Frank Marano, known for his engaging presence on ‘The Other Side of Midnight,’ is now taking on a new role as a city council member for Staten Island. In a candid interview, Frank shares the emotional and practical considerations behind leaving the microphone for a seat in city council. With a clear-eyed look at the issues facing New York City, including the contentious sanctuary city status and the challenges of illegal immigration, this episode offers a unique perspective on what it means to truly serve a community. Tune in to hear about Frank’s campaign journey, his inspirations, and how
One of my dearest broadcasting friends is a guy by the name of Frank Marano. Now, New York City audiences know Frank Marano because he’s been on the air for years. He served as Joe Piscopo’s loyal producer for many years before going over to WABC and getting his own incredibly successful show called The Other Side of Midnight. And Frankie Five Burrows, as Joe Piscopo lovingly called him, decided to run… for city council representing his beloved Staten Island. And incidentally, if I lived in New York again, I’d be a Staten Island resident because those are my people. You’ve got firefighters and cops and wonderful patriots who love Donald Trump. It’s a weird kind of an oasis in the desert of progressivism in New York City. So Frank decides, I want to be a city councilman from Staten Island. And lo and behold, He wins. So we had to sit down with my longtime friend, Frank Marano, to catch up on the Mike Gallagher Show. Frankie, it’s great to have you back with us. It’s been a long time. I keep going to New York, and you’re busy, and I’m busy, and we haven’t caught up in person. You’re a family man. You’ve got a beautiful family. And now you’re a city council member. Is this the case of the dog chasing the car and catching the car and doesn’t know what to do now? I mean, you’re actually a member of the New York City Council?
SPEAKER 02 :
Nobody’s more shocked than I am about it, Mike. It’s eerily reminiscent of when Sonny Bono became a congressman. I’m not sure if the joke was on him or everybody else.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stay away from ski slopes. Okay.
SPEAKER 02 :
It took us all 40 seconds to go into a morbid sense of humor.
SPEAKER 01 :
We need you forever. But this is wild because, first of all, just talk about the decision to sort of bid farewell to your radio career to become a politician in New York.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, first of all, thank you for having me, Mike. You know, as you said, there’s been no not only we’ve been friends for over two decades, but privately and publicly, I’ve had no better cheerleader in radio than you. And some of your audience may remember. seven years ago you were kind enough to give me the opportunity to actually fill in for you on the nationally syndicated mike gallagher show and i still get people that reach out to me based on this is how wide your audience is and what an incredible memory they have about some of the things that we talked about for the few days that i filled in for you seven years ago so thank you and i it I meant so much to me even when I was an intern at WABC many years ago. You had done a guest appearance, and we had done some on-air stuff together. And because I held you in such high regard radio-wise, when you came to me off-air and said, you know, you really sound great, it was so encouraging, and it meant so much to me. And I really can’t thank you enough for all of your –
SPEAKER 01 :
I am a huge, huge Frank Morano fan, of course, and I’ve been a cheerleader for you for many years. And incidentally, when you filled in, you knocked it out of the park, which was no surprise. And you created something overnight at WABC that has really been amazing. I mean, a solid number one. Everybody knows about Frank Marano and the other side of midnight. And you and I are lifelong broadcasters. And I often think, you know, people sort of jokingly say to me, hey, Gallagher, you got to run for office someday. I wouldn’t dream of walking away from a talk show like this one to become a politician. And so I was thinking a lot about you on a personal level. How hard was it to make that decision? Because I know how much you love radio. We have a mutual friend, Tom Likas. You and Tom know every radio story of everybody in the country. And you’re very much alike that way. And I love spending time with either one of you as much as I can. So, Frank, how difficult was it to pull the trigger and say, I’m going to run for city council?
SPEAKER 02 :
Honestly, and I don’t want to be overly melodramatic here. It was the most difficult personal and professional decision that I’ve ever that I’ve ever made. And I really agonized over it. And again, not to be not to act like my decisions have the fate of the weight of the world on them. But I prayed over it. Honestly, and ultimately, I thought of my son Carmine. I loved doing the show that we were doing the other side of midnight in the middle of the night. To me, there’s nothing more fun than doing radio in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s always it’s always been kind of my fantasy because the intimacy, right, Frank, the way to connect with people overnight is very different from a daytime show.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it’s really the only place where you could spend a half hour on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, followed by a half hour on what’s your favorite pen and asking people to call in their pen preferences. And I love that versatility. I love being able to tell a story about my difficulties planting some sort of problem. flower that my wife wanted me to plant and the difficulties with car trouble and still be able to do alien topics or geopolitical topics. To me, it’s the best day part in the world because you have that kind of versatility and the audience likes that. So I I honestly it all came down to my son, Carmine. You know, we have a three year old and almost everybody that I grew up with moved out of New York and off of Staten Island. And I just wanted to be able to tell my son, Carmine, that when he was an adult, that I did everything that I could to keep him here. And I thought this was a good way to do it. So I figured both during the campaign and if I’m fortunate enough to be elected. And so far, you know, at least for the special election I have, although I have another election coming up right around the corner. I wanted to be able to tell him that I left it all out on the field and that I did whatever I could to keep him here.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I have such a deep personal admiration for this because the truth of the matter is I can joke about, oh, why would I run for politics? I couldn’t afford the pay cut. Ha, ha, ha. I like my gig. I like the few hours a day. The truth of the matter is… You put your money where your mouth is. You love New York. You love Staten Island. You are committed to your community in a way that it just speaks volumes of you. It doesn’t surprise me knowing your character, but it just speaks the world of you promising to little Carmine, I’m going to make New York City a better place by being a part of the inner circle, by being part of the legislators who who can make a difference. Look, we like to think we’re important, us big mouth talk show hosts, but the real power comes in the city halls and in the state legislatures and the county commissions and the gubernatorial offices and, of course, federal office. So I don’t want to minimize what you did. Let’s talk about the challenges that you have to face, because on June 24th, you’ve got the Republican primary coming up, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. So I was elected April 29th, and I basically will get to serve for the end of the year, finishing the term of my friend Joe Borelli, who held this seat before me. And now if I win this Republican primary and the November election, I’ll be able to serve for another four years. So I am hopeful that we’re going to be able to do that. And so far, the response is pretty favorable. I’m Most of the South Shore of Staten Island doesn’t seem to think I’ve screwed up anything too badly yet, and they’re not ready to throw me out of office just yet.
SPEAKER 01 :
So who’s challenging you on the June 24th primary?
SPEAKER 02 :
So there’s two candidates on the ballot. One of them is one of the fellows that just ran in the special election, Griffin Fasella, who’s the son of a very prominent, very well-respected politician in the New York area, Vito Fasella. And the other one is another gentleman who has a great resume and seems like actually a pretty nice guy. His name is John Buthorn. He’s a retired cop, and he’s been in the military as well. So look, I Neither of these guys are slouches, so I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m working very hard, just as hard as I did during the special election, to try and convince as many Republicans as possible to vote for me on June 24th. And by the way, whether people live in Staten Island or not, if you want to check out our website at moranoforcouncil.com, you can see some of the ideas that I have that I think people around the country will relate to. And if people wanted to help our efforts, you can make a campaign contribution as well, moranoforcouncil.com.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I’ve been to moronoforcouncil.com, and all of your ideas are splendid. Again, no surprise, but Staten Island knows what they’ve got with you. Incidentally, just for the record, I don’t want to be cocky, or I don’t want to be overconfident for your chances, but in the special election, were you and Fosella close, or did you win pretty handily?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thankfully, we won pretty handily. Even in a three-way race for the special election, we got almost 60 percent of the vote. So I think a lot of folks thought that it was going to be a much closer race than it was. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a bit tighter. I did think that I was going to win, but I thought it was going to be a bit of a tighter margin. Someone that didn’t was my wife, Rachel. My wife, Rachel, who when I met her was a journalist covering Staten Island politics. She had it pegged almost exactly where it was that I would get about 60 percent of the vote and the other two candidates would split the remaining 40. And sure enough, she was the best, best political prognosticator in my circle.
SPEAKER 01 :
We’re visiting with Frank Marano, who’s a longtime broadcaster, dear friend of mine. He just was elected to the New York City Council representing Staten Island and now faces, again, a primary. I’m very confident and optimistic that he will win. Look, how do six Republicans… in New York City make a difference in a body of 51? I mean, the joke is you want to get indoctrinated to every goofy, leftist, progressive ideology. You walk down West 57th Street or you go into Greenwich Village. I mean, can you make a difference, Frank, in the handful of Republicans? Obviously, it’s got to be a David versus Goliath proposition, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 02 :
It is and it isn’t, right? So you make a difference in three ways. For starters, in January, we’re going to elect a new Speaker of the City Council. Now, it’s not going to be a Republican that’s elected Speaker in a body where 45 out of the 51 people are Democrats, but this block of six Republicans plus another two or three Democrats that generally vote with the Republicans, we call ourselves the Common Sense Caucus, that’s going to be a pretty pivotal block of votes in the Speaker’s race. So We, I think, will be able to make the difference in having the speaker be someone that’s sane, a kind of a regular old school moderate Democrat that believes in things like policing and doesn’t believe in chasing all of the all every business out of New York. and making sure that someone that’s not one of these extreme progressives gets elected. Because if we go down that road, New York will be unrecognizable. It’ll be unrecognizable in terms of taxes, public safety, the pervasive wokeness everywhere. So that’s the first thing we can do. This block of six to nine votes could make the difference in the speaker’s race. There’s not a lot of legislative bodies. In fact, we may be the only one. where the minority party can play such a pivotal role in the speaker’s race. And that’s number one. Number two is giving voice to the loyal opposition. You know, if the city council thinks it’s a good idea to fund a study for reparations for slavery, I’m going to be the guy that stands up there loudly and explains why that’s not the best use of New York City taxpayer money. And then lastly, there’s a lot of things I can do on my own. We get a lot of money in terms of capital funding and in terms of discretionary funding to fund things and groups that are in our district. So that’s something that I won’t need the cooperation of the other 50 members of the city council for.
SPEAKER 01 :
Let’s tackle something that is front and center on the minds of every American. Illegal immigration is something that the Trump administration is dealing with very effectively. One of the most maddening aspects of life in these United States. is the presence of sanctuary cities. Makes me crazy. I still see the Philadelphia mayor, Kenny, doing the happy dance after a judge ruled in favor of Philadelphia’s sanctuary city status. Look, New York City is lovingly referred to as the great melting pot. We get it. There are people of all walks of life from all corners of the earth who live and work in New York City. Can you talk a little bit about New York City’s sanctuary city status. Talk about the role that New York has played nationally. I often stay in Midtown, and I’m sort of near the Rowe NYC Hotel that just has hundreds and hundreds of Hispanics out in the streets on 8th Avenue at 1 o’clock in the morning, men, women, and children. These are illegals who are being housed in a luxury hotel. Frank, is there any chance to even possibly tackle the sanctuary city status and the plight of illegal immigration in New York from your office?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, this is one of the areas where I think even though he didn’t get elected, he didn’t get elected by the majority of New Yorkers, I think Donald Trump can really be a savior. My colleagues and I have written to the new Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and asked her to clarify You know, crack down on New York sanctuary city status. And by the way, Donald Trump’s doing the same thing now on congestion pricing for my constituents that don’t want to be charged for the privilege of driving into work every day for within the same city. By the way, those are two areas where I think Trump can really help. What I think is important is the language and the nomenclature of that term, sanctuary city. Years ago, Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, tough on crime mayors, especially Rudy Giuliani, they said that New York was a sanctuary city. But what they use that term sanctuary city to mean was that if you’re an illegal immigrant and you are cooperating with the police, let’s say you’re a witness to a crime or you just want to have a conversation with the police, they’re not going to ask about your immigration status. Now, that’s a sound policy because you want people who are victims of crime cooperating with the police. That’s how they use the term sanctuary city. But what happened under Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo was was this dramatic uptick in what we now use that term sanctuary city to mean. Under de Blasio and the city council under de Blasio at the time, they now affirmatively prohibit New York City government and New York City law enforcement agencies from cooperating with ICE. They actually actively prohibit ICE detainer requests from being honored by city government. Now, that’s insane. And all it’s doing is having criminals on the are, in some cases, illegal immigrants themselves. They’ve added to this illegal immigrant gang problem that we’re seeing on the streets of New York because of this refusal to simply cooperate with federal law enforcement. So, I’m doing three things. One, There’s currently a charter revision commission that was appointed by Mayor Adams, the newly found, newly minted MAGA mayor of New York City, who’s carrying around the book and genuflecting at the altar of Donald Trump. So I’m asking this. Charter Revision Commission to put the question of sanctuary cities on the ballot this year. I’m also going to introduce legislation. Now, it won’t pass in this current body of 51, but I at least want to force a debate on it. And then lastly, I’m trying to get Pam Bondi and Trump’s Justice Department to clamp down and say New York City simply can’t do this.
SPEAKER 01 :
newly elected city councilman from New York, Frank Marano, joining us here on the Mike Gallagher Show. You mentioned Pam Bondi. Of course, this week it was revealed that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into former Governor Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress about the decisions he made during the pandemic. Now, this is a real sore spot for millions of people all over the country. Give me the Frank Marano take on the DOJ investigating former Governor Andrew Cuomo?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think it’s warranted. You know, the last thing that New York wants is yet another mayor that’s in the eye of a legal maelstrom, right? We had Bill de Blasio, who narrowly avoided being indicted by the U.S. attorney at the time. Then we had Eric Adams, who actually was indicted. And ultimately, that is the last thing New York City needs. Now, we can talk about the political problems with someone like Andrew Cuomo, because Cuomo is one of these guys that whether you’re on the left or the right, you have major problems with him. You know, a lot of people on the right don’t like the fact that he put through a cashless bail. They don’t like the fact that he put through congestion pricing. They don’t like the fact that he wrote, you know, raised taxes significantly. People on the left, a lot of them have issues with, you know, his treatment of women and the purported sexual harassment, along with some other things that he did related to public corruption. everybody on the left, on the right and nonpolitical takes issue with his nursing home situation. Here’s a situation where the nursing home situation was so badly handled that his and it was all the more galling the fact that he was going on TV every day acting like the hero of Appomattox and he was trying to take credit for things going well when New York handled COVID more poorly than any state in the union. Now, Then we’re learning the more we learn about this, the worse it looks. It looks like his administration not only deliberately lied to the public, but deliberately lied to the state legislature when they were when they were investigating this. And if there was criminality here, we have a right to know this now before he’s elected mayor of New York City.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. All right. Well, Frank, I hope everybody goes to MuranoForCouncil.com. And wow, what a list of endorsements you have. I mean, I’m looking at even pictures here. Let’s scroll down here. Let’s see. Andrew, Rudy Giuliani, Curtis Sliwa, that’s big. Former Governor George Pataki, that’s big. Look at, oh, radio host and Saturday Night Live alum Joe Piscopo, Mike Lind. Of course, a big part of the Mike Gallagher show. Corey Lewandowski. I’m scrolling. I’m I’m sure I’m on here somewhere. Roger Stone is it. Look at that. Bernie Carrick is here. Look, radio host Sid Rosenberg. Wow. I’m scrolling. I’m scrolling. I don’t see Mike Gallagher. What did you think? I wouldn’t officially endorse you. I actually contributed to your campaign.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, the new round of literature that we are pointing out will absolutely have a Mike Gallagher prominent endorsement displayed on there. We will be updated.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’ll get over it. Look, I’ll lick my wounds. I mean, I’m glad Sid Rosenberg is on the list there, but not Mike Gallagher, you know. Sid, by the way, I can’t wait to catch up to these guys. You know, Barrett Sports Media and Barrett News Media, they’re going to hold a big talk radio summit, and they invited me to speak. Glenn Beck’s going to be there, and Sid, and a whole bunch of people. So I’ll be in New York, and I’ll hope to see you then. But yeah, I mean, you know, I’m not, what am I, chopped liver?
SPEAKER 02 :
I can promise you that by the time I see you at Talkers, and hopefully before that, the website and our literature will reflect your very warm endorsement, Mike. And if people want to see my endorsement, go to MuranoForCouncil.com.
SPEAKER 01 :
MuranoForCouncil.com and support Frank. This is a dear friend and a guy who is, Look, New York is blessed to have you, my friend, and I’m proud of you and I’m excited for your success. I know you’re going to win big in the upcoming primary in June. You’re going to serve the citizens and the residents of Staten Island and New York City for years to come. Give my love to Rachel and little Carmine and Frank. Keep fighting the good fight because New York needs you now more than ever.
SPEAKER 02 :
Mike, thank you. Thank you for your friendship. Your audience knows how lucky they are to have you as I am as a member of your audience. And I got to tell you, the nativity scene that you brought me us back from the Holy Land is a fixture in our house every Christmas. And whenever it’s up, which is, you know, pretty much the entire month of December and a couple of weeks into January, we we think of you and talk about you often. So you are a frequent visitor. topic of discussion in the Morano household. And now that I’m awake during the day, your radio program is a fixture of the soundtrack of our home and of my office.
SPEAKER 01 :
That touches my heart. Thank you, Frank. I love you. I’m so proud of you. Keep fighting the good fight. We’ll see you again soon.
