Date: Fri 19-Jan-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

John-Rose-Feature

Full Text:

Local FAN, John Rose

B Y T.W YATT

The story of Newtown's John Rose is one that has been well documented over the

years. " John from Sandy Hook, " as he made himself known, was a regular

caller to the sports radio station, WFAN, over the past seven years after

becoming one of the original " regulars " when the station first went on the

air back in 1987.

Crippled by a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis, Rose was bed-ridden and

blind, but that didn't prevent the man, who loved sports as much as any man

who ever lived, from listening to and participating in the station's radio

talk shows on a daily basis.

Through his charismatic personality, Rose became friendly with many of WFAN's

radio personalities to the extent that when he died in his sleep on January

11, WFAN - which has since blossomed into one of the nation's premier sports

radio stations - paid him a memorial tribute during the Mike & The Mad Dog

Show. " I think the station was a very important part of John's life, " said

the FAN's Eddie Coleman, one of Rose's closest friends there. " I think he had

it on 24 hours a day. I wouldn't say that it's common for us to get as close

to callers as a lot of us did to John, but we had a certain affinity for him.

Everybody loved him. "

John Rose's relationship with WFAN hosts blossomed out of the respect that he

earned himself while talking knowledgeably on the air.

" John has a very recognizable voice, " said FAN producer Steve Cohen who has

considered Rose a friend since 1987. " And he was a very knowledgeable sports

fan. John always brought insight to this radio station and that's what talk

radio is all about. You look for a fan that brings interesting thoughts to the

program where listeners will hear and say, 'he makes a good point.' John

always made a good point. "

John's favorite sports were baseball and horse racing, but he could talk to

you intelligently about most any sport. Sports and history were his primary

interests, and WFAN's Mike Francesa called him the station's " history

professor. "

" He could put things in historical perspective in a very concise and clear

manner on the air, " Francesa said. " The callers knew him, the listeners knew

him, and the hosts knew him so he had his own forum. He kind of developed his

own niche. He was the wise and rational voice when things would get hot and

stirred up - which they did a lot. "

Francesa, who along with Coleman was closest to Rose, credits John with

bringing WFAN a lot of its flavor in the early years. Though the station has

evolved significantly since its humble beginnings, it has kept its

community-like feel with its wide variation of voices and opinions. Rose,

according to Francesa, was partially responsible for helping nurture that

personality. " The thing I remember most about talking John him on the air was

that he always brought something to the table, " said Coleman. " He wouldn't

call gratuitously just to hear himself talk. He always had a purpose when he

called. I first met him in person at a Super Bowl party we held. He was in a

wheelchair. We had a ball just sitting around talking about sports. I met up

with him one other time, but most of the time it was just on the phone. "

All of John Rose's WFAN relationships, in fact, were built and carried out

over the telephone from his Newtown bedroom.

" John was a no-nonsense sports fan, and wasn't really into the wildness and

wackiness that was really more my genre, " said Chris Russo, WFAN's Mad Dog. "

I didn't think that I was John's kind of talk show host. But then he started

calling me after my Saturday shows, right when I got engaged, and started

giving me all kinds of advice about marriage. He told me that there were going

to be sacrifices, but that I'd love it. I thought that was very nice of him to

do. I was taken aback that he was that interested in what I was doing 'off the

field,' so to speak. "

Rose took his telephone relationships that extra step with many of his WFAN

pals, calling to talk about their personal lives off the air almost as much as

he called to state his case on it.

" He called me a lot off the air over the years, " Francesa said. " Sometimes

he'd call to take me to task for certain things that I said on my show, but

he'd also call because he took a genuine interest in my career. He also liked

to talk with me about my race horses. He was really a good guy. "

F-A-N producer Steve Cohen became friendly with Rose while screening calls at

the station. " We'd shoot the breeze all the time, " Cohen said. " He was a

good man, and we had a lot in common. He offered me a lot of advice over the

years and I always took it because he was someone who I respected. "

Rose loved to hand out free advice, of all kinds. Outside of the New York

Mets, horse racing was his passion and he frequently called fellow racing

enthusiast, Eddie Coleman, with hot tips he had acquired. " I wonder to this

day whether I'd be a rich man if I had followed through on every tip he ever

gave me, " Coleman chuckled.

While John Rose enriched the lives of many of the people he interacted with

during the course of his lifetime, its amazing how much impact the little

plastic box at his bedside had on his own. Tuned to 660 on the AM dial, it

became his eyes and his legs and his connection with society and the world of

sports that he loved so dearly.

" F-A-N gave him a lot of hours of enjoyment and something that he could latch

onto and become a part of, " surmised Mike Francesa. " And he was very much a

part of F-A-N. John Rose was a very very good sports fan. "

In seven years, John Rose rang up enough phone charges to buy AT&T another

vowel. But 718-937-6666 is a code that will no longer appear on the Rose

family's monthly phone bill.

" John will be sorely missed around here," Ed Coleman concluded. "He was one

of a kind. "