James Brady writes in Forbes: Following a six-month exile, Don Imus came back on the air last December over WABC radio in New York and a scatter of other stations, and telecast over a jury-rigged television setup anchored by the rural-based RFD-TV. Since he'd been sacked last April by Viacom, CBS, WFAN radio, MSNBC and everybody but the Boy Scouts of America, the National Rifle Association and The Little Sisters of the Poor, there was much drama about his return: yelps of outrage, cheers from Imus cultists, a few shrugs of disinterest and some genuine puzzlement.
Brady also reports:
Last Friday, I called WABC radio honcho Phil Boyce in Manhattan to get some specifics. "We've got him on about 40 stations now," said Boyce. "The old show (the one based on WFAN) claimed about 62, but we've only been able to confirm 47. So we're getting close to level. New stations are in D.C., and Atlanta, both of them FM stations we own, and an FM in Boston and stations in Providence and Tampa. Ratings from February are good. In the 12-plus category, he's No. 3 in morning drive, behind WINS at 6.8 and ZOO100 at 5.7, with Imus in the Morning at 5.6."
Being a troublemaker, I asked about WFAN, Imus' old station. In those ratings that placed Imus at No. 3, WFAN's new morning drive team was in 19th place in the count at a 2.3, Boyce noted with what I suspect was some pleasure. In another rating system based on average quarter-hour listenership, Imus scored 105,700, while WFAN had only 44,000. "We're trending up," concluded Boyce.
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