If you are a "SPORT" radio fan you will know the names Mike and the Mad Dog out of New York.

Chris Russo, co-host of the ``Mike and the Mad Dog'' sports-radio program on WFAN in New York, left the show after almost 19 years.

Russo, 48, known as ``Mad Dog,'' joined CBS Corp.'s WFAN in 1987 and began the talk program in September 1989. Co-host Mike Francesa has signed a multiyear contract to anchor the show solo, Mark Chernoff, WFAN operations manager, said in an e- mailed statement today. Russo's last broadcast was Aug. 7 and he had been on vacation since that time, Chernoff said.

``This is a very sad occasion for Dog and me,'' Francesa said on WFAN today. ``I really wanted to stay and finish my career here at this one station. Dog decided to take a different avenue and there's nothing wrong with that.''

Newsday reported today that Russo is expected to join satellite service Sirius XM Radio Inc. and sign a contract worth as much as $15 million over five years. The newspaper cited industry sources and quoted Russo as saying he had four or five options, including Sirius.

Patrick Reilly, a spokesman for New York-based Sirius, didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

``We're in discussions with several parties and I expect Chris to be back in the broadcast media in the near future,'' said Sandy Montag, Russo's agent at IMG Worldwide Inc. He declined to identify the parties.

``Mike and the Mad Dog,'' considered to have popularized the sports talk-radio format throughout the U.S., featured five hours of Russo and Francesa talking to each other and with callers about the New York Yankees, Knicks and other local teams, as well as the national sports scene.

New York-based CBS, the second-largest U.S. radio broadcaster after Clear Channel Communications Inc., fell 1 cent to $18.04 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 34 percent this year. Sirius climbed 6 cents to $1.49 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and has fallen 51 percent this year.

Bloomberg