Imus should go to Sirius - Page 2

I hope Howard gives him a show in Howard 101 and berates him all day!

THAT WOULD BE POETIC JUSTICE!!

I agree with this post. Until the merger occurs, he will not be hired by either satellite.

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The second mistake (the first was the racist remark) Imus made was going on Sharpton's radio show. He should have immediately gone directly to Rutgers and had a dialog with them. He should have ignored that racist blowhole sham Reverend.

The thing that surprised me the most this week was the lack of support Imus got from the liberal elite media. The same (the real) whores, his daily guests, that used his show to sell their books, newspapers, magazines, news shows-- hawking their liberal agenda. Let's be clear, these were the bulk of his guests. Where are they now? His remark wasn't the first over the line remark he made. They knew this. The ironic thing is it's the conservative media that has been standing up for him all week.

This entire sad situation is giving us the opportunity to correct the racism that exists today and-- the hypocrisy.

I agree with you about many of his guests abandoning him, they were all quick to come on his show to hump their books or TV shows, but once this happened most of them disappeared. And even though I am a conservative it would be easy for me to agree with your liberal elite media statement too, but I can't.. There were some that did come to his defense. David Gregory, Paul Bagola(sp), Carville, from the media all said he should have kept his job, and on the political side John Kerry and Joe Lieberman came to his defense.

I'm sure Imus didn't want to go out like this. So it won't surprise me if he gets a job somewhere( not sat radio though), even a brief stint somewhere to 'get even' with the guests and MSNBC and CBS for abandoning him..

MSNBC and CBS especially showed no class, firing him right in the middle of this radiothon they were having to raise money for sick kids... They couldn't wait a day or so, very selfish and classless.

The only prominent figure that I heard defending (forgiving) him was John Edwards. I am not saying that the other people you mentioned didn't defend him. I must have missed that.

What I did hear was David Gregory and Frank Rich coming to his defense after the firestorm. Regardless, the lack of support and overall silence from his friends was deafening compared to the thud of criticism.

I agree, let's not go there but why are you taking offense to that term? Liberal Elite Media is not a curse word. It accurately represents the majority of his guests. Ana Marie Cox used that term this week castigating Imus. She was quoted this week saying that she just used his show to earn her Elite Media Status badge. And this is after his bolstering her career.

Here's the source for the Cox statement.
http://tommywonk.blogspot.com/

...I did the show almost solely to earn my media-elite merit badge. The sad truth is that unless you have a book to promote, there's often no other reason any writer or columnist has to do the show....

Great friends to have, as I said, these friends of the Imus Show...they are the true ho's.

You are correct, I shouldn't have put the word liberal in her quote but it's not like I was trying to misrepresent her. In fact I even took a moment to find her exact quote.

This goes back to my original post about getting over the hypocrisy of everything. And to add to that post-- is the selective sensitivity. Liberal is not a bad word and my use of the word was not intended to rile you.

And I certainly do not care to get into a discussion regarding David Gregory or broad brush strokes etc.

Imus hasn't had good ratings for decades. He has however managed to garner huge ad revenues. I don't know of any other situation where the audience is small but the ad revenue is large.

Without advertisers, I can't see how he can bring money to the table for satellite. I agree with you, he certainly isn't going to bring subscribers. In fact, his audience has increased over the past year primarily due to the folks that didn't follow Howard to Sirius, those that were looking for a Howard replacement or alternative on celestial radio.

If Mel can come up with a hook to generate revenue then Imus is there but I doubt that will happen.

It's called demographics. Imus's audience was mostly the 25 to 55 year old white male. Advertisers like NetJets and Mercedes Benz proves that..At one time he got more money per ad then anyone else in radio, including Stern even though Stern had many more listeners.

I was listening to WFAN yesterday, and in a way they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. The afternoon DJ's mentioned that since the firing many advertisers have pulled their spots off of all of WFAN's shows..WFAN was losing more advertisers because of the firing then because of his comment.. Nothing WFAN can do though, CBS owns them and runs the show...

DEMOGRAPHICS...His audience was mostly 25-55 year old WHITE males, a group of people with MONEY.. Thats why an advertiser like NetJets advertised a lot on his show. NetJets is a company where you leasing or buying part ownership of private jets, then when you need to fly somewhere you can do it privately and in style.. You better have some serious pocket change if you're a NetJet customer. NetJets isn't going to buy advertising spots on a show that caters to kids, or a demographic that doesn't have much cash..

He had many, many advertisers whose products would be considered high end merchandise..And these kind of companies are going to pay top dollar to reach that 25-55 white male demographic..

The sponsors caved to a couple of loud mouths, who represented a group of people that were most likely not their customers. If they were smart they would have stuck it out for a week and let things die and then move on. There are far worse things going out over the airwaves than what Imus said. Regarding his comment, I could recite some phrases that are common in movies and music that would offend many people and I am not a racist.

Just in case you want to buy one for your NetJet....


Tassimo Hot Beverage System

Although Imus' show was cancelled, I'm not so sure that he was actually "fired" by CBS Radio. Apparently he signed a 5 year contract with them in last year or so. Nothing that he said violated FCC regulations. So, unless Imus has a fool for an agent and signed a really bad contract, I'd be willing to bet that CBS will have to continue to pay Imus' contract for the next few years. That's what they had to do when they canceled Opie & Anthony's show in 2002. O&A continued to get paid until mid-2004 and then had to wait for the no-compete period in their contract expired before they started at XM.

If Imus wants to go on satellite, he and CBS will probably have to negotiate a release of his contract.

Also, if Imus were to go to satellite, I would think that XM would be his first choice. As much as Imus dislikes Stern, he likes Opie (from the Opie & Anthony Show) just as much. He was a big supporter of theirs when they got fired. He went out of his way to advise Opie when they were getting ready to make their comeback, he certainly put in a good word for them to Joel Hollander (the ex-president of CBS radio) when CBS was looking to replace David Lee Roth and he has thanked O&A for their support, on the air, quite a few times, this past week.

If the merger goes through, which satellite company he joins could become a moot point (if he does go to a satellite company). But I would be surprised if Sirius were his first choice.

Or CBS could buy out his contract, thus releasing him immediately..

And the last 3-4 years I've hardly ever heard Imus mention Stern much. Except for when Stern went to satellite, and then he pretty much just wished him luck... I think he's mellowed out regarding Stern lately. Years ago, oh yeah there was no love on Imus's part for Stern, but now he seems much different regarding Stern...

And Imus and Karmazin always had a good relationship. All that said I seriously doubt he'll end up on sat radio. He's too old for that big of a change, and I doubt he'll pull in the subs needed to pay his salary, and with this merger hanging over XM and Sirius's head they have more important things to do...

I bet it winds up in the courts, with CBS trying to get out of paying the remainder of Imus' contract.

Although he didn't technically break any FCC violations, his own (over)reaction to what he said could be used against him, proving that he accepts that what he said was wrong, and since what he said led directly to the loss of sponsors of the show, they could have a case.

But then Imus will accept a settlement.

The real question is, will he get access to his old tapes?

A big question is will Don Imus live long enough to see the end of his contract or a settlement. 66? He looks more like 96. TV was not his friend and came off as death warmed over. His future seems more limited by this factor than his political correctness.

Kamazin will hire Imus after the merger is done ,or doesnt go through with XM.

Imus cannot afford to sit back and collect a paycheck the way O&A did when they were fired. He has to resolve his contract situation as quickly as possible. Imus has his charity ranch to maintain, which has been kept alive mainly through corporate donations and sponsorship. Without a microphone to promote these big corporate sponsors, his ranch is finished.

I'm sure he has lawyers busy right now trying to straighten out his contract and he is probably trying to set up a meeting with Mel.
He'll mow Howard's lawn at this point.

He can't afford to retire.

His contract will have a 'morals' clause that allows CBS to dump him for this action.

He signed a 5-year contract and he was fired.
CBS can continue to pay him and keep him in a locked box until his contract is up as they did O&A. This might keep him comfortable but it is not going to help his ranch.

He has to get out of his contract in order to be able to pursue a new job and get his sponsors back and keep the ranch.

He can't retire and he can't stay under contract stifled by CBS. They are in the drivers seat. They can refuse to pay him and he won't fight because if he wants to continue with the ranch he needs to get back on the air.

No one knows for sure but the rumor was he made 10-12 million a year. I think thats enough to keep any ranch going.. PLUS he has a whole line of food and cleaning products whose profits go to the ranch.. Not having a radio show will hurt, but I seriously doubt he lose that ranch...

As for CBS not paying him because a morals clause.. CBS had to pay O&A when they fired them. If Imus had even a decent agent when this new contract was signed I doubt without a court battle CBS is going to get away without paying him...

You're missing my point. He always played with other people's money. Sure he can afford to run the ranch but now it's going to cost him. He was on the verge of selling the whole cleaning products line, at least that's what was rumored. I'm sure with the release of his wife's new book and promotional tour (which was cancelled) this would have helped seal that deal but that's not going to happen now.

He has to reach into his pockets now. There's a big difference when everyone else is paying for your life and the only money you spend is just for tax purposes.

And without him on the air fixing things, his product line is sure to tank.

Paul Newman has a camp for kids, run totally by donations.. There's plenty of ways to run a charity without a radio show. Advertising, products whose profits go to the charity, knock on doors, make phone calls and twist arms.. The guy was in radio for 30 years, he's knows plenty of people whose arms he could twist... He has a bzillion contacts.

And don't sell him short on what he donated from his pocket. He donated 100's of thousands of his own money every year.

If you don't like the guy, fine. But anyone who does more in one year to help sick kids then you, I and everyone else on this forum combined will do in our lifetime deserves some kudos for that work..