McPhillips [1] and Beck [2] are commenting about Imus on his new set.
I’ll add my two cents, which includes the reference to 15 years of radio work… 10 of it in morning drive.
Their comments are valid; Imus is out of his element and the show won’t work. First, because the gink has a face just made for radio… a point which the new more open set reinforces.
Secondly because the better look won’t help what comes out of the fool’s mouth, which has always been the problem with getting better numbers, anyway.
That could be easily demonstrated in my view, by getting someone like a Mike Smirkonish, or Neal Boortz in the same time slot on another network.
Imus was fine when all he had to do was intro a song, and try to gernerate a laugh or two. Even in the old setup, Imus doing talk was a stretch… albeit a manageable one for a segment of the listenership. For most it was unlistenable (As evidenced by his listenership numbers in the radio markets he’s in), but it was enough to survive in a timeslot that MSNBC couldn’t do anything with.
In the new set, it’s unwatchable, as well, and MSNBC will be looking for a replacement soon enough.