Boomer bids adieu to Carton

Boomer and Car-done. Boomer Esiason said goodbye to his co-host of a decade Thursday morning, a day after Craig Carton announced his resignation from WFAN following his recent arrest.

“It’s a sad day, it’s the end of ‘Boomer and Carton,’ and for 10 years I sat next to someone who I think, and I still believe this, is one of the greatest radio personalities we have ever seen,” Esiason said on the newly branded “The Morning Show with Boomer.”

“I had the privilege of sitting next to him for 10 years and watch him do his thing every single day for four hours. I wish Craig and his family nothing but the best.”

Carton was arrested Sept. 6 on charges he was part of a $5.6 million concert-ticket Ponzi scheme launched to offset mounting gambling debt. He is fighting the charges, but walked away from WFAN because he said he did not want his presence or looming non-presence to be a “distraction.”

“It’s a good move for Craig,” Esiason said, ending perhaps the most tumultuous eight days in WFAN history. “For he and his family, he has to focus supremely on that. That’s the one thing he has to take care of. That’s the one thing we want him to do, we want him and his family to get through this. He’s going to have to put all his energy in that. By resigning, I believe he takes a lot of pressure off of us at WFAN, his coworkers and everything else.

“I don’t know what else to say. He has to get his life in order.”

Carton, in his statement, called WFAN his “dream job.” He is facing 45 years in jail if convicted, but expressed hope he would one day be able to speak to his listeners again. CBS accepted his resignation in a release and said the search to find a replacement would begin “immediately.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if someday, somewhere, somehow he’s behind a microphone somewhere,” Esiason said.