Imus canned by MSNBC

Roger Kirk rogerkirk@ttlc.net
Fri Apr 13 14:11:51 EDT 2007



David Tomm wrote:
> It doesn't seem to me like his listeners--or sponsors--are abandoning 
> the I-Man, at least in New York.  Maybe CBS was a bit too hasty in 
> canceling his show altogether.  People who aren't familiar with New 
> York radio (which are most media pundits and blowhards like Sharpton & 
> Jackson) fail to realize how much of an institution Don Imus is in 
> that market.  I can understand pulling the plug on national 
> syndication, but taking him off 660 could wind up being a big long 
> term mistake for WFAN.
I, too, believe that cancellation of his show was a tad premature.  
Sponsor pressure notwithstanding, it might have made a bit more sense to 
wait until his meeting with the Rutgers team was a fait accompli (a 
little French lingo for Monsieur Glavin).  I find it interesting that 
nothing substantive has yet (to my knowledge) come out of that meeting. 

If anything, this whole episode may give Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson a 
false sense of grandiose power and Lord help the next entity that gets 
caught in their cross-hairs.

FWIW:  I think Imus was wrong in what he said and how he said it.  But, 
without his show (on radio in some form) he will never be able to truly 
reform or redeem himself.  Even transplanted to XM/Sirius, he will be 
remembered as an Idol going down in disgrace on Terrestrial Radio.  Of 
course, it's possible that he is not reformable or redeemable - only he 
really knows that in his heart.

My $0.02 worth.
Thanks for reading.




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