Strong stuff early this morning from WFAN’s Richard Neer, grizzled veteran of the drive time morning wars himself, as those who recall his Springsteen stalking from the mid ’80’s can attest. While hopeful for an end to the “put down culture” in radio (good luck), Neer was anything but an Imus apologist, correctly surmising that not only had the decrepit hate fucker chosen to pick on the disenfranchised in the ugliest of manners, but this was hardly a first, second or even third time offense.
That said, Neer (above) did wonder aloud, how his parent companies, could sleep at night having pulled the plug on Imus in the midst of his annual fund raiser for children’s charities. “Maybe I’ve got a pink slip coming,” mused Neer, “but why did they wait 8 days to make a decision and then fire him in the middle of the Radiothon? Let him finish out the week…not for Imus, but for the kids.”
I’ve had the misfortune of listening to a ton of WFAN and WEEI programing whilst traveling between Boston and New York the past 3 days, and if I hear one more “what about hip-hop?” or “what about hymietown?” comment, I’m probably gonna shoot the radio. Apples and oranges doesn’t even begin to cover it. If you’re dopey enough to make Imus a martyr for free speech, please knock yourself out. And by that, I mean really, grab a ball-peen hammer and go to work on your own cranium, ’cause you’ve not got much else to save. While inconsiderate, offensive speech is just as worthy of protection as any other, there’s nothing “free” about a radio announcer who is being paid tens of millions of dollars by two major corporations for his ability to shift products for other major corporations. Once Imus had outlived his usefulness to those parties, they chose to part ways with stunning swiftness. As they often do for persons far less notorious.