'Matty In The Morning' Retires From KISS-108 After 41 Years

BOSTON — The host of one of Boston's most popular morning drive time radio shows says he's officially retired.

Just after 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, Matt Siegel of "Matty in the Morning" took to the air for possibly the last time. "It's time, I've been honest the past 41 years with you, and I will continue."

Siegel, 72, explained how the last year had been a little rough for him, "brain surgery, broken foot, I started getting a little grumpy on the radio, which I hate," he said. "All I want to do is make people laugh, and I really got away from that."

"Impossible — Not in a million years would I have thought I'd have the following I'd have. I love you guys — I don't know," Siegel said starting to break down while on the air. "I just can't thank you enough — I don't feel like I deserve it, I can't tell you how much you've done — I love you more than words can express."

Siegel explained he had "five reasons" why he would not continue, referencing his wife and kids, and going on to joke about how he would start a new life as a "lousy golfer."

"We are witnessing a historic moment," said Siegel's co-host, Billy Costa said "Everyone will remember where they were when they heard that from Matt."

iHeartMedia, KISS-108's parent company, confirmed Monday that Matt Siegel would return to the show Tuesday and discuss his absence during the 8 a.m. hour. Costa has been hosting "Matty In The Morning" after Siegel and Lisa Donovan went radio silent early last week.

Donovan, who has also been missing for the last week, was still not on the air as producer Winnie Akoury explained she was subbing in to report traffic for her.

Siegel, has been hosting mornings at WXKS-FM since January 1981. Donovan joined him as a co-host in 2002.

Last May, Siegel "quit" the show following an on-air rant, only to return a day later.

"I had long, long conversations yesterday with the company, and the company said, 'Listen, man, do your thing. We'll get out of your way,'" said Siegel, of Newton. "I didn't expect that and, so, I'm back."

He then went on to make a joke about Demi Lovato —the same kind of joke that prompted the reprimand that led to the previous morning's blowup. On both mornings, Siegel suggested he was being censored and that he was simply saying "what a lot of people were thinking."

A month later, co-host Rebekah "Bex" Maroun said she was leaving KISS-108 to move back to her native Philadelphia.

"When COVID hit, everything in my life sort of changed. I realized how much I missed my family and my friends and being surrounded by the people that I wanted to be close to," she said. Maroun, who joined Kiss 108 in 2018, served as the co-host and executive producer of "Matty in the Morning."

Siegel was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2012.