John Minko: A legendary radio career with Midwest roots

Photo: WFAN Radio

By: Troy Mauriello

John Minko doesn’t just know the history of 24-hour sports radio. John Minko is a part of the history of 24-hour sports radio.

As one of the “founding fathers” at WFAN Sports Radio in New York, the first-ever 24-hour sports radio station in existence, Minko has truly seen it all. Countless hosts have come and gone, countless championships have been won and lost by the local teams, yet one mild-mannered update man, known affectionately by hosts and listeners as “The Mink Man,” has remained through it all.

And yet Minko, who has become such a fabric of the New York sports media over the past 33 years, attributes all of his success to a small college in Indiana.

“Butler is the reason why I’m anywhere,” Minko said. “They taught me everything, I got my first job out of there, in Logansport, Indiana. Developed contacts, my friends, and basically, it’s because of Butler that I’m at WFAN.”

Minko’s connection to Butler University in Indianapolis began in 1971, when he traveled to the Midwest for college to pursue a career in sports radio broadcasting. This decision actually came at the request of a family friend and television executive at NBC, who convinced Minko he would get the experience and reps at Butler that may not be available at some larger schools closer to home.

“I had said maybe I should go to Syracuse, maybe I should go to broadcasting school at Syracuse, and the executive at NBC said no. He said no, I want you to go to Butler,” Minko said. “And the reason why is, the student radio station was on a commercial band and it was 37,000 watts...and the 37,000 watts was run totally by students.”

At Butler, Minko did play-by-play coverage of the Bulldogs basketball, football and baseball teams. Upon graduating he remained in the area for another 12 years. But upon returning home for a vacation in 1986, Minko was about to receive some life-changing news from an old friend from college.

One afternoon he made his way into Astoria, to visit a friend who worked at WHN Radio, a country music station at the time. What began as a friendly catch-up between two friends quickly became a serious, and monumental, business conversation. Minko recounts that discussion as such.

“He goes ‘I gotta tell you something...you’re gonna get a call from Rick Cummings next week or the week after.’ I said, ‘Good I haven’t talked to Rick in a while.’ He says, ‘Yeah but this is not a social call, they’re thinking of changing this station to all sports,’” Minko said.

“And I said, ‘What was that now? You’re gonna do what?’ And he chuckles and he says, ‘It’s gonna be all sports, 24 hours a day and they’ll keep the Mets. And he’s gonna want to talk to you about what you think of it.’”

That conversation eventually led to months of meetings, which in turn, led to the birth of WFAN Sports Radio, the first-ever 24-hour sports radio station. Minko became an on-air personality right away, and remains one of just three on-air voices who have been with the station from its start until present day.

WFAN has blossomed into a behemoth, spawning thousands of sports radio stations that we hear on the airwaves today. But as Minko details, it wasn’t always a clear home run future for the pioneers.

“I look at the beginning. And realize that I was part of the beginning and probably part of what could have been the end,” Minko said. “I look at the beginning of the radio station and the first couple of years and how bad it was, and how we struggled and all things like that, and I just look back to the first year. If I ever wrote a book, it would be on the first year”

While the idea for the FAN was intriguing, the early ratings sure didn’t show it. Most early shows struggled to find their footing, and executives appeared poised to pull the plug on the risky experiment within a year of its launch.

But in a potentially lifesaving move, WFAN was able to acquire legendary talk host Don Imus and his morning show. Imus would end up spending nearly two decades with the station, but his arrival at the time gave WFAN the immediate ratings boost it needed.

“I don’t even know if it would be two years if there’s no Imus. Of course there would be 24-hour sports radio, but we wouldn’t be the first,” Minko said. “We would’ve been the first but it would have been a failure.”

With Imus now on board, WFAN had the time it needed to develop other shows and personalities. Minko has been there to see it all, yet as example of his humble persona, does not count himself on the “Mount Rushmore” of the station’s illustrious history.

“To me, the Mount Rushmore of WFAN is simple, and that is Jeff Smulyan [original owner of WFAN], Imus, Mike and the Mad Dog, and the Mets. And it’s those four entities that the radio station is built,” Minko said.

Minko has been spread out in a variety of roles during his three-plus decades with the FAN, including reporter, Knicks play-by-play announcer, and even morning show host. But his calling card has been his hourly sports updates.

He has come to be known as the “Dean of the Sports Update” through the years, with his style of delivery instantly recognizable to any regular listener of the station. Minko says that style has been heavily influenced by a newscaster by the name of Lou Palmer, who he worked with many years back in Indianapolis.

As far as preparation for his updates, Minko notes that’s a different story.

“I’ve been doing it so long it goes pretty quick...I’ve been doing it so long, I could do it in my sleep...and sometimes I probably have,” he said with a chuckle.

In addition to his WFAN work, Minko has also served as the play-by-play voice for the St. John’s men’s basketball team for the past 12 full seasons.

“I always wanted to do it,” he said about the job. “I followed St. John’s when I was a kid. St. John’s was basically the Yankees of college basketball. So I got interested in St. John’s, followed St. John’s for years. And when the call came, do you think you’d want to do this? I said absolutely. And it’s been great.”

He noted former stars D’Angelo Harrison and Justin Simon as some of his favorite players to speak with over the years, and mentioned a 2018 upset over Duke at Madison Square Garden as his favorite moment.

“The Garden was full, that was electric that particular day. That was a great day,” he said.

And it doesn’t appear as though Minko is ready to be finished making memories with the Red Storm just yet. While he has expressed an intent to retire from his illustrious WFAN career in the near future, Minko sees no such end for his time at St. John’s.

“This is not going anywhere, they’ll have to cart me out of here,” he joked about the job. “I’ll be here as long as they want me. Every game.”