Imus Is Dead

Since we're coming off Christmas, I shall adapt a line from A Christmas Carol: "Imus was dead. Dead as a doornail."

Don Imus was a morning radio host in NYC, a so-called "shock jock", for almost 50 years. As I've blogged about before, he was awful on the air and apparently in life too. His ratings were bad. His health was bad. His humor was really bad -- offensive without being thought-provoking, hateful just for the sake of it, childish in its sophistication, a classic example of a privileged rich white man who punched down from a position of safety, an overgrown school-yard bully.

He was often compared to, and was a rival to, Howard Stern. But whereas Howard was and is a brilliant social satirist, a person whose words and humor always have a greater point, a man who makes fun of himself more than anyone else, Imus was empty, mean-spirited Id, attacking wildly and wantonly at anyone weaker than him. 

Just awful.

That said, in a perverse way, one has to admire his life and career, not for quality but quantity. Despite his lack of talent and ratings, despite his addiction problems and stormy personal life, despite the fact that everyone hated him, he managed -- someway, somehow -- to stay on the air in morning radio in NYC for nearly half a century.

That is incredible just unto itself.

As I age, I realize that the greatest achievement in life isn't money or fame or any of the classic monikers of success -- it's just being able to survive, holding on, going on, keeping on, living and then living some more, working and then working some more, and on and on and on. Someday, of course, careers and lives will end -- as they did for Imus -- but he managed to muddle through much longer than either his talent, ratings, or health would have otherwise predicted.

We should all be so lucky. 

Imus is, to me, a dual role model -- the kind of person I don't ever want to be (he was a bad guy and I wanna be a good guy) but also the kind of person I desperately want to be -- a survivor who keeps going until the bitter end.

Don Imus Retires

Actually, he's been fired. 

The longtime morning radio host has been told that his contract on WABC 77 AM radio won't be renewed. On March 29, according to his Twitter, "the party's over." 

Some party. The Imus show is "un-listenable." Imus is barely audible, his blithers on about nonsense, he's well-known to be a racist, and he's ... just ... so ... boring. College radio is more entertaining. As his rival Howard Stern once said, "You can't listen to it! I defy you!" 

The most amazing thing is that someone so untalented lasted so long on the number one radio market in the country. How he did it I don't know. We should all be so lucky. 

This is truly a great city. 

The Last Imus Show

Today was Don Imus's final show.

After almost 50 years on NYC radio he turned off the mike for good. 

You can listen to the very last few minutes of his career here. 

The Big Takeover

The current financial crises is wrecking havoc on American lives and finances. The pain we New Yorkers are feeling is especially acute, as the unemployment rate here clearly show. City Jobless Rate Takes Highest-Ever One-Month Leap

Nasty times. But how did it happen? The worst part about this whole thing is that so many of us, yours truly included, don't understand how this economic/financial crises cum depression came to be! How did this happen? What happened? How is it that no one saw it coming? What's this all about?

Matt Taibbi rides to the rescue. The best reporter working in America today, Tabbi's latest Rolling Stone article The Big Takeover explains exactly how this economic tragedy came to be. As always, the writing is sharp, funny, and dead-on -- and Tabbi actually makes it so that a big dope like me can understand the various machinations, hubris, and just plain ol' stupidity that led to disaster.

This article has been getting a lot of attention lately (Tabbi's been getting interviewed all over the place about it and Don Imus even said it deserves a Pulitzer). Mr NYC has been a huge fan of Matt Taibbi's for a long time and even bumped into him last year (which you can read about here).

SOUPY SALES: Green Pieces of Paper

Last week a New York legend, comedian Soupy Sales, died at age 83. One of the last of the great comedians in the mold of Jack Benny and the precursor to younger comics like Jerry Seinfeld, Soupy was a one of the pioneers of observational humor, someone who could take any situation and make it hilarious.

Soupy gained the most fame for a children's show he hosted here in NYC during the 1960s. On that show, he performed a song called "The Mouse" that was a riff on songs like "The Twist" and silliness like that which was popular at the time.

Later on, Soupy Sales hosted a radio show here on the old WNBC 660 AM. He did the afternoon shift, right after Don Imus and right before Howard Stern. Can you imagine that?

In this bit from a few years ago, Soupy tells the infamous story of something he did on the air on New Year's Night 1965. This has gone down as one of the greatest moments in TV history.

RIP Soupy. You'll be missed.

Chat of the Town

A couple of very random and totally unrelated things, one quite plebian, the other quite haute culture. I will thank the New Yorker for not suing me for copyright infringement - I have simply "adapted" one of their department names for my subject line, not stolen it out right. Also, if you want to hear more about the most shocking news story in America right now -- the heretofore unknown fact that Don Imus is an offensive schnook -- please go elsewhere.

And now ... the rest of the story (thank Mr. Harvey):

This past week in New York, for the fourth time in about as many decades, ground was broken on the East Side of Manhattan for the Second Avenue subway. This is the Great White Whale of NYC, something the city has always been chasing but never quite catching. Basically, it is a new subway line that will run up and down the far East Side of Manhattan. This development is long, long, long overdue and will make getting in and out of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queen a whole lot easier. It will also be, one hopes, the latest, more technologically sophisticated subway route in town. Thanks for Congresswoman Maloney and all the other NYC leaders who never gave up on on this project. Hopefully our state's new governor, the Steamroller himself Mr Spitzer, will keep his eye on the ball and make sure the financing doesn't dry up and the shovels remain active. If not, let's sign a petition to have Mayor Bloomberg pay for it.

Now, onto my other subject: I quite enjoy reading the New York Observer, which is probably one of the best publications "about" NYC available. (If Mr New York could mutate into a weekly newspaper somehow, it would be a lot like the Observer). Anyway, NYC is one of the last places on earth that still has "socialites", ladies born or married to amazing wealth who make news by where they shop and eat lunch. I will not use the P word here to describe the kind of socialite that makes people hate socialites. Instead, I will direct you to the Observer piece about one Ms. Arden Wohl, an interesting socialite who seems to have a social conscience and who uses all of that money and free time to do good. I will note summarize the story here, instead please check it out yourself at

http://www.observer.com/20070416/20070416_Spencer_Morgan_pageone_observatory.asp.

Perhaps some of my faithful readers (one or both of you) could educate me about socialites by answering the following questions:

1. How much money does the socialites family have to have?
2. Must the socialite or her family have a second home or private jet?
3. Does education matter at all?
4. What exactly are the duties and functions that a wealthy woman must perform in order to be considered a socialite?
5. Can anyone really be a socialite if they do not appear frequently in the media?

Please tell me!

All for now.

Interview: Allan Sniffen of the New York Radio Message Board

Long before social media conquered the Internet -- and our world -- message boards were the original go-to-places for people to debate and give their opinions on various issues online. Most of these message boards have vanished but one is still going strong – the New York Radio Message Board founded by Allan Sniffen. 

The NYRMB has faithfully tracked the ups-and-downs, and unending changes, of the NYC radio business since 1996. I discovered the message board in 2002/2003 in the aftermath of the Opie and Anthony St. Patrick’s debacle that generated headlines about how far “shock radio” would go to cross lines of decency in pursuit of ratings. What I also discovered about the message board were how many people in the radio business posted to it, and how informative and intelligent most of the discussions were. This was and remains all due to Allan’s diligent oversight and curation of the message board, -- keeping it a smart and civil platform for radio professionals and fans to congregate. 

Allan was kind enough to answer Mr. NYC questions about the NYRMB and the evolution of music and talk radio in NYC in the 21st century. And he also tells us what made him a lifelong radio fan – and how, in radio, talent is everything. 

Tell us briefly about the history of the NYRMB and what inspired you to create it?

I started the Musicradio WABC web site in 1996. I thought it would be interesting to have visitors comment on that era of WABC so I created the message board in 1997. After a few weeks it was obvious that there was only so much to discuss about a radio station that had changed its format years earlier so I decided to shift the focus to current radio topics. It needed to have a catalyst to prod response so that was the role I took on. 

Why do you think the board has lasted for as long as it has? What has made so many people in the NYC radio business flock to it for so many years? 

My conception for the NYRMB is for educated and informed commentary. I don't want poorly written, cheap shots under phony names. I have always encouraged quality over quantity of both posts and posters. 

What topics and/or radio personalities generate the most discussion -- and controversy -- on the board?

The more provocative and polarizing a personality, the more response. Bob Grant. Opie and Anthony. Rush Limbaugh. Howard Stern. They all invite (or invited) controversy so listeners tend to either love them or hate them. Consequently, they make good board topics. Radio station format changes also tend to inspire commentary especially if former formats were once very popular. WNEW-FM dropping rock. WCBS-FM becoming Jack. WRKS ("Kiss-FM") abandoning its urban format. WPLJ giving up its legacy. 

What are some of the biggest NYC radio stories it has covered since it came into being?

WNEW-FM dropping its rock format (1999), Opie and Anthony's St. Patrick’s fiasco (2003), WCBS-FM becoming Jack (2005) and returning to "Greatest Hits (2007), media consolidation (over the last two decades), lack of a country music station (up until 2012), retirements of great Top 40 DJ's (Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Dan Daniel and others), WPLJ dropping its heritage (last year). 

How has media consolidation and technology (i.e. streaming and podcasting) changed the music and talk radio landscape? 

Media Consolidation: We now have clusters of stations competing with other clusters (as with iHeart Media competing against Entercom). It used to be a single station verses other single stations. Today, you don't pick a format in a vacuum. You have to consider how it fits into your cluster and how it will compete against the other corporations' clusters. Plus, obviously, consolidation has eliminated many, many jobs. 

New Technology: 

Music formats: Streaming from Pandora, Spotify and Apple have created tremendous competition to conventional music radio. If the only thing a listener wants is his or her favorite songs, new technology is a better alternative. It can be better tailored to each listener and has no commercials. 

Talk formats: There are so many podcasts that the sheer number of alternatives has splintered off many talk radio listeners. That's especially true for young listeners. Plus radio hasn't significantly updated the talk format. It's mostly the same as it was 25 years ago on low quality sounding AM. 

In the years since the message board started, how has the radio business in NYC changed in your observation and opinion? 

Consolidation changed everything. There are fewer and fewer jobs that pay less and less money. Radio is billing only about 30% of what it used to. Any business that has a drop like that must reduce costs. Listeners frequently don't understand that and are quick to condemn their local station. Unfortunately it's a much bigger problem than a single station or manager. That said, all is not lost for conventional radio. It's not going anywhere because it has its own advantages. It's easy to receive (radios that don't drop out and no data fees). It reaches lots of people quickly and in real time. It can provide a human connection. The business of radio needs to remember those assets and use them. 

In the era of Fox News and numerous conservative web sites, is right-wing talk radio still as relevant as it used to be? Also, how will it survive with an aging and less commercially desirable demographic -- or is it more resilient than people might imagine?

Right wing talk radio has done well because it's entertaining. It's not about politics. New York City is politically liberal yet it has spawned many successful conservative talk show hosts (Bob Grant, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and more). Fox News learned that from the talk radio format. Make it entertaining and people will listen (or watch).

The problem with today's talk radio format is that it's mostly on AM and has stagnated over the last 25 years because it can't appeal to younger listeners with its poor sound quality. AM can't program "younger". The result is the same people have kept the same jobs for much longer than they would have in previous eras when they would have aged out. Media prefers younger listeners because advertisers will pay more for them. Since AM is stuck with older listeners for technical reasons the talk radio format has stayed with the same hosts for decades. That will only work until everyone, listeners and hosts, get too old. AM radio's future is not a bright one. 

It seems like shock jocks have faded into history. Opie and Anthony are no more. Don Imus is dead. Howard Stern has been on satellite for almost 15 years and is nowhere near as outrageous as he used to be. What do you think happened? 

Younger talent is not getting much opportunity on radio. The business won't pay or encourage them. At the same time, new media has spawned many podcast and streaming stars. A few have broken out as with Ben Shapiro but even he relies more on his podcast base than on his AM radio listeners. Traditional radio doesn't want to take a chance. Howard Stern cost Infinity/CBS-Radio (now Entercom) a fortune to both pay and defend. It was worth it on a business basis in the '80's and '90's but radio is not going to make that kind of investment today. Too expensive and too risky. 

What made you fall in love with radio and who are some of your favorite radio personalities? 

For me, the most fun radio ever was Top 40 radio of the sixties and seventies. Dan Ingram is my obviously my favorite but I liked almost everyone from that era on WABC, WMCA, WPLJ, WOR-FM, 99X (and others). Not all were from New York. John Landecker at WLS/Chicago. The "Real" Don Steele at KHJ/Los Angeles. The great Top 40 DJ's could generate excitement and enthusiasm over a 10 second song intro and then come back and do it again 2 minutes later. It sounded like fun because it was in real time, unscripted and fast paced. I try to create that feeling on my Rewound Radio live shows. 

Finally, what makes NYC radio so endlessly fascinating? 

Change and evaluating what works and what doesn't. Great radio ideas can fail for one of two reasons. Was the concept a bad idea or was it a good idea that was executed poorly? Figuring out which is like evaluating a baseball team and its players. That said... radio is less interesting than it used to be. It's becoming more and more homogenized with managers taking fewer and fewer risks. Personality radio is less in both quantity and quality on almost all formats. Anyone can play music or read a political press release. The talent is surrounding those basics with entertainment. 

Thanks Allan!