IMUS COMING TO SIRIUS

[fang39]

According to NY Post Gossip Columnist Cindy Adams, Don Imus will resurface (this fall?) on Sirius Satellite Radio. She claims that, upon his return, he has already promised his first interview to Barbara Walters.

 

[Frasier]

Would this be the sixth or seventh "enemy" Stern has welcomed upon his hollowed satellite turf, the most recent being Bubba the Sponge and (contract-wise) Jackie the Jokeman?

Bless his heart, Stern is such a softee.

 

[atlwxman]

I wouldn't get your hopes up on Imus coming to Sirius anytime soon. Mel's trying to get a merger approved, and the last thing he needs is someone with Imus's baggage to torpedo the merger.

I doubt if there will be any decision about the merger until early next year.

Also, even though Imus has been fired, he may still be under contract. He wouldn't be the first radio guy to be paid for doing nothing...

 

[BoardopJ]

I wouldn't get your hopes up on Imus coming to Sirius anytime soon. Mel's trying to get a merger approved, and the last thing he needs is someone with Imus's baggage to torpedo the merger.

I doubt if there will be any decision about the merger until early next year.

Also, even though Imus has been fired, he may still be under contract. He wouldn't be the first radio guy to be paid for doing nothing...

I don't think HE is in any rush to get back to work either. The firing may have been the start of a long vaca. for him.

 

[theairdownthere]

Seriously, did no one see this coming? I'd say it's the obvious move.

 

[wgliradio]

Imus is not going to Sirius. Sirius is not taking on a high profile contract while they are in merger talks and already under fire for past high profile contracts. Right now, Sirius is crying poverty.

 

[nhradiochild]

Hmmm. I wonder though if Imus will be the hot potato by then. Public opinion could have thought twice about the lynching and advertisers (if any) may not be so fickle about it all.

This is not to say that I believe this rumor by any stretch of the imagination. I'm one of those few who believes the I-man will just simply retire.

 

[smashedcd]

i dont know but his brother was slamming al sharpton and jessie jackson this morning on outlaw country. he said if sharpon wanted to go at it he could find him in arizona ;D they said all kinds of nice stuff about sharpton ..

 

[smashedcd]

i dont know but his brother was slamming al sharpton and jessie jackson this morning on outlaw country. he said if sharpon wanted to go at it he could find him in arizona ;D they said all kinds of nice stuff about sharpton ..


it was on this show.

Fred's Trailer Park Bash
Saturdays 6 am - 10 am ET
Replays Sundays 10 am - 2 pm ET and Mondays 12 am - 4 am ET
Broadcasting from the White Trash Cafe in Tucson, Arizona, Fred Imus (brother of legendary DJ Don Imus) serves up heaping helpings of greasy pick-up truck honky tonk with a side of grits. If you like your country Southern fried in a doublewide, try Fred's Trailer Park Bash.

 

[Joe_Capitano]

Mel's trying to get a merger approved, and the last thing he needs is someone with Imus's baggage to torpedo the merger.

Imus, nothing. Sirius and XM already have more than one major Alp to climb as it is.

 

[TheLaffer]

Would this be the sixth or seventh "enemy" Stern has welcomed upon his hollowed satellite turf, the most recent being Bubba the Sponge and (contract-wise) Jackie the Jokeman?

Bless his heart, Stern is such a softee.

I think Stern/Karmazan SHOULD hire Imus. Hire all the great talent the spineless two faced secret bigots and racists cbs execs threw out to save there own necks.

 

[TowerBuzz]

Am I the only one who thinks he heard this?

Would this be the sixth or seventh "enemy" Stern has welcomed upon his hollowed satellite turf, the most recent being Bubba the Sponge and (contract-wise) Jackie the Jokeman?

Bless his heart, Stern is such a softee.

I think Stern/Karmazan SHOULD hire Imus. Hire all the great talent the spineless two faced secret bigots and racists cbs execs threw out to save there own necks.


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Here is why Imus isn't going to Sirius anytime soon:

A. As someone already pointed out and the talking heads had mentioned during the Imus blow up just after he had been let go by cbs, MEl is trying against great opposition already, to merge the two sat companies. The likelyhood of Imus being hired anytime before the merger is ratified is almost non existent. Mel has to appease, Congress, the DOJ, the FCC, the FCC alone would probably balk at the merger if Imus is a part of the equation, at least at this date still so early after the event.

B. If memory serves the only people who have used the word "fired" when referring to Imus have been the talking heads on talk shows. I THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK CBS referred to the Imus show as being "canceled" which was the same way that they played O and A a few years ago, they didn't "Fire" them, they canceled the show. The difference? talent is paid but forced to sit out the duration of their contract, thus saving the company any further embarassment by said talent showing up at another company and spilling the secrets/story of what the company did to them, how/if they caved in to special interests, etc. Things that no company would want a disgruntled former employee to spill to the general public, especially when they're already being beaten up in the valley of perception to begin with. SO, maybe Imus is still being paid but benched until the contract runs out whenever it does. That may explain why Imus has retained high priced legal counsel, no one seems to know what the purpose of this move is. MAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYBE it is to get him out of his current contract which has been "canceled". I don't know this for certain but it makes some sense to me theoretically at least.

Either way Mel is not bringing Imus to the table until that merger meal is finished despite whatever Page six has to say, they're in the business of selling papers first reporting news a distant second, and Imus still sells papers it seems.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

I don't buy reports that Imus is going to Sirius. How can that company afford him?

 

[Walter Graff]

Ain't happening in Imus' lifetime. The only way the company would pursue another high-profile radio personality would be if that person would help Sirius reach cash-flow profitability sooner than it anticipated. Or as Mel says:

"Imus, if he was available, would be [great], but it comes down to the math. He's very greedy," Karmazin said, eliciting a wave of laughter from the crowd.

No Imus was more hype in the last years than a money maker for CBS that used the incident to end what they had already been planning to end at the end of Imus' next five year run. Take his 10 mill salary, the fact that his reach has dropped from 90 stations in 2005 to 61 when he got fired, and the reality was he wasn't generating income like he did years ago. In fact the 4 mill MSNBC paid to have him was a third of his net income for CBS. Sirius is more about subscriptions and not ad sales and Imus was down to 1.6 mill a listeners a week on old style radio when they dumped him so he isn't going to offer Sirius much in terms of subscriptions because his listenership is the demo that probably already has it.

 

[4dude]

Excellent!!!!!!!

 

[searadiofreak]

If this rumor were true, wouldn't have someone, anyone, confirmed it by now? I have heard nothing in the national press about this.

 

[TowerBuzz]

I don't buy reports that Imus is going to Sirius. How can that company afford him?

I stated earlier in the thread that Mel wont go anywhere near Imus while the merger is still up in the air and pending approval. As for the money at this stage Imus would come relatively cheap as he does not have many options. Look at O and A when they went to Xm, they went there becuase they had nowhere else to go and while some report they got a hefty pay day, I doubt it was anythiny like their multi million dollar cbs afternoon deal. Mel is also the zen master if anyone coud finesse Imus into a deal for less money than he's used to making it would be Mel. They could easily hand him millions in stock like Stern and pray that Mel can get the stock back up above the five dollar a share range.

 

[cawasinnj]

If this rumor were true, wouldn't have someone, anyone, confirmed it by now? I have heard nothing in the national press about this.

No. Trying to conduct negotiations through the press is a Very Bad Idea.

99% certainty that there will be flat out denials unless and until the contracts are signed.

 

[mostb1]

If this rumor were true, wouldn't have someone, anyone, confirmed it by now? I have heard nothing in the national press about this.

No. Trying to conduct negotiations through the press is a Very Bad Idea.

99% certainty that there will be flat out denials unless and until the contracts are signed.

He's still with CBS. Even if he was to "negotiate" with someone else, unless it is under the table, it isn't going to be happening over the next 4 months or more while the lawyers work out an end of his CBS contract.

He's an old guy with a short life span left in radio during his best of times. He's damaged goods and no national advertiser will touch him. Besides, he'll expect much more than anyone in radio will ever be willing to offer him to "come back". When he gets that "offer" he's going to be in denial and p.o.'d. His career is over. Show him his plot with the shady tree and nice view...that's his next gig.

 

[Walter Graff]

"They could easily hand him millions in stock like Stern and pray that Mel can get the stock back up above the five dollar a share range."

They could if Imus was anything near what Stern was worth when he left old-style radio. When Stern left CBS 70% of their profit left too. Imus is one percent of CBS radio division. In other words, keep dreaming. Imus has nothing to offer Sirius. Sirius is about one thing, subscribers and demographically Imus' listeners already have Sirius so Imus has nothing to offer Sirius. I agree with the last poster. Imus' career is over. You'll never here him on radio again. Sad part is it's an awful way to end 30 years on radio.

And today Sirius announce adding another 556,400 listeners. Sirius lost $144.7 million, or 10 cents per share, in the first quarter, versus $458.5 million or 33 cents per share in the same period a year ago, slightly better than the 11 cents per share that analysts were expecting.

As terrestrial radio continues to put the knife in their own heart and people go to satellite, they don't even need a merger at this point. Now if only terrestrial radio could learn a lesson from Sirius instead of the denial that there isn't a problem in how terrestrial radio works. I know I can't even listen to it anymore. Who could? It's a disaster!