WFAN has screened an advance preview of the upcoming HBO documentary “Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth,” in which Craig Carton opens up about a lot of trauma and negativity he’s caused and/or endured in his life.
Of course, the gambling addiction that led to the titular descent from the top of the radio mountain is first and foremost, but Carton also opened up about a sexual abuse incident at summer camp – discussing a chapter that was omitted from his autobiography about it – as well as his fractured but since-repaired relationship with his former broadcast partner, Boomer Esiason.
Perhaps the most troubling, however: Carton revealed that he not only considered ending his own life, but was in position to do so while on a Canadian vacation with his wife shortly before his arrest.
“I was riding a ski lift chair by myself, and I have a desire to jump off the lift chair and down to the mountain,” Carton said. “I lifted the bar up and I’m now inching closer to the edge of the seat. I got very upset and started crying. I had this out-loud conversation with myself, saying, ‘Don’t do it! Don’t do it! You are better than this. You are not jumping.’”
“As I’m telling myself not to do it, I’m inching closer and closer to the edge of the seat because I’m going, there is no doubt in my mind that I’m jumping off this chair lift, it is just a matter of when.”
What saved Carton was a call to a former producer, Charod Williams, who told Craig he loved him, and talked him off the ledge of the lift.
“He was truly in a desperate situation, and the crazy part about it, just as he was getting off the ski lift, he said, ‘Go F yourself, I’ll talk to you about this later,’ and hung up,” Williams, who worked with Carton at 101.5 in New Jersey, says in the doc.
Oh, and burying the lead here, but one other thing noted in the documentary is Craig’s potential future, rumors of his potential return to the airwaves somewhere addressed by a title card at the close of the 76-minute film:
“Craig has negotiated a radio comeback. He vows to be as outrageous as ever on air.”
"Wild Card: Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth" premiered Wed., Oct. 7, at 9 p.m. on HBO.
September is National Suicide Prevention Month. If you or anyone you know has suicidal thoughts, or is struggling with mental health, please call the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or visit SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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