Don Imus gave the Fox Business Network the boost it wanted in his first week on the air.
The Imus show, a simulcast of the radio program heard on WABC (770 AM), averaged 148,000 viewers a day for the first week, which began Oct. 5.
That put Fox Business a few thousand viewers ahead of CNBC for the first time since FBN went on the air two years ago. People in the industry, however, cautioned that Imus and CNBC's morning "Squawk Box" tap different audiences and are not really in direct competition.
This is probably true. This is just another apples and oranges kind of thing.
But who would have guessed it? Imus makes a comeback after being branded a racist by fine upstanding citizen activists like Rev. Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. LLC ..... and other loosely affiliated race-baiting organizations.
Was his comment insensitive? Was it offensive? Probably both.
Imus offends everyone. He pisses everyone off because his ratings have always been about provocative talk and being a jerk. In the midst of it all, it has paid his bills.
But because Bro. Sharpton made it about being racist, the man should be ruined if you ask some people. And yet....it hasn't.
But the point I want to make here is much larger than Imus. Imus may only be the forerunner to bigger things. FBN will soon be ready to exert some real pressure on CNBC, when John Stossel comes over from ABC.
Over the years, Mr. Stossel has experienced an epiphany of sorts by embracing and advocating free market answers, as viable solutions to the economic ills the nation is currently facing. Whereas he once thought bigger government to be a viable solution, he began to see that when the government put forth its hand to heal something, they just made it sicker.
I am quite sure that Stossel will feel more artistic and editorial freedom with his new employers and would think he'll make an immediate impact--if they market him well. After the initial curiosity period, it will be up to him to be intriguing enough to bring in more viewers along the way and the hold the ones he has. Knowing how well he has done on past projects for ABC, I am persuaded to think he will up to the task.
I wonder.
When is Santelli's contract up?
2 comments:
Watch what happens. MSNBC had him on the air and escaped unscathed from his last blow-up. FBN will get ripped for having him on the air.
Maybe so, Chuck. Eventually.
But right now, the FOX target seems to be Beck. From the Central Committee's point of view, he has to be stopped before he ruins their little ruse.
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