Craig Carton reveals reason behind WFAN exit: ‘Very sad day’

Craig Carton confirmed he will be leaving WFAN at the end of the month.

The Post’s Andrew Marchand first reported that Carton will be exiting his spot in afternoon drive alongside Evan Roberts to take a seven-figure deal to focus exclusively on his morning program at FS1.

Carton came on-air an hour early on Thursday afternoon, at 1 p.m., and gave a lengthy monologue about the career change feeling bittersweet.

“Happy day and a very sad day for me, it’s one of the most difficult days I’ll ever do in radio, because I’m leaving WFAN,” Carton began.

He said that Marchand’s story is accurate and his final day at WFAN will be June 30.

Spike Eskin, WFAN’s vice president of programming, said Carton and Roberts went on an hour early in response to The Post’s story.

“I love Evan. It has nothing to do with Evan Roberts, nothing to do with anyone here,” Carton said.

“It has to do with my personal life and the opportunity I have to do a show at Fox Sports and FS1. WFAN is family to me. WFAN is everything to me. I’m a 30-plus year talk show host and radio is the only thing I’ve ever done well.”

Carton said that he started out in Buffalo, making $12,000 a year, and worked his way towards WFAN for years.

He effectively acknowledged that the situation that he put himself in, where he went to prison for a year for fraud after accumulating significant gambling debts, left him with little other choice but to take a singular job that would give him more time to spend with his family, and enable him to repay his debts.

“It’s not an easy decision. Now that the day has come it hasn’t gotten any easier. I put myself in a sad place a number of years ago. Three years ago, I was nothing more than a number,” Carton said, referring to his prison number.

“I woke up three years ago today in federal prison, where I was for a year based on bad decisions that I made. When I was that number I dreamt of the possibility of being able to one day start my career. That dream helped me survive prison.”

He said that he also dreamed of rekindling his life with his family.

“When I got in my self-inflicted trouble, that led me to resign from WFAN, I was separated from my wife,” Carton revealed.

“For three years, literally the day after I got arrested, I did not live with my family. I did not see my children on a daily basis. As I laid in that bed as nothing more than a number, in addition to dreaming about restarting a professional career, the dream was, how do I restart the connection with my family?”

Carton called Chris Oliviero, the Audacy executive who oversees WFAN, a “saint” in his corner.

Oliviero had been a board operator for Carton in his early years, and pledged his friendship — with no guarantee of a job — to Carton in his darkest times.

“He has maintained his support of me as a friend and a brother,” Carton said.

It was Oliviero’s decision to put Carton back on WFAN that kickstarted the host’s career, and opened up the eventual opportunity to join FS1.

Without Oliviero, Carton said, he’d be working a 9-to-5 for minimum wage, as he has little other skills besides being a talk show host.

However, the days for Carton were grueling.

Taking care not to paint himself as a victim, Carton spoke about how he had to get up at 2:30 a.m. to get ready for the FS1 morning show, then later do WFAN afternoon drive, spent scant time with his family before going to bed shortly after 8 p.m. — before the games he’d need to discuss the intricacies of on WFAN concluded.

Carton thanked his wife for allowing him back into the family home so that he can focus on being a father, and said that he still has some work to do in hopefully patching up his marriage.