patkeepsie <patkeepsie@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:f48febe7-a5f5-45d5-bb0d-1a2f445019a6@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> James Brady On Media
> Talking Up Imus
> James Brady, 04.24.08, 6:00 AM ET
>
> SNIP
>
> Last Friday, I called WABC radio honcho Phil Boyce in Manhattan to get
> some specifics. "We've got him on about 40 stations now," said Boyce.
> "The old show (the one based on WFAN) claimed about 62, but we've only
> been able to confirm 47. So we're getting close to level. New stations
> are in D.C., and Atlanta, both of them FM stations we own, and an FM
> in Boston and stations in Providence and Tampa. Ratings from February
> are good. In the 12-plus category, he's No. 3 in morning drive, behind
> WINS at 6.8 and ZOO100 at 5.7, with Imus in the Morning at 5.6."
>
> Being a troublemaker, I asked about WFAN, Imus' old station. In those
> ratings that placed Imus at No. 3, WFAN's new morning drive team was
> in 19th place in the count at a 2.3, Boyce noted with what I suspect
> was some pleasure. In another rating system based on average quarter-
> hour listener****p, Imus scored 105,700, while WFAN had only 44,000.
> "We're trending up," concluded Boyce.
>
> But what about the advertising? "It's coming in," said Phil, "and
> we're getting much higher rates, and we're getting closer to
> sellouts." And the man himself, a good coat, clear eye, is he
> behaving? Said the ABC exec, "He's sounding well and seems at peace
> with himself. And I think he's in a better place. He was doing issue
> talk on a s****ts station and now he's doing issue talk on an issue
> talk station."
>
> SNIP
These three paragraphs speak of the monumental missteps CBS Corp. commited
by firing Imus - and the genius of Farid Suleman for bringing him back.
Imus - during his final ratings period at WFAN - had a 2.5-share, good for
14th place:
(http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2007/05/01/2007-05-01_fresh__mexican_formats_playing_well_print.html)
When the Winter ratings come out on Monday, he could be in 2nd place with
a
6+ share - numbers which the I-man hasn't seen since the early 90's!
CBS had the option to fight Imus in court - they could have dragged the
settlement out for at least two years. Maybe they didn't foresee that Imus
would have equaled and surpassed his previous ratings with such shocking
speed. Or maybe they thought the radio powerhouse that is Boomer Esiason
could slide right in and continue earning the big revenue dollars that
Don brought in. They should have kept the I-man, or gone to trial. They
ultimately chose the worst possible course.
I'm so glad that with these ratings, Don can tell CBS to go ****
themselves - even if he is legally mandated to hold his tongue.
|
