Imagine for a moment if someone like Roger Ashby suddenly opened his mic in the middle of his CHUM-FM morning show and announced he was tired of radio, didn’t like the program he was on and was leaving the business. And then he got up and simply walked out.
 
Now you have some idea of the reaction when that happened with a veteran radio man in Cleveland, who’s been on and off the air (but mostly on) for over four decades. And while this has happened before, it’s rare for it to be a personality who is so well known.
 
John Lanigan has been a radio fixture in The Mistake By The Lake for 44 years but on Wednesday, something snapped. As he remotely co-hosted a talk show on 50K powerhouse WTAM, he stunned his co-hosts with an impromptu farewell rant that was unexpected, shocking – and callously honest. It happened right in the middle of the show, called “The Spew.”

And spew he did.
 
The Cleveland Plain Dealer recounts his last words.
 
"Today I'm announcing: this is my last show. I won't be doing 'The Spew' ever again. I'm quitting today. I've done it before - my one son said, 'Oh. You're retiring again, huh dad?' Yep, that's it, I'm done.
 
"This hasn't been what I've found to be fun and I don't think I'm smart enough to do it. I don't really care what happens with the Browns. Politics doesn't interest me that much anymore. There's too divisive of an attitude in the country. So, I just don't think I'm qualified to sit here and tell you that are listening what you should be thinking and what I believe is the way it should be. And I really found that to be a problem for me lately.
 
“I'm done. I'm retired. I haven't been in Cleveland in quite a while, and I don't plan to go back.
 
"I guess it came down to the fact that, with the elections and everything else that's going on, I have to come up with something and sound halfway intelligent, and I don't think I'm doing that. So I don't care what happens in politics anymore that much. I don't care about the tariffs. I don't care about Trump. I don't care about the rest of the stuff and I think a lot of people are like that. You want to get on with your life and live it and enjoy it. So with that in mind, that's it for me. I am done on 'The Spew.' I won't be back.
 
"I hope you have a great time with the show. Adios, goodbye,"
 
And with that figurative mic drop, he walked off into the radio sunset.
 
A sad way to end an amazing career. But it’s certainly a sign-off that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
 
Cleveland radio legend John Lanigan ups and quits in the middle of his show on WTAM