVE radio as I sat chest deep in water in the front seat waiting for a chance to escape.
There were deep freezes and sweltering summer days, one of which I reported from the old Fulton Fish Market. When a fishmonger claimed he liked the pungent smell I said, "One man's carp is another man's cologne."
I got to cover World Series and Super Bowls and the E Street Band's return to the Meadowlands. There were road reports on holiday getaways and our yearly holiday Re-Gifting story.
But best of all was representing the world's most important radio station in the greatest city on earth. Down in the subways or on the streets, in the "boros and the burbs," I talked to the cabbies, bus drivers, food cart guys, hardhats on the night shift, nurses working double time and the homeless waking up in train stations. I interviewed mothers running with their children to catch the school bus. And store owners rolling down the metal gates to open for the day.
There are few more beautiful sights to behold than a full moon over the Hudson at 4 A.M. or sunrise over the East River.
And through the years whenever someone saw our microphone with the bright yellow call letters 1010 WINS and called out to say hello, shake hands with me or in recent years snap a selfie, I always said what I will say now, Thanks for listening.