New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Joe D’Ambrosio, WTIC-AM co-host, leaving station
“It’s not a retirement.
It’s just a re-calibrating of my career. I’m 67; I’m not ready to retire yet. ... When things get better, I want to travel and enjoy life.”
Joe D’Ambrosio
After initially announcing earlier this year that he’d be leaving his position as one of the WTIC-AM hosts when his contract was up in June 2021, Joe D’Ambrosio announced he’s leaving this week instead.
In a tweet Tuesday morning, D’Ambrosio said he had “negotiated a buyout” with the company. He said his last day on the station would be Thursday
D’Ambrosio has spent decades at WTIC, most recently as morning sportscaster and co-host of the WTIC Morning Show with Ray Dunaway.
In a phone interview Tuesday, D’Ambrosio said he worked with management to reach what he called a mutual decision.
“I’m happy about it,” he said.
“It’ll give me a chance to relax for a few months and figure out the next steps.”
But he said this will not be the end of his career.
“It’s not a retirement,” D’Ambrosio said. “It’s just a re-calibrating of my career. I’m 67; I’m not ready to retire yet.”
D’Ambrosio said he wants to lower his golf handicap — joking that it’s a task that may take a “long time.”
“When things get better,” he said, referring to the ongoing pandemic, “I want to travel and enjoy life.”
D’Ambrosio started working at the station in May 1992 when WTIC got the broadcast rights for the
University of Connecticut sports. He served as a play-by-play sportscaster for many of the university’s
sports games, including football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball.
The station lost the rights to the UConn games after the 2017 season, but with still a year left on his contract, D’Ambrosio said he was transitioned to the morning show with Dunaway.
“It’s been great,” he said of the morning show. “Ray is the best person to work with. He shares the microphone. We’ve had a great time together. I’m going to miss him and everyone we worked with on the morning show.”
He said he won’t miss waking up early.
In a statement Tuesday, Steve Salhany, operations manager of WTIC News Talk 1080, said D’Ambrosio spent nearly three decades giving listeners a front-row seat to some of the biggest stories in the area.
“Whether delivering dynamic play-by-play calls of UConn athletics or engaging with his audience through our morning show, his voice will always be synonymous with WTIC,” Salhany said. “Joe is the consummate professional and we wish him nothing but the best in the next chapter of his career.”