Documentary traces rise and fall of Craig Carton, ‘Radio Loudmouth’
Sports talk show host arrested by FBI in fraud case
Craig Carton, the Syracuse University graduate who started his broadcasting career in 1991 as a sports talk host at WGR, is the subject of an upcoming HBO Sports documentary special, “Wild Card: The
Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth.”
An HBO release says the documentary, which will air on the pay-cable channel at 9 p.m. Oct. 7, “charts the rise and fall of Carton,” who became a popular New York sports radio personality working on WFAN alongside former NFL star quarterback Boomer Esiason.
According to the release, Carton is candid in interviews about how his “secret insatiable gambling addiction, financed by an illicit ticket-brokering business, brought his career to a sudden halt when he was arrested by FBI agents and charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud on September 6, 2017.”
More from the release: “From Carton’s glamorous Tribeca apartment and multimillion-dollar New Jersey mansion to a top bunk in a crowded prison camp barracks; from interviewing sports stars and celebrities to befriending mobsters and criminals; from organizing celebrity softball games at Yankee Stadium to playing for the Lewisburg Yankees, one of the prison camp’s softball teams; from earning millions to waiting for $100 payments to drop into his commissary account, ‘Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth’ details — in Carton’s own words — the sudden demise of one of the most popular and irreverent radio personalities in the country, whose secret gambling life transformed himfromastarintoa prisoner.”
The release added that he addresses being raised in New Rochelle and details “the childhood trauma he never truly dealt with.”
FBI agents arrested Carton on Sept. 6, 2017, at his New York City apartment. He was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison in 2019 after being convicted of fraud charges.
The documentary includes interviews with Esiason and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.