Imus--Stay or Go?

[Arne]

I have to agree with Rich on this one... the mainstream media loves this kind of thing, and will beat it to death, following a pattern developed over the years...... the supposed downtroden will each get their 15 minutes of fame (which in total will add up to hundreds of hours).... so many new talking heads have come out of the wood work.

And.. nothing will change... since it is getting so much coverage.. I've had to put in an Ultimate Fighter tape for some real entertainment....

[jbbooks]

Don Imus is an idiot. But there is a dial called the on/off switch on tv's and radio's. Nobody has a gun to their head making them listen to him.
I say let him keep his job and let the free market have it's say.

[Miriam C.]

Don Imus is an idiot. But there is a dial called the on/off switch on tv's and radio's. Nobody has a gun to their head making them listen to him.
I say let him keep his job and let the free market have it's say.

Ummm. I believe the free market decided his fate and MSNBC fired him. I think they are a bunch of pansy suck-ups for doing it. And yes there is a serious double standard when some can say anything and others are held to the Gentleman's standard.

I still think it is a gimmick to get publicity or out of his contract. Maybe it backfired.

[Ira]

I still think it is a gimmick to get publicity or out of his contract. Maybe it backfired.

Not a chance in hell:

The guy is known for these kinds of comments before, so it wasn't intentionally planned. It's just the way he is.

And there's no way he was walking away from all of that money. This also jeopardizes his ranch charity big-time.

[Woodbutcher]

First I am not an Imus fan.

I don't believe that the free market had anything to do with MSNBC's decision to cancel Imus's TV show. Free market works like this. The public doesn't like his shows content. Ratings drop, then advertisers leave because they can't make enough money off his listeners. What happened here was, someone was offended. Two guys with the same history of bad actions as Imus screamed loud enough to scare the advertisers into pulling the plug. All of this was long before they suffered any loss of business. This is very hypocritical of them. After all, they knew the content of his show before the plunked down their ad $$$$ in the beginning. But he had good ratings and they stood to make good money.

[Ira]

First I am not an Imus fan.

I don't believe that the free market had anything to do with MSNBC's decision to cancel Imus's TV show. Free market works like this. The public doesn't like his shows content. Ratings drop, then advertisers leave because they can't make enough money off his listeners. What happened here was, someone was offended. Two guys with the same history of bad actions as Imus screamed loud enough to scare the advertisers into pulling the plug. All of this was long before they suffered any loss of business. This is very hypocritical of them. After all, they knew the content of his show before the plunked down their ad $$$$ in the beginning. But he had good ratings and they stood to make good money.

You're exactly right, NOTHING to do with free market, but here's another factor about the ratings system to throw into the equation. And it's a biggie:

The whole ratings system is a total farce in the first place. I write the below having worked for a huge ad agency in New York, and although not in media buying, I drank daily with a marketing research genius whose work was the basis of deciding where tons of ad dollars were to be spent. (LARGE accounts!)

We now have the technological capability to measure HOUSEHOLD BY HOUSEHOLD what people are actually watching, thanks to cable. However, this huge country of 300 million people's viewing habits is still determined by sending out maybe a couple of hundred "machines" to select households, and a few thousand "diaries" to people to fill out.

A few thousand "opinions" out of 300,000,000 is NOT an accurate, representive sample of what people are watching or listening to in the totality of the nation. And although they pick their viewing "families" based on demographic/psychographic criteria, it is still voodoo BS.

So how come they don't switch to a system which gives the REAL truth about who's watching what?

Well, they're afraid of it. Afraid to uncover that they've been totally wrong all of these years. Or maybe wrong half the time. Or just KIND of wrong every now and then.

And everyone continues with business as usual, but they know the flaws.

So working in this kind of atmosphere, where all the parties involved don't really trust their own ratings system in the first place, it's easy to jettison Imus--because who KNOWS how many people watch/listen to the damn guy in the first place.

Wanna know what a true rating system is? Here it is:

June 2005, Sirius Satellite Radio has 600,000 subscribers.

January 2006, Howard Stern moves his show to Sirius.

April 2007, 7,000,000 subscribers--PAYING subscribers forking out $12.95 a month.

[caseydog]

I would be just fine with Imus, and all the other "shock-jocks" going off the air. I just wouldn't miss any of them at all.

And, since I work for magazines, here's my $.02 on "the market" in this. We don't make any profit off of subscriptions or newstand sales. All our profits come from advertisers. If advertisers get pissed off, and pull their ads, we hurt -- big time.

Likewise, MSNBC doesn't make squat off of your cable subscription. They make money off of advertisers. And if advertisers get pissed off, MSNBC get's hurt. Advertisers don't want their names associated with the kind of slur Imus blurted out -- regardless of ratings. Some big advertisers pulled their ads. MSNBC doesn't like that.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are being given too much credit for Imus' problems. It's all a bout the Benjamins, and the advertisers hold all the Benjies.

CD

[Ira]

I would be just fine with Imus, and all the other "shock-jocks" going off the air. I just wouldn't miss them at all.

CD

Shock-Jock is a misnomer:

If you listen to Stern, there's nothng shocking about it. You KNOW what to expect.

[Dean in Eureka, CA]

Question... Is Don Imus the one that dresses up like a dime store cowboy???

[Arne]

Imus is off the air. The fact that Imus made a few stupid remarks, and has now been taken off the air, has ruined my morning entertainment... meaning it has affected me materially and personally.....

I don't care if you like him or not, but NO black that I am aware of has ever been chastised in such a fashion in recent history for making anti-white statements...

I am now an official bigot. Not by choice but because the playing field is not level, and I'm tired of the 'poor me' attitude I've put up with all of my 67 years.

Arne

[toypusher]

................

I don't care if you like him or not, but NO black that I am aware of has ever been chastised in such a fashion in recent history for making anti-white statements...

.

I think you totally missed the part about his statements concerning WOMEN in general. This is NOT just about Blacks!!

[Arne]

Oh, I get it now... Al Sharpton went to meet with msnbc and cbs to defend the honor or women, not just blacks? It had NOTHING to do with women in general, as you could see by Imus comments and Sharpton's rebuttal to them.

It has all to do with "you're picking us po' downtroddin's again" and we want you to fire his sorry ass. And when the ads got pulled, the bean counters stepped in and Sharpton got exactly what he wanted...

And now we have.... PRECEDENT.... and it will be played to the hilt and screw freedom of speech. I also wonder how much less money will be raised for charities Imus pushed, like the one for Sudden Infant Death syndrome. If people handled their kids like they want to handle the Imus situation, there wouldn't be a kid left alive on the face of the earth. There is even the irony here of "I never listened to him, but I don't like him"...

I know how these topics go, so I'm done here.. I'm going back to aerodynamics..

[Mary K]

Can't we all just get along???




Mk

[Claw]

Can't we all just get along???




Mk

Only if Al and Jesse say so.

Maybe the question should be can't we all quit being so hyper-sensitive!

[Hamcan]

No MK we can't all get along if by that you mean agree! A respectful difference of opinion is appropriate in the off topic section IMO.

It amazes me that all us old white guys talk about the same rules and a level playing field. I think caseydog mentioned in another post recently that it is easy to think you hit a triple when you were born on third base. If you are a woman or a member of a minority, life has never been a level playing field.

That being said: Of course Sharpton and Jackson are a couple of jerks that have milked the race issue for all it is worth to them personally, however, that in no way excuses Cowboy Imus.

Respectfully submitted for consideration, JG