Thursday, April 12, 2007

RUMOR TIME!!

This is STRICTLY A RUMOR, and not something that, as a reporter, I prefer to report, but since this topic has been so over the top, I will tell you exactly what I have heard, and hope that the rumor is just that.

This, coming from Allan Sniffen (former DJ on K104 "back in the day"), who is the creator of perhaps the greatst radio tribute site, Musicradio 77 WABC, and the moderator of the New York Radio Message Board, is reporting the following:

I'm hearing Imus will be gone after tomorrow's show. I can't be more specific than that nor can I say this is absolute fact. I can say that I *think* it's true as I'm hearing it from more than one source. When this will be officially announced is not clear.

Scott Fybush, who writes the tremendous North East Radio Watch, says that he is hearing the same thing. All I can say is that it is sad that smart media companies are allowing this to happen, but the advertisers are the ones who are speaking. Unfortunately it also gives power to those who should have no power at all. The question becomes, assuming this is all true, is what next for the I-Crew? Do they follow Opie and Anthony and head to satellite? Will some other outlet pick them up?

I'll say this - if they do go to satellite, I don't know how much more terrestrial radio I'll listen to. To me, WFAN will now be a waste of time, with only Mike and the Mad Dog of interest to me. The rest of the station is largely unlistenable. I listen to WCBS (880 AM) for traffic and weather together, but I can get that on satellite as well. As for music, I really only listen to The Peak and maybe a few other stations. All of that is accessible at...you guessed it! Satellite.

In the meantime, the radiothon this morning was doing exceptionally well, and I suspect it will continue on pace with last year, if not surpass it. It's going on over at WFAN.

There has been so much rhetoric, and much of it has been brutal. Some, on the other hand, has been spot on. Here's Jason Whitlock's take, from the Kansas City Star.

2 comments:

Mick said...

What about the Yankees on 880 - you do listen to the Yankees don't ya?

Rob Adams said...

Yeah, but Mick, if I go to satellite, guess what's there? You guessed it - Yankees baseball.

I'm not saying that I'm going to drop terrestrial radio altogether, especially since I've made part of my living off of them. I'm just saying that I don't necessarily see as much of a need for it after this episode. My daily radio listening habit since 1989 has changed.