If a tree falls in the forest...

As I see it, a radio show that nobody listens to will be simulcast on a cable channel that nobody watches. Makes sense, right?

Well, I would assume FOX Business has more viewers than Don Imus' former television home, RFD-TV. At least I think they do.

Reuters says:

The Fox business news channel of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has agreed to simulcast the radio show of Don Imus, the ratings-grabber who stirred a national controversy on race two years ago.

Fox Business Network (FBN) said on Thursday it had signed a multiyear deal to show the Imus program on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. starting on October 5.

"The program will incorporate additional business news into its format, which now offers a mix of current affairs, politics, entertainment and sports," Fox said in a statement.

The Imus show will continue to be syndicated on the radio by Citadel Broadcasting Corp.

Fox Business Network launched in October 2007 to compete with CNBC, a unit of NBC Universal which is owned by General Electric and Vivendi.

Tune in. You may be the only one watching.

Everything's Gone Green

I don't care if I'm Irish, I usually don't do much to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. To me, it's just a day where all you non-Irish people (who normally would be directing hostile and idiotic insults toward people like me about my ancestry and family's religious background) go out, get plowed at the local watering holes and make fools out of yourselves. And on top of it all - you tell everyone you're Irish! No wonder us 'real deals' get such a bad name!

Hey, I don't go 'round telling people I'm Italian on Columbus Day. Or tell people I'm Jewish on Yom Kippur. And I certainly don't claim to be African-American on MLK Day (I don't think they'd believe me). Leave us Irish folk alone!

So, not much to report, but I'll do it in green text, just to make it look festive. Drive safe!

The Air America mystery wheel lands on... Nicole Sandler

So far, there's an opening at Air America for what was once their highest-profile time slot. The network has, in typical fashion, refrained from naming a permanent replacement for the recently departed Thom Hartmann. David Bender filled in the past two weeks, and this week, you can hear Nicole Sandler, formerly of WINZ Miami, on the network from 12-3P.

Beyond that? Who knows?

I do, however, know of at least one experienced and respected radio host that's available for a gig...

Montel's first affiliate?

Speaking of Air America, the network may have found at least one new affiliate for incoming mid-morning host Montel Williams. Robin Bertolucci, PD of KTLK in Los Angeles, is keeping her options open.

"I am definitely interested in hearing his radio show," said Bertolucci. "At this point we're trying to see what's going on with Randi Rhodes and such but I am excited to hear him," she said in an e-mail to the Orange County Register.

But Williams' new show would air live on the West Coast from 6-9A, the same time as Stephanie Miller, who's show airs from KTLK's studios. Not to worry - KTLK will not lay a finger on Miller's show.

A more likely time would be 12-3P PT. Currently, the station is airing Nancy Skinner in the time slot, but this doesn't sound permanent. And given that Skinner's 'network' is an unknown entity at this point, it may not be a long-term thing.

Randi update

Most of the emails I get concern either Nova M Radio (or what's left of it) and their former afternoon host, Randi Rhodes. The same Orange County Register article quoted above has the only thing close to an update on the status of her show. Here's what they say:

She has been off the air since she left her syndicator. Word is if and when a deal is worked out with a new company to distribute her program nationwide, she will return to the air.

And yes, that is all I know too. Randi and her people aren't known for telling anyone much about her or her show, and they most certainly don't tell me anything, so for now, it's all speculation. Same as it ever was.

ESPN Radio ups its affiliate price

So, all you radio management types that thought running a syndicated sports radio feed off the board would be a stupid-proof way to rake in some ad income, right?

Wrong.

And for this, I turn to Sports By Brooks:

...A source told me that ESPN is planning to charge some non-ESPN owned and operated sports radio stations fees to carry its radio network programming. For big markets (Top 30), the annual charge to stations is as high as $100,000.

Even in good economical times, that move is a serious horse pill to ingest for local sports talk radio stations.

My reaction, as a former sports radio program director and on-air personality for 16 years (including on ESPN radio affiliates), is that very, very few (if any) Top 30 markets would pay a six-figure sum to air ESPN network programming.

So, let's do the math. Cost to run ESPN in a large market: $100K/year.

Cost to run an all-syndicated progressive talk format: Zero, aside from ceding aside some ad time to the syndicator.

Then again, radio doesn't operate on the common sense plan.

Not green - gangrene

I was going to mention something yesterday, and even started an entry, but I got a bit distracted by reality and didn't get a chance to make a clean entry out of it all. Yesterday saw Don Imus announcing that he has stage II prostate cancer, and we also saw the announced passings of both Ron Silver kicked the bucket and yet another major city newspaper, which has bitten the dust. Pretty grim, huh?

Well, it's not like either of those two guys will get much sympathy from the types of people reading this blog, particularly Imus, if all the stories that I've heard from first-hand sources regarding his personality are true.

Probably not much love from the left for actor Ron Silver either, particularly given his ideological turnaround in recent years, as he became one of those "9/11 Republicans" that think the best way to protect our country from terrorists is to support the people who let the attacks happen (i.e. Bush and Cheney). Nonetheless, Silver had a passion for what he did, and he was a very actor, particularly in roles where the audience is supposed to really hate the character. It was too bad Jeremy Irons blew everybody off the screen in "Reversal Of Fortune", otherwise Silver's role of Alan Dershowitz would have been remembered even more fondly.

Sure, the guy came off sometimes as kind of a creep, and does anyone really believe that he was more or less 'blacklisted' from Hollywood, especially since staunch right-wingers like Robert Duvall and Adam Sandler still get lots of work? As for his political bent, who cares? Misguided or not, he was what he was.

And finally, yet another newspaper has folded. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is kaput after 146 years and shift to an online-only presence, yet another victim of the rough economy.

This move comes less than two weeks after another major daily, Denver's Rocky Mountain News, also ended its run altogether. The Tuscon Citizen will likely shut down this Saturday.

Hearst, which owns the Post-Intelligencer, put the paper on the market in January, warning that it would close down the printing presses if a buyer didn't come forward.

In addition, as yet another sign that the newspaper industry is hurting due to modern technology such as the internet and the lousy economy, Hearst has also made noise about selling or even shutting down their highest-profile paper, the San Francisco Chronicle. Tough times indeed.

Time magazine recently published a column on their website, claiming that the newspaper shuttering could go even further. They cite 24/7 Wall St. with an article that says venerable dailies such as the Chicago Sun-Times, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Boston Globe and the Miami Herald might not make it to the end of the year, unless things turn around.


Okay, enough of the gloom and doom. Have a safe and happy St. Patty's. And by all means, if you're not Irish, don't tell people you are. Sheesh!

Announcing... the 2007 LTR Turkey of the Year

Mention the word 'Thanksgiving' to anyone and various responses will come up. Whether the first thing to enter one's head may be Pilgrims, family get-togethers, the Macy's Parade, football, early morning sales on "Black Friday," or even that disgustingly funny faux movie trailer in Grindhouse, the first thought that likely comes up is turkey. It's all about the turkey.

In honor of that spirit, this entry will be about a different type of turkey. Namely, the biggest buffoon covered by LTR in the past year or so. And with it the presentation of a not-so prestigious honor, the first annual "Turkey of the Year."

Of course, criteria had to be laid out for the first ever presentation of this prize. The Turkey nominating committee felt that consideration be limited only to those who were written about on this very space over the past year or so. Readers will recognize the usual suspects, and be surprised at others. But in formulating a list of finalists, and the inevitable winner, the nominating committee scoured a year's worth of blog entries, in the ultimate online turkey hunt.

So without further ado, here are the nominees...

Chad Castagana. Okay, who is Chad Castagana? He's a 39-year old nut from California who took it upon himself last November to fight the war of terror by mailing letters laced with white powder to current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, David Letterman, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart and others. Of course, the white substance turned out not to be Anthrax, but rather powdered soap.The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force tracked him down, arrested and later indicted him on fourteen counts of sending false threats via the U.S. Mail.

Of note is that while sending out the nastygrams, he also purchased a $15 money order, made out to "Friends of Katherine Harris." Castagana lived with his 78-year old mother, is a sci-fi geek, worshipped Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, rarely interacted with neighbors, and had an dirty old van parked in the driveway with the phrase "death to all liberals" scrawled in the grime of the back window. Ironically, or not surprisingly, he had no driver's licence to legally drive his dirty old van. Oh, and he was a freeper, too, and he even posted about the mailings on the site, even having the chutzpah to mock MSNBC's reaction to the nastygram sent to Olbermann. And they call us unhinged. Sheesh! Currently, Castagana is out on $350,000 bail and awaiting trial, and is also prohibited from using the U.S. Mail for anything.

Bruce Tinsley. Ever wonder why the right-wing comic strip "Mallard Fillmore" just isn't very funny? Well, you try writing gags when you're plastered off your ass! Tinsley, the creator of the strip, was arrested in Columbus, Indiana last December and charged with drunk driving, his second alcohol-related arrest in less than four months. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.14, almost twice the legal limit. Ironically, he once published a strip where he claimed that, in order to avoid a DUI ticket, a driver could pretend to be related to Ted Kennedy. So not only does he suck as cartooning, he's not very good at dispensing legal advice.

KSFO. The nasty right-wing hosts of this hardcore right-wing radio station in San Francisco have never had a problem slinging shit toward their 'enemies.' Hosts such as Melanie Morgan, Lee Rogers, Tom Brenner and Brian Sussman often spew Klan-style racist rhetoric, bash muslims, and endlessly tear into liberals. Well, a Bay Area blogger named Spocko decided to take them on, posting audio clips and transcripts of the hosts programs online and sparking a letter-writing campaign directed at some of the station's highest-profile advertisers. The on-air hosts went even more nuts than they were already, with Morgan firing off an email to over a million conservatives as the hosts began harassing Spocko on-air. Ironically, this is the same Melanie Morgan who in 2004 tried to lean on movie theater owners in an effort to ban Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. The station's owner, ABC/Disney, also fought back, sending a cease-and-desist order to Spocko and his ISP over posting the transcripts and files. The ISP, fearful of legal action by the Mouse That Roared, shut him down, but the audio files circulated around the web and Spocko found another ISP. The gang at Disney and KSFO are the most hypocritical of turkeys, and evidently never learned that people who live by the sword are likely to fall victim to it.

Disney. And here's a two-fer. I'll give the owners of ABC a slide over that "Air America Blacklist" thing, since that turned out to be about nothing. But they don't get off so easy for that ridiculous Path to 9/11 flick that nobody watched. And for hiring racist wacky radio guy Glenn Beck for a commentary position on Good Morning America. So, what position was this Muslim-bashing moron hired for? Yep, you guessed it - cultural commentator. They also get chided for programming next to no liberal talk on any of their radio stations (recently taken over by Citadel), save for top-rated KGO in San Francisco and a few weekend slots on some of their other stations.

Jon Elliott. He may never live this down, but perhaps this will teach him not to jump to conclusions and claim a freak accident that happened to one of his coworkers as a 'hate crime.' On the flipside...

Crybaby conservative bloggers. When Randi Rhodes had her freak accident last month, Elliott inadvertently blamed it on an attack by some crazed right-winger. Meanwhile the whiny right were shocked, feeling that their ilk is capable of walking on water and could do no wrong. They felt they were the victim of a brutal attack. When it was all founded to be untrue, they demanded apologies, as if they ever gave a shit about Rhodes in the first place. Hold on, let me call the whaaaambulance first. Here's three words for the Bozells, Malkins, Maloneys, et. al. of the world: Get a grip.

Me. I'll reserve a spot at the turkey table for myself, Baroosk at Talking Radio, ZappoDave at Daily Kos Bonescrat at Democratic Underground and everyone else that forwarded the Randi Rumor. Yeah, we screwed up on that one. And unlike the crazy conservatives, I can admit when I'm wrong.

Don Imus. 2007 was a pretty crappy year for the craggy morning radio talker. One could almost blame his handlers at CBS for encouraging him to be more controversial. But his inert nastiness is what eventually did him in, resulting in the end of his big TV deal at MSNBC, his lucrative roster of sponsors, his syndicated network and eventually his job. Now he has to rebuild everything from scratch. How rough is it? His new TV deal is with something called RFD-TV, a farm-oriented channel nobody has ever heard of and one that obviously does not have much penetration in the mostly urban east coast markets that are his stronghold.

Entercom. Clear Channel often gets a bad rap when it comes to dropping progressive talk from their stations, but Entercom, a company that heavily donates almost exclusively to Democrats, has dropped the format from all but two of their stations. This year, they flipped their New Orleans station to a time shifted refeed of WWL, a station that already simulcasts on both a 50,000 watt AM and a big signaled FM, and stations in Sacramento and Memphis to sports. Only Buffalo and Rochester remain.

Mark Green. Last spring, Manhattan real estate mogul Stephen Green rode to the rescue and purchased Air America Radio out of bankruptcy. Opting to take a hands-off role, he installed his brother, New York politician Mark Green as president. While Green has injected some life into the network, some of the network's moves have alienated their devoted listeners. The hiring of Lionel was a shot at gaining legitimacy in the radio industry, and for that, it made sense on paper. In the process, though, they treated the much-loved Sam Seder like garbage, banishing him to Sunday afternoons before sheepishly appointing him as the network's chief blogger. Mark Maron vowed never to work for Air America again, but has softened on that stance as of late. Others, such as the devoted Mark Riley were eventually cast aside altogether.

While the network obviously strove toward much-needed industry credibility, the new shows added to the schedule didn't elicit much enthusiasm. The Air Americans was a four-hour weeknight juggernaut with no direction or planning, no chance of being picked up by any affiliate, and lasted only a few short pointless months. Weekends saw strange niche shows about vegetarianism and atheism that garnered guffaws from the media. And of course, Green got his own show. Since taking over, the network has become a little too green, pun intended. Reportedly, upon the much-ballyhooed 'relaunch' of Air America last spring, Green was so pissed off about the sluggish response to Lionel's arrival that he took many of the heavily-hyped VIP interviews for himself, which resulted in some hosts' shows being interrupted for taped interviews conducted by Green, who obviously was trying to leave his mark on the network in rather strange ways. Talk about a trainwreck!

Richard Greene. Sure, he seems like a nice guy, and he's certainly a polished professional. But he seems a bit out of his element hosting Clout, a nighttime show on Air America. Particularly since the only bumper music he ever plays is "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. Over and over again. For this, he definitely deserves to be considered for "Turkey of the Year."

Steve Graham. This Pittsburgh, Kansas native gave us all a look at who really listens to right-wing talk radio. For the past seven years, Graham, 55, has been living in his car parked in the backyard of a house he and his wife, La Donna Graham, own. His irritated neighbors complain that Graham plays loud music, often spouts obsenity-laced tirades and uses his yard as a toilet. Graham's got a home-like setup in his blue 1989 Buick Century, equipped with a 13" TV, an oscillating fan and a portable radio, with an extension cord running to the house. The radio especially works well. "I get better reception there than I do in there," he said, pointing at the house. "I listen to Rush (Limbaugh) every day, just about."

The so-called Cable News Networks. An unpopular war is being fought in Iraq. The dollar is sinking like a cinder block. Oil is almost $100 a barrel. The housing market has collapsed. Chinese-made toys are poisoning our children. The Arctic is melting. The White House is lying. With all that is going on in the world, it would be somewhat of a stretch to call CNN, FOX Noise and MSNBC 'news' channels, since more airtime was seemingly devoted to Anna Nicole Smith's death, Paris Hilton's jail time, Britney Spears' trainwreck of a life and scores of that cable news staple - missing blondes than to much more deserving and important stories. And speaking of fluff news...

Ben Mankiewicz. Until a few months ago, Ben Mankiewicz served as Cenk Uyger's sidekick on Air America's The Young Turks. He currently has a classy gig hosting weekends on television's Turner Classic Movies channel. The Mankiewicz name is legendary in Hollywood and in the media. Grandfather Herman wrote the classic Citizen Kane. His great uncle Joseph was an Oscar-winning writer and director. Cousin Tom wrote quite a few James Bond flicks and was a go-to script doctor for many years. His father Frank was Robert F. Kennedy's press secretary. Brother Josh is an NBC News reporter. So with all of this going for him, why the hell is he currently slumming as a gossip monger on the icky TMZ TV show? Certainly he's better than this?

Brian Maloney. Yeah, you were waiting for this one, right? Yes, the Radio Tranquilizer will likely be a presence on a list o' turkeys for a long time coming. The question is, how does one narrow the antics of this walking trainwreck down to one offense against thinking people? Could it be that over the past year he's been completely neutered, selling out what little soul he had in order to settle in as semi-official ass-kisser to Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity? Or could it be that in almost all of his entries he goes on nasty, insane tirades about how nasty and insane liberals are? Well, just this morning, I noticed his latest entry, where he claims that liberals are waging a war against Thanksgiving. I think that's good enough reason for his inclusion here. That, and his blog is basically the equivalent of ten pounds of elephant shit in a five pound bag. Too bad he's not the Turkey of the Year. There were much fatter fowl this year.

With all the choices presented, the task of naming a Turkey of the Year was rather tough. The field was narrowed down to three finalists:

3. Clear Channel middle management. This one was too obvious. The San Antonio-based conglomerate has been trying to atone for their many crimes of years past, which rightly proved them to be a hardcore Republican outfit seeking to make radio even blander with cookie-cutter formats, programming on the cheap, overly partisan talk radio and a loss of local appeal in many of their markets. In recent years, they've tried to clean up their act, as they received some of the worst P.R. in the history of broadcasting, becoming a poster child for all that's wrong with big media.

In their defense, they've been trying to clean up their act. They've become more attentive in their local markets. And they also shook up their talk radio formats a bit, surprisingly flipping a few of their weaker AM stations to the progressive talk format. Unfortunately, this little bit of goodwill gave them a black eye when some of their management clusters began dropping the format, often in the sloppiest of ways.

While format decisions usually do not come from San Antonio, they are often delegated to regional managers. One regional manager ordered the format removed from stations in Madison, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Akron. A mass outcry and local staff revolt kept the format on WXXM in Madison, but in the other three markets, the stations flipped formats, and all three currently have only a small fraction of the listeners they had when they carried the format. WSAI in Cincinnati has already changed formats a second time since then.

And the regional manager who oversees San Diego ordered KLSD, which has seen both ratings and revenue success (some rumors claim $1.5 million annually) to become the market's third sports station. Company-owned stations in Boston, New Haven, All format flips were met with a large outcry, rallies, petitions and disdain, pissing away a large amount of goodwill that Clear Channel had accrued in the past few years.

2. John Simson. You may be asking yourself, who is John Simson? He's enough of a total turkey to have been oh-so-close to taking the top spot. This failed singer/songwriter-turned empty suit is currently the head of SoundExchange, an organization charged with collecting performance fees for the Recording Industry Association of America that supposedly are paid out to the artists who create the music. At least in theory. One would guess that more of this money goes into the gas tank of Simson's Mercedes than in the hands of the recording artists. And with gas prices on the rise, no wonder Simson and his music mafia goons tried to shake down internet radio. Earlier this year, SoundExchange threatened to impose a ridiculous royalty fee for webcasters, one that would be feasible only for the likes of Yahoo! and Microsoft. It would put smaller independent webcasters like Radio Paradise and Soma.FM out of business. And shut down unique services such as Pandora and AccuRadio. Hobby webcasters, who saw webcasting as a way to let their voices be heard without the massive expense of a terrestrial radio signal, would find the door slammed shut in their faces. To put it in layman's terms, establishing a webcast outlet that plays music is easier to launch than one that doesn't. In short, he tried to strong-arm one of the remaining hopes of independent broadcast media.

The recording industry has adapted poorly to the internet era. And they're so panicked by that realization that their attempts to fit in have been rather crass. Whether it be shutting down webcasting, screwing their artists, suing 85-year olds for allegedly downloading 2Pac songs off Kazaa and for passing off mindless junk like the Pussycat Dolls as 'music,' the RIAA has taken all the fun out of the medium. They claim that people who pay $12 bucks for a 14-song CD with only 3 or 4 good ones is not buying a CD, but merely purchasing the right to listen to it. No wonder why high-profile artists like Radiohead and Trent Reznor decided to skip the music cartel altogether and take their latest works directly to the fans via their websites.

Well, this little extortion scam backfired, as Simson and company eventually backed off his fiery rhetoric, particularly since Congress threatened to intervene. Now, they're shifting their war to terrestrial broadcasters, as they shake down the Clear Channels of the world for gas money. Ironic in that it's usually the record labels who bribe station programmers with money, prizes, vacations, hookers, blow, etc. to play their latest piece of shit release.

Now, I'm not saying the artists and the labels who distribute them should go pound sand. They have a right to be compensated for their work. But not at the expense of insulting and pissing off their fans. They simply need to stop looking at their customers as 'the enemy.' And they need to stop trying to shoot themselves in the foot.

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. The one entity who symbolizes everything that a turkey should be. The 2007 Turkey of the Year is...

FOX 'News' Channel. Who else? Let us count the ways...

1. Following the Congressional election last November, which saw Democrats winning huge, FOX Noise's VP of news (if such a thing as 'news' exists there) sent an internal memo to staffers and reporters, telling them how to do their job the right way. Included were instructions to hype how terrorists must be thrilled with the prospect of a Democrat-controlled Congress. Gee, no wonder why they began seeking out a "freelance fact writer" (sic) a few weeks later. In an unrelated incident around the same time, the network paid a $2 million ransom to free two of their reporters from a Palestinian terrorist group, which likely used the money to buy more weapons and "to hit the Zionists." And yes, paying ransom money to terrorist organizations is illegal U.S. anti-terrorist legislation.

2. As right-wingers were obviously jealous over the success of the satirical news shows from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central, FOX Nuisance decided the time was right to create their own 'fair and balanced' version. They hunted high and low for a right-wing producer and found one in Joel Surnow, creator of the hit FOX comedy 24, and Rush Limbaugh's Dominican Republic cruising buddy. After months of planning, casting and a horrifying pilot that envisioned Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter as President and Vice President, the 1/2Hour News Hour debuted on a Sunday night in February. Reviews were brutal for this laughless 'comedy' show. Still, FOX persevered, and produced enough episodes for an extended run, initially pulling in a few more viewers than their typical Sunday night fare, proving that they could actually find a hundred thousand people who will laugh at any joke that has the word "Hillary" in it. But ratings sank like a rock when the already stale jokes got even more so, and the network realized that Geraldo reruns were cheaper to produce and got roughly the same result. This turkey was was sent to the chopping block last August.

3. Fox Nuisance needed that 'fact writer' more than ever after some ridiculous sleight of hand on some of their on-screen graphics that, among other things, labeled disgraced Republicans such as Mark Foley as 'Democrats," and claimed Scooter Libby as 'not guilty.' Ironically, these exploits proved to be funnier than the ill-fated comedy show.

4. It seems that FOX News, while pandering hard to Bible-banging conservatives, works hard at attracting viewers the old fashioned way, with ample amounts of T & A, in essence becoming the news channel for sexually frustrated Republicans. Which would mean all of them. And they attack our morality. Sheesh!

5. Not content with whitewashing the so-called 'news' content on television, they were caught red-handed creating their own little fantasy world via Wikipedia. And if that doesn't work (and it didn't), they could always sic their own pit bulls on their alleged 'enemies.' Just so long as it isn't Geraldo Rivera.

6. There's also that ridiculous "War on Christmas" thing.

7. For all their antics, it was no surprise that the Democratic Party decided to finally give FOX the middle finger and cancel a presidential candidate debate that was scheduled to air last summer.

So, for Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, John Gibson and the usual gang of idiots, you all get top honors this year. Yes, for all you do, this Turkey's for you! FOX 'News' Channel, the 2007 Turkey of the Year.

Imus return now official

He's baaaaaack.

After six months in exile, Don Imus is returning to the airwaves, according to the New York Post. He is expected to announce by this afternoon or tomorrow morning that he has sealed a deal with Citadel Communications to host mornings on the company's flagship WABC/New York.

WABC will be Imus' only station for now, but a source involved with the deal said it is "more likely than not" that he will eventually be syndicated across ABC Radio's 22 stations. The same source also said that Imus signed a 5-year deal with Citadel that pays him between $5 million and $8 million annually.

The tentative plan is for him to return to the airwaves December 3.

Imus is also working on acquiring a separate television deal similar to the one he had with MSNBC. Among the television outlets talking with Imus is RFD-TV, a farming-focused satellite television network that nobody has ever heard of.

Imus was fired by CBS Radio back in April after being universally ostracized for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos."

Imus settles with CBS, plans radio return

The Associated Press reports that fired radio talker Don Imus has reached a settlement with CBS over his multimillion-dollar contract and is negotiating with WABC radio to resume his broadcasting career there, according to CBS and a person familiar with the negotiations.

Imus and CBS Radio reached a settlement that would pre-empt the dismissed radio personality's threatened $120 million breach-of-contract lawsuit, CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Tuesday.

No terms of the settlement were disclosed, although there may be a "non-disparaging" agreement that would prevent Imus from trashing his former employer on the air.

The settlement and possible comeback come more than four months after Imus created an uproar over racist and sexist comments he made. Imus, 66, was dismissed April 12 after describing the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio program, which was also simulcast on MSNBC.

Just before his dismissal, Imus signed a five-year, $40 million contract with CBS. Famed First Amendment lawyer Martin Garbus said in May that Imus planned to sue CBS for $120 million in unpaid salary and damages.

Don't look for Imus to return to WFAN. They just named former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason as the permanent morning replacement. And MSNBC seems to be content with whatever direction their morning show is going in. Right now, the hot rumor sees Imus going to WABC (770AM).

However, if the WABC deal falls through, at least his former boss Mel Karmazin would welcome him to Sirius.

The wingnut media meltdown

If you really desire to find out more proof that conservatives are thin-skinned hypocritical chickenshits, then by all means, read on.

In the aftermath of the whole Don Imus controversy, conservotalk radio goons have their undies in a bunch. They're scared their little party is going to come to a crashing halt. As playing the 'blame game' has always been their trademark, they're trotting out Hillary Clinton, George Soros, the mainstream media and all the other usual suspects. This time, though, the main target of their ire is media watchdog group Media Matters for America.

They claim MMfA has a hitlist. And they're frightened that MMfA won't stop until they take down every right-wing radio host with access to a microphone. In other words, they're scared shitless. They're also claiming that the group endlessly monitors right-wing radio and TV shows, scouring the broadcasts for even the slightest infraction, report on it, and then blitz the mainstream media with their findings. Well, no shit sherlock! They certainly don't hide that fact. And isn't that the same thing you guys do?

Several things are always evident during any wingnut smear campaign. The name of George Soros often pops up. He's their top bogeyman. In fact, they claim that he's funded virtually every anti-wingnut and anti-George W. Bush internet and media venture out there, from Air America to MMfA. Well, we all know he opted not to invest in Air America, and MMfA has claimed time and time again that they've never received funding from George Soros. The closest remote connection between the two is that a few groups that received donations from Soros in turn helped out MMfA, minus Soros' involvement. The only activist ventures Soros is known to have invested in are the Center for America Progress, MoveOn, America Coming Together and the Democracy Alliance, in addition to the usual political donations. Granted, Soros is an interesting character. I've always been somewhat suspicious of his involvement in Carlyle Group, perhaps the tightest of the tightest of private equity funds, one who's members consist of or have consisted of the Saudi Royal Family, James Baker III, former defense secretary Frank Carlucci, former Time Magazine editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine, the bin Laden family (yes, THAT bin Laden family) and, of course, both George Bushes. But again, what's the big deal about Soros anyway? Well, the wingnuts will never tell you he did anything shady, because, apart from some insider trading accusations, he hasn't really done anything evil like blow up buildings, fund Hezbollah, slaughter kittens or eat babies.

Fats Lowbrow er, Rush Limbaugh was among the first to play the Soros card. And for equal measure, he threw out the name of Hillary Clinton, almost as if sending a subconscious message to the nimble-minded Manchurian Candidates who listen to his show. According to Drugbo the Hut, MMfA is a "Stalinist" organization (doesn't Godwin's Law cover that tired commie cliche as an instant argument killer?) and part of the "Clinton machine agenda." He claimed that Imus was taken down by MMfA because he was critical of Hillary Clinton. "This is an election year. Clinton Inc., you get on their case, they're going to take you out." Limbaugh continued, "When I say the Clinton team, I include Media Matters for America, this supposed tax-exempt media watchdog group," adding, falsely, "They are George Soros-funded. This is clearly part of the 'Democrat' (sic) Party machine." Oxymoron had absolutely no shame in his lashing, claiming that Democrats are anti-Semitic, racist, totalitarian and are engaged in smear tactics.

Oh, and he even had the balls to use phrases like 'draft dodger' and "philanderer," evidentially with no sense of personal irony whatsoever. Well, at least he didn't say "drug addict." Irony is always in abundant supply on Limbaugh's show. He claims to take the high road, and that he is "not demeaning people on this program in any way." Yeah, right.

Michael Savage Weiner claims MMfA is "run by a homosexual activist who hates anybody in the media who does not kowtow to the homosexual agenda." He had previously referred to Media Matters as "a gay website that attacks me every day" and called Brock "a psychopath." All of this sounds pretty ironic for a guy who used to write overly friendly letters to and skinny-dipped with beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg. It really makes one wonder whether Weiner's, er Savage's reactionary radio shtick is all just an act.

One radio loudmouth who really is putting on an act is Tammy Bruce. The wingnut blogs are absolutely drooling over her appearance on Bill O'Reilly's show a few days ago on FOX 'News' where she claimed that there is a left-wing 'hit list' on conservojocks, and they're coming to put them all out of work. But let's call it like it is - Bruce is a fraud. She's not really a conservative. In fact, she started out doing liberal radio, until her job prospects started to look somewhat grim. Then, this pro-choice, pro-gay rights lesbian feminist shifted abruptly to the right, metamorphosing into some sort of 'conservative-but-not-really-conservative'. Or, as she describes herself, an "openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush progressive feminist." Her political orientation shifts back and forth with the breeze, adapting her outlook to whatever suits her arguments, employment prospects or FOX 'News' facetime. In other words, she flip-flops more than Mitt Romney. Newsflash to all wingnuts - she's a phony.

Now, is there a problem with this? I accept this as fact in the radio industry. Let's be real here - it's all show business anyway. Talk radio at times seems no different than professional wrestling, ridiculous braggadocio and all. This is commonly referred to in the wrestling business by terms such as 'work' or 'kayfabe.' Where two menacing thugs go out and beat the living shit out of each other, steal each others' girlfriends and blow up each others' cars on TV every week, yet go out for beers and share steroid needles after the show is over. Talk radio is similar, except for the exploding cars and physical violence. Bruce is all kayfabe. When Limbaugh exploded on the national radio scene, I thought the same, like he's doing a parody of a conservative moron. And to be honest, I thought he was pretty good at it. Over time, I think he started believing his own bullshit, thanks to fame and all that money. At least the money his three ex-wives haven't taken. Same with Sean Hannity, who often sounds like he's reading straight from the RNC faxes. Most likely, these guys are probably putting on an act to some degree, call it 'whoring for dollars.' The sad reality is that, unlike wrestling which we all know is a put-on, radio listeners actually think all of what these folks say is legit.

And these types of conservative gasbags, in increasingly widespread delusions of paranoia, are once again playing the victim, claiming that Hillary, Soros, the media (which they are a part of anyway) and organizations like MMfA are out to squash them like the bugs they are. What they fail to mention is that MMfA wasn't even there first. Actually, they got the idea from the wingnuts themselves. James Dobson and his righteous ilk have been attacking the media and the entertainment industry for decades. Hotheaded wingnut Brent Bozell was next in 1987 with his Media Research Center (and later, sister blog NewsBusters). And there's more where that came from, in the form of 'Accuracy' in Media. Sure, they claim to be neutral, but they're always out front in claiming liberal media bias, while rarely attacking conservatives. And guess what? All of these groups do the exact same thing that they accuse MMfA of doing. Pot, say hello to kettle. But hey, it's all a 'work' anyway, right? Just like pro wrestling.

And as far as deep-pocketed political sugar daddies go, Soros is a Johnny-come-lately to the party. Conservatives and Republican'ts for years have been relying on eccentric moneymen to help squash anyone who stands in their way. Ever hear of Richard Mellon Scaife? This trust fund baby used some of his $1 billion inheritance to lash out at all things non-conservative. He made borderline illegal contributions to Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. He sent money to right-wing think tanks and political action committees. He bought a little newspaper in the Pittsburgh suburbs and turned it into an ultra-conservative attack rag. He threw money at magazines like the American Spectator, which in turn funded the Arkansas Project, a nefarious group whose sole purpose from the early 1990s onward was to dig up as much dirt on Bill Clinton as humanly possible. Scaife even funded this shady venture directly, and in many ways oversaw it. Ironically, one key journalist used in the smear campaign was none other than then-American Spectator writer David Brock, who later renounced his sordid muckraking past and flipped to the other side, founding MMfA. In essence, here was Scaife, a goofy billionaire who, with a right-wing group, was trying to overthrow the presidency. Hey, isn't that treason? Funny we don't hear Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Savage and Bruce talk about this crazy rich guy trying to silence the opposition. But I guess it would be a bit difficult to work that into a conversation on a daily three hour program, right? Oh, and Scaife himself directly sent money to the Media Research Center, further making this whole Soros thing moot.

Want more? Well, there's more where Scaife came from. Perhaps the grandaddy of them all is Sun Myung Moon, Korean leader of the Unification Church, an organization considered by many to be a high-powered cult. When authorities started to come down on his massive financial empire in the 1970s for fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion offenses, Moon sought to make some high-powered friends. He aligned himself with Republicans such as Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In the ultimate suck-up gesture to the GOP, he gave them their own newspaper, the Washington Times, on which he has spent over a billion dollars on over the past two decades without ever seeing a profit. Not to worry, since he can always bilk more out of his followers anyway. Ironically, his efforts have been defended in the past by the ACLU, another frequent target of the conservative movement.

And, need I mention Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch, who went down the same media road as Moon, minus the cult and the lawbreaking? We're all too familiar with that story, and he's kind of a lightweight compared to some of these other characters.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could mention that the conservative movement has always been propped up by generous sugardaddies like Richard DeVos, founder of the Amway pyramid scheme, and countless others including many, many oil companies, media owners and defense contractors. But this article is getting way too long and off-track, so it's best that it come to a close.

So, wingnuts can go ahead and attack MMfA, Soros, Hillary, the media and all their other usual punching bags. But before they do, perhaps it's best that they take a good, hard look in the mirror at themselves and the people they're talking to. Their ideals are propped up by the billions of dollars coming from a traitor, a felonious Korean cult leader and a pyramid scheme ripoff artist. They'll realize that they're not so high and mighty after all. It's just them whining and ranting like the conservative crybabies they are.

Don Imus' "Wardrobe Malfunction"

Well, it happened.

Don Imus is history. Effective immediately. Adios alligator face!

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

As I pointed out yesterday, this wasn't the first time Imus metamorphosed into David Duke over the airwaves. But it certainly turned out to be the last.

“From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent,” said CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, in announcing the decision. “Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society – all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many emails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies.”

So why now? And as I've asked before, why not anyone else? Not that I'll mourn Imus' radio career. Actually, I don't really care for him. But Premiere Radio certainly didn't flinch when Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck repeatedly said much worse. TRN didn't with Michael Savage (though MSNBC, to their credit, did). They also signed Mancow last year, who has a long history of this sort of thing. And Jones Radio Networks didn't can Neal Boortz when he went after Cynthia McKinney with some of the most mean-spirited, racist and sexist rhetoric to ever go over a radio microphone. Will we see a changing of the tide? It should be interesting to see these right-wing blowhards shaking in their shoes over the next few weeks. Looks like the beasts have been tamed.

It's funny that the media has made little mention of this tidbit. As far as I know, the only TV newsperson to do it was MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on last night's "Countdown" broadcast, grilling Jesse Jackson about this very thing. And the conservative commentators? Yeah, right! FOX 'News' was calling for Imus' head earlier in the week, while they have and still give ample face time to the vile rhetoric of Ann Coulter and her ilk. And for a real laugh, Brian Maloney, the Radio Tranquilizer, took a page right out of the FOX playbook, trying to paint Imus as a liberal, and whining and complaining in his usual candyass conservative way about how those evil lefties are trying to paint him as a conservative. Talk about ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag! Well, as I said yesterday, Imus is certainly neither. He's not a conservative, and he's certainly not a liberal. He's a narcissist. It's all about him. The only side he's chosen is his own. I really don't understand people, on both the left and the right, who feel anyone has to be one or the other. Food for thought - most people in this country are in the middle.

So anyways, what we are seeing now resembles a repeat of that whole 2004 Super Bowl "Wardrobe Malfunction" fiasco. As you may recall, the media flipped out over that one, since the sight of a female breast must obviously mean the decline of Western Civilization as we know it. The FCC went on the warpath after that one, obviously smelling some potentially huge revenues that could be obtained by suing the crap out of the giant media conglomerates. More importantly, the aforementioned companies went into panic mode. Clear Channel dropped Howard Stern from all of their owned stations that were airing him. They quickly canned their own in-house shock jock, Bubba The Love Sponge. And the House of Representatives got in on the act, raising FCC fines for these kinds of infractions from $27,500 all the way up to $500,000 per violation. Ouch! All this for flashing a little tit during a game paid for by various commercials featuring an assortment of magic penis potions, a crotch-biting dog and a farting horse. Oh, and CBS that year rejected ads from MoveOn.org and PETA based on content. Go figure.

So, will this whole Imus bruhaha garner the same fallout? Will the FCC start going after Limbaugh' handlers? Will heads roll at the media conglomerates? Will Congress start lashing out at this stuff? Well, we shall see. And as I hinted at yesterday, perhaps if we just choose to ignore all these assclowns, they'll all just slink away to the sewers from which they were spawned.

But regardless, Janet Jackson's tits are far, far, far less offensive than anything that ever came out of Don Imus' mouth.

The last blogger on Earth to write about Don Imus

Okay, I'll start things off by stating the obvious.

Don Imus is an asshole.

There, I said it. Okay, now we can proceed.

Actually, I didn't even really have the desire to make mention of this whole sordid affair. It's not that what Imus said about collegiate womens' basketball players wasn't appalling (it was). It's just that I really don't care. Let's face it, after four decades on the air, any casual listener (and non-listener) knows that Imus is a grouchy curmudgeon. He hates everyone. Liberals and conservatives. Democrats and Republicans. He hates 'em all. And for some strange reason, there lies his appeal to his listeners.

I've never met the guy. Nor do I have a desire to. I did know someone who has. From the description she gave, he basically sounds like a cruel, hostile, evil man. And the phony cowboy gimmick doesn't make him any more warm and fuzzy.

For anyone reading this that has been living under a rock for the past week or so, Imus got himself into some pretty hot water during an on-air exchange last week with his fill-in sports guy, Sid Rosenberg and executive producer Bernard McGuirk. In the conversation, they were talking womens' college basketball. Imus referred to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's," and that they looked like the players from the Toronto Raptors. Nice. The fun didn't stop there, since this was followed by his sports guy working in a reference to last week's Rutgers-Tennessee women's NCAA final, by way of a reference to a Spike Lee flick that was probably far from what Lee intended. Of course, this kind of light banter is nothing new to Imus in the Morning. He once referred to PBS correspondent Gwen Ifill as a "cleaning lady." A few years back, Rosenberg called Venus Williams an "animal," and said that one would stand a better chance of seeing a layout of her and her sister Serena in National Geographic rather than Playboy. Okay, so these guys have some issues that need addressing.

And then came the shitstorm. Unlike previous times, when Imus was so confident in his job security that he could get away with saying just about anything, they all turned on him. His reliable guests, often consisting of a who's who of the D.C. beltway and national media, bailed. Advertisers did as well. Could it be that he just went to far? Or that we just all needed a new controversy to wrap our lazy minds around? Now that we know who Anna Nicole's baby's daddy is, we can move on to scrounge up a new scandal du jour. Well, timing sucks. Imus is in trouble.

Of course, following every boneheaded public racist gaffe, from Jimmy the Greek to Mel Gibson to Michael Richards, comes the inevitable apology circuit. First stop was the radio show of Al Sharpton, one who hardly ever misses a scandal involving race. Now, for someone with the gargantuan ego that Imus possesses to stoop so low as to grovel on someone else's radio show, especially Al Sharpton's, well, that says a lot. For someone as self-absorbed as Imus to resort to addressing Sharpton as "yes, sir," well, you know he must be sweating (here's the audio). And after hearing Sharpton's banter, I thought perhaps Air America hired the wrong guy to replace Sam Seder.

Following Sharpton's show, Imus made the rounds of the news channels, the Today Show, and anyone else with a few cameras and a dedicated cable outlet. Unfortunately, this was too much controversy for his handlers. CBS, which distributes the radio show through their Westwood One syndication arm and MSNBC, which airs the video feed, gave him a two week involuntary vacation starting next Monday. MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann said on his ESPN Radio show that he doubts his network will welcome Imus back. (UPDATE: This afternoon, MSNBC gave Imus the boot).

Essentially, this could be seen as proof that karma does indeed exist. Just like the sleazy Joe Francis (the "Girls Gone Wild" guy), who will hopefully have done to him behind bars what he has done to various young women over the past few years, Imus has basically gotten his comeuppance.

So, should Imus be fired once and for all? Who knows? Often, these scandals disappear after a short time, once another scandal comes around that our alleged mainstream media decides to pound into the susceptible minds of America. But "nappy headed hos" is not the first instance of fiery racist rhetoric or hostile audio nasties blasted out over the airwaves of our great country. Lots more where that came from. For example:

"(Cynthia McKinney) looks like ghetto trash. Get a braider over there ... quick!"

Oh wait, that was Neal Boortz who said that.

Or, "You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray . We miss you, James. Godspeed."

Oops, sorry. That was Rush Limbaugh.

"...Slavery built the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."

My bad. Limbaugh again.

"Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

Yep. Limbaugh again.

"You open the door to them (immigrants), and the next thing you know, they are defecating on your country and breeding out of control."

Threw you all a curveball. That was Michael Savage who said that.

"(If) you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down... (aborting all African-American babies) would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do.. but the crime rate would go down"

That was Salem morning guy Bill Bennett.

Oh, and don't get me started on Glen Beck and Ann Coulter. I'm trying to keep this article short.

So, for wingnuts who want Imus' head chopped off, and say that 'well, if a conservative talk radio guy said what Imus did, they'd be fired.' Sorry, doesn't fly here. All those guys mentioned above are still working and flourishing. Am I saying Imus gets a pass because of all those other loud mouthed idiots? Of course not. Am I saying that I have heard so much of this trash over the years that I've perhaps become totally immune to it all and don't really give a shit about these people anymore? I'd say yes.

There are a lot of problems in the world today. Iran and their dimwitted dictator are on the verge of starting a war with somebody, anybody. Just this morning I paid roughly $0.70 a gallon more for gas than I did several months ago. And I have to repeatedly check an online list to find out what kind of food I can buy for my cats and dog, since some cheap-assed corporations would rather kill our pets than spend money on quality ingredients. So, do I really care about some narcissistic old media goons, totally removed from the entire outside world, who take limousines to work and spout hateful rhetoric over the airwaves? Sorry, I really don't anymore.

Oh, but what's to become of Dannielynn Smith?