A Comeback for Imus?

And here I thought I couldn’t think of anything to discuss today! My feeds have been rather stagnant with the impending holiday, but this interesting little blurb popped through from The Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog.

A potential comeback for radio shock jock Don Imus? That’s definitely blog-worthy. I wrote a post following the I-man’s suspension back in April, wondering how any public figure can survive in an era when embarassing video footage can make it to YouTube only seconds after they commit a public faux pas. I didn’t think, at the time, that a two-week suspension was going to be enough time for the public outcry against Imus to die down. It seems I was correct, and the suspension quickly transformed into an outright firing.

So now the quesiton remains, if two weeks wasn’t enough time, will just three months really be? And would Imus or the show’s ratings suffer should he return–or would it be the reputation of CBS radio that would take the biggest hit?

My suspicion is the latter. Imus would probably return with bigger ratings than ever, if you go by the “bad publicity is still publicity” rule. I’m reminded of a scene in the Howard Stern biopic “Private Parts,” in which the ratings breakdown is delivered to an incredulous program director, who learns that the most vehement Stern-haters actually listen for longer, because they ”want to see what he’ll say next.”

The outcry then probably wouldn’t arise anew against Imus, but against the company that went back on its stance against his controversial remarks in the first place.

It will be interesting to follow this story and see what pans out, especially where CBS radio is concerned–they should be following it pretty closely themselves, particularly the public reaction.

Technorati tags: Imus; Don Imus; talk radio