Long Island's Len Berman, after exiting WOR, looks back at his career and what's next

A man of steady habits, Len Berman has lived in the same house in Sands Point for almost a half-century, and has been married 53 years to his wife, Jill, a Long Island-based real estate broker. In 2013, not long after a near-30-year run as WNBC/4 sports anchor wrapped, he moved to radio, cohosting WOR's morning show with former New York Post theater writer Michael Riedel. The show — a high-decibel, point/counterpoint political talk show — had big shoes to fill: It was replacing WOR's Gambling family morning talk show dynasty, which began in 1925, and ended with John R. Gambling's retirement.

Then, just two days after November's election, "Berman & Riedel" was abruptly canceled. In a cost-saving move, WOR's owner, iHeartmedia, cut popular programs at many stations across the country, including "Berman & Riedel."

For the first time in that long career, this man of steady habits found himself in an unfamiliar place: On the beach.

In a wide-ranging interview with Newsday in early December, Berman talked about that career, the pivot to conservative talk radio and his future. Relaxed — "decompressing" is the word he prefers — Berman, 77, seems unbothered by unemployment. At the very least, he says he now has time to think about his next move.

How did you — a native of Long Island City — and Jill end up here?

My parents were in Queens and Jill's were in Huntington, so we were looking for a place in between ... Our three kids grew up here, went to the public schools, and now two live nearby in Sands Point.

Have these last few weeks been the first break in your 60-year career?

There was a little period when I wasn't on the air [and] I was talking to Ch. 13 about doing a sports-related show which I thought had a real shot.

After attending Stuyvesant High, you graduated from Syracuse University in 1968. Why did so many outstanding sports TV anchors come from there?

I always thought it was because these were New York [City] kids who wanted to leave town but not go too far. But whenever I speak to alumni groups, I use the line that none of us could get into Cornell [laughs]. In fact, I had taken some aptitude tests when I was there and they thought I should be an engineer.

One of your enduring — and truly entertaining — contributions to sports broadcasting was the sports blooper Ch. 4/ "Today" show segment, "Spanning the World" (which aired until 2016). How did that come about?

Back then, ABC's "Wide World of Sports" had the phrase "spanning the globe" so we decided we would span somewhere else. I first started it at Ch. 2 [when Berman was weekend sports anchor]. Later at 'Today,' it aired at 7:35 because the theory was that guys left home at 8, but then aired later and later. When 'Today' hired Billy Bush in 2016 they decided to do a whole different show [and dropped it]. By then it wasn't as unique as it had been because we could just pick up the bloopers off the internet and everyone else could do the same too.

Let's jump to radio. Along with Warner Wolf, you were probably the best-known sports anchor on New York TV. Why the WOR gig?

I thought "I'll have some fun with radio!" I had no idea it would turn into ten years.

You and Riedel actually got along fine off the air?

And on the air. We had a good time. He knew everyone in the entertainment business and nothing about sports, so we both filled in a lot of blanks.

The WOR show was truly an Odd Couple pairing — a well-known sports anchor, who took the liberal point of view, paired with a Broadway critic who didn't pull punches from the right. This was certainly an unusual career pivot.

I didn't realize that everything [on talk radio] was political. For example, I didn't know climate change was a political issue. There were many issues like that that I didn't know were political.

You mean when you started the show?

I learned a lot in a hurry. It opened my eyes that everything would be political, like someone saying 'I like sunrise better because you can get bacon. You can't get bacon at sunset.' Everyone was nuts and it was just amazing to me how deep the bitterness was, how crazed people were. I wasn't ready for that. Michael Jordan said he didn't get into politics because Republicans buy sneakers too. All of a sudden I say something on the radio and [infuriate] half the listeners.

You had built up a lot of capital on TV over the years. Did you worry about squandering that?

It turned out that in the long run, people still accepted that capital. Even though they disagreed with me, most of it was in a good-natured way. For example, there was a truck driver who called in regularly from Connecticut to say 'Len, you're making me drive off the road again today ...' We'd have fun with it. It wasn't life or death.

Did you think the show would be political when you started?

No one said to me 'you've got to have this political view or that political view' but as it turned out, we ended up becoming the only radio program in the country with two hosts on opposite sides. I used to joke that I'd be the next [Alan] Colmes — the one who got forced out, because why would they keep me on? [Alan Colmes, the liberal counter to Sean Hannity, left their eponymous Fox News program in 2009]. I'm shocked that it worked and proud of the way it turned out. It really was the reinvention of a career.

Back in 2009, when you left Ch. 4, did you think you'd need to reinvent that career?

I had the opportunity to go to other stations but chose not to.

Multiple offers?

More than one.

Why not take one?

I was tired at the time — tired of what was going on at TV stations with sports where they were cutting down on editors, photographers. Sports wasn't important, and the [management] attitude was that people could watch ESPN. That was my biggest fight and I just couldn't picture myself doing that night in night out anymore. I was kind of burned out at that point. It just wasn't fun, but a job I'd done nonstop at that point since 1979.

Nevertheless, that was the job you were most closely associated with.

It was like that line — I think it was Graig Nettles — who was asked, what's the best part of playing with the Yankees, and he'd say you get to play with Reggie Jackson every day, and the worst part — you get to play with Reggie Jackson every day. For me, there was always another sportscast in a few hours. What was the worst part? Another sportscast in a few hours. I didn't want to continue doing it at another station. Plus I didn't want some viewer to say, 'you know, he was better over at Channel 4.'

What do you want to do next?

I really don't know. The way I look at it, radio came out of the blue, but I don't want to retire. Podcasting? I don't understand it because there are like eight zillion of them, and how do you become successful at it? A lot of listeners have said to me, 'just pick up where you both left off.'

Have you and Riedel talked about that?

Just briefly. I'm sort of hoping something will drop out of the sky. Maybe it won't but just about every job I've ever done in my life I didn't apply for. Stuff happens!