The sound from the call was dumped so someone was working the boards at the studio.
I've never seen one on any of the cable shout shows. Whether or not the sound of the call was dumped was irrelevant. Savage talked way too long not to know that he was on the air.
What cracks me up most about this situation is how he comes up with this ridiculous excuse, gives an apology, and his fans just eat it up. If Savage was really the tough talker that he claims to be, he wouldn't apologize, wouldn't make any excuses, and he would be proud of what he said. Compare and contrast this with Dusty Baker, who also made a controversial comment in recent days, but didn't backtrack one bit when he got heat for it.