You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
-Short Attention Span Theater-
CBS fires Imus
2007-04-13
CBS Corp. bowed to public pressure and fired shock jock Don Imus on Thursday, walking away from its best-known radio personality and millions of dollars in advertising. Now, the media company must find a way to replace the sponsorship and recognition that Imus brought to a radio division that still has not recovered from losing Howard Stern to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. last year. "They may be about to find themselves in a familiar, maybe worse, predicament. They had a year and a half to prepare for Howard Stern's departure and still could not find a viable replacement," said Holland Cooke, a news talk specialist with radio programming consultants McVay Media.

Revenue from radio, the third-largest source for CBS after TV and outdoor advertising, fell 7 percent last year to $1.96 billion. CBS Radio will lose about $15 million in annual advertising and syndication fees it received from "Imus in the Morning," a source close to the show said. CBS had found itself in a difficult position since April 4, when Imus called members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his show -- remarks widely considered racist and sexist.
Posted by:Fred

#14  If Imus was really a sports guy he would have known basketball season ended April 2nd.
Posted by: badanov   2007-04-13 23:30  

#13  Is it just me, or is it more Imus and less Iran in the media the last week?
New moon's the 17th - good for f-117's.
Posted by: 235   2007-04-13 22:13  

#12  IsnÂ’t it great how there always seems to a “Silver Lining” aspect to these issues. Cynically speaking theyÂ’re called “Alternative motives”. You remember how the FEMA deficiencies during Katrina later morphed into unrelated topics such as race and class. They told us this was an opportunity to collectively atone for our sins through a “national dialog”. Which ended up obfuscating the real problem and did nothing to reduce the bureaucratic red tape in large government organizations. But boy howdy, did the money flow with the obvious result of large-scale waste and fraud. ThereÂ’s a new opportunity being pitched. The shrill voices have already begun to call for increased “Diversity” in the media. Calls for the resurrection of the “Fairness Doctrine” canÂ’t be far behind.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2007-04-13 17:04  

#11  True, Mac, but it's an interesting thought that the Democrats have no other way to talk to the soccer dads and granddads.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-04-13 15:32  

#10  TW, only an organization as screwed up as the LA Times could think the LLLs own the blogosphere.
Posted by: Mac   2007-04-13 12:47  

#9  Interesting. There's an article in the LA Times claiming that Imus's real value was as the only talk radio conduit for Democratic politicians to politically independent white men. link Apparently the left owns the blogosphere, and the right talk radio.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-04-13 12:43  

#8  Chink, chink, pieces of the MSM chipping away.
Ah, the sweet sound of Spring.
Posted by: wxjames   2007-04-13 12:37  

#7  Come along now. Imus is not a "shock" jock. But he may end up on Sirius along with Howard Stern and the resulting stampede of listeners away from CBS Radio will be truly shocking, at least for CBS. I've spent a lot of time trapped in traffic on the freeway listening to Imus and LOL. He made a mistake but I'm sorry to see him go.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2007-04-13 12:20  

#6  All major record labels following suit and dropping their rap artists who call women "bitches" and "ho's" in 3... 2... 1...

Pfft...
Posted by: Dar   2007-04-13 11:31  

#5  It's hard to find sympathy for an effort that places its fortunes in the mouths of the likes of Howard Stern and Don Imus, whose careers were made on being shocking.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-04-13 11:23  

#4  What's next? Criticizing paint roller manufacturers for describing their product's degree of nappiness?

CBS Corp. bowed to public pressure and fired shock jock Don Imus on Thursday, walking away from its best-known radio personality and millions of dollars in advertising

Oddly enough, I've heard it described as the 'millions of dollars' in advertising walking away from CBS Radio--and that was the real pressure that brought him down.

I don't look for Viacom to crack down on any of their--ahem--artists that use similar terminology.
Posted by: eLarson   2007-04-13 10:33  

#3  ...Imus may have some very nice charities that do some very nice things for kids of all races, but unfortunately, he let his mouth run loose one time too many. No sympathy here I'm afraid.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2007-04-13 09:35  

#2  re Imus and cBS

I have a new limerick.. but I won't be posting it at this time.. or anytime too soon.
Posted by: RD   2007-04-13 09:06  

#1  "Sympathy meter reading off-scale low, sir."

"Thank you, Mr. Data."
Posted by: Mike   2007-04-13 06:24  

00:00