As you can see here, I finally, and probably belatedly, came around to the idea that Don Imus will be not be returning to WFAN, and now have shared that conclusion with readers.
This has been a difficult, frustrating story to deal with, in part because of the highly sensitive issues involved, from internal politics at the company and station involved to the high-stakes legal/financial implications to the raw emotions on both sides regarding Imus from his detractors and supporters.
I even made at least one Journalism 101 error of a sort I haven't committed since I was writing for The Rag at Northport High School in the late 1970s. For that, I apologize.
But I got caught up in the intense interest level in this story on the part of readers and tried my best to serve them/you.
Anyway, I'm done now. Imus will surface somewhere, but he's not even a sports guy so I'm assuming he's not in my jurisdiction and someone in our non-sports entertainment department will take care of this.
I'll keep an eye on the Boomer Esiason situation because he is a sports guy, and especially what WFAN does in hiring his supporting cast. With the right team, Esiason will do fine on the radio. I just hope he has a very good alarm clock.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
UPDATE/CLARIFICATION BEFORE ANY MORE COMMENTERS TAKE ME TO TASK, WHICH OF COURSE IS YOUR RIGHT: THE PRIMARY REASON I AM REMOVING MYSELF FROM THE IMUS STORY IS NOT BECAUSE I'M QUITTING, IT'S BECAUSE NOW THAT I'VE ESTABLISHED HE'S NOT COMING TO WFAN, HIS STORY NO LONGER IS MY JOB. I AM SUPPOSED TO COVER SPORTS MEDIA/BUSINESS, WHICH INCLUDES WFAN, OBVIOUSLY. NOT A NON-SPORTS SHOW ON WOR . . . OR WHEREVER HE LANDS. LIKE I SAID, THOUGH, FEEL FREE TO KEEP THE COMMENTS COMING. I CAN TAKE IT!
Comments (55)
Neil, why have you given up and reached the conclusion he won't be returning to the fan?
I cannot believe Senor Best has given up.
They need to put Imus back. What he said was stupid but so what.
Bye, Neil. It's too bad you had to write such a self-absorbed post though. This isn't about you but how Don Imus, Bernard and millions of fans were all wronged because of political correctness. He'll be back better than ever and not at that dive, WFAN. I feel sorry for the employees there because they're all done in the big leagues.
Thanks, Neil. I hope you weren't forced but it was your decision to give up on the story.
Don Imus will be back and bigger and better than ever. WFAN was always a bad idea because it's a dinky station now. I hope Charles McCord can get out of there and join Imus.
Unlike Neil to be so snippy. We've supported this blog.
Neil is correct. It is over for WFAN. I think he will have an independently syndicated radio show that shields him from being fired by stupid radio execuatives.
Yeah, who knew he was a quitter?
The rumors are Imus is coming back to a bigger platform which I hope is true because WFAN is nothing w/out being syndicated to Boston and other cities. I agree about the employees there and how it'll never be anything more now than a small station in Queens.
I'm attempting to listen to WFAN - ugh. Sorry, Charles.
There's a guy saying Barry Bonds is being attacked because of racism and if he wasn't black nobody would care that he's a cheater. How is reporting about Barry Bonds taking steriods racist? You know this guy is happy Imus and Bernie is gone. It just turned it off and I'm all done with FAN.
He's happy Imus and Bernie ARE gone. I hate typos, sorry. The whole conversation was ridiculous and Imus would have called this guy on it but Carlin just bumbles along.
I can't believe Neil has abandoned us and this story like this. Not right. And then he gets condescending with us and brushes us away. Not right.
He said previously that he was gonna follow this story to the end and now this. Not right. Imus coverage has caused this blog to become very popular and now he doesn't need us anymore it seems.
Reporters don't just give up on stories. To quote Warner Wolf from his Imus days, "if you had Best and following through, you lost!!" We need to know whats going on with Imus and this is just wrong whats going down here.
Neil gets mean with his readers and tosses Imus to the curb. Great day.
Imus has been part of a sports station for 20 years. Where he winds up is a sports media story as he's been on sports radio for 2 decades. This falls perfectly into your job responsibilities. (guy on sports radio leaves sports station, where is he gonna go).Hello????
Reporters follow through and this guy gets mean with us and doesn't finish the job. Not right. Ya still have mccord, rafino, carlin all still on 66am. What about them??? Finish your work dude.
Imus has been part of the sports station for years. Finish the story.
Imus carried WFAN and sports were an integral part of his show. How is this not a sports/media story? Pretty lame excuse.
You people are pathetic
I've been trying to listen to Fan during my commute but it's not very good. Too bad Imus is gone for them but he'll be back soon from what I hear. Now he'll be able to go ahead and file his lawsuit and move on somewhere with much better exposure than WFAN.
Yikes! The opinions just keep on coming. But I do appreciate them, just as I've appreciated the support of Imus supporters for weeks now.
Maybe I could have done a better job expressing myself in my original post (and the clarification).
Sure, I'll keep an eye on the Imus situation as I talk to people in the business and if I hear something I'll write it.
I just can't make this a primary focus of my job anymore. Does that sound better?
Sorry for confusion.
Neil, two questions:
1) do you believe imus is back somewhere in September?
2) How many WFAN voices follow Imus?
A few days ago you were begging Imus to call you in one of your postings and now this. Sports radio losing their most powerful voice is huge story and you should cover it till the end. What you have done is just wrong.
He doesn't call Bo Dietel or anything. Make the calls, get us the answers. What kind of reporting is this.
neil, thanks for following the story this far. its been real bro...
would you people just leave me alone!
HELP ME! I'm stuck here with this guy with a bowling ball head and having to hear about sports all day - just shoot me! I-Man please rescue me!
Don't forget everyone - tonight is my wife's awful, awful, awful...I mean, fabulous show, Big Brother. Don Imus wasn't good enough for CBS but we love our Big Brother - best show on the network.
Who cares that I've cost CBS millions upon millions because now I'm tight with Bill & Hill, right Neil? You know what I'm talking about dude.
Thanks Neil,
I am guessing WFAN had to make a decision, I appreciate your coverage. I am hoping the Imus in the Morning Crew, get together somewhere in the near future. The incident was about a Lady's Basketball Team- Rutgers, that is sports related. I am giving you reasons to follow up(SMILE) Hope you have a good summer, I think Boomer might experience some blow back from the decision, I don't know enough about him as an on air sports personality, to comment on him as a choice. I can empathize with the people who listen to WFAN in the Morning, we all had our Mornings Ruined. It seems people like Moonves and Capus, put the listeners and viewers last, for their considerations, for making their decisions. After all we are only the ones consuming their product and buying the stuff they advertize so they get PAYCHECKS.
How can so many people be so wrong?? Imus was NEVER coming back to WFAN - it was a contractual issue, and he will be going elsewhere. You can all follow him wherever that may be. None of you knew anything about sports anyway.
Joan in CT,
"None of you knew anything about sports anyway" I don't know you, how would you have any idea, what I know about or don't know about. Are you a know it all?
Joan - say people like me are interested in BOSTON sports and not NY sports doesn't mean we know nothing about sports. My husband and I love sports. Imus covered sports all the time which we really appreciated but wanting to hear about the Mets for 3 hours, no thanks. It's because of Imus that I watch freaking NASCAR now! The man was a genious salesman.
Why did Mike say they hoped the whole crew would be back together this Fall if Imus was never coming back? They talked up Imus like crazy back in June.
Thanks, Ree for responding to Joan in CT.
Neil - we like Saint Imus, has a nice ring to it actually. Thanks for the suggestion.
Neil,
I'm seeing the blog discussions late in the game, but have followed your updates in the paper. I have been an Imus fan for many years, and think what happened to him was way overblown for what he did (and apoligized for). Wherever he lands, I'll most likely end up watching or listening to him because I enjoy him and I choose to. Anyone is free to choose not to.
As you are one of the few who continue to cover this issue, and given that he has been on WFAN since its inception, you shouldn't was your hands of it prematurely, at least not until all the i's are dotted and t's are crossed on his replacement. I personally don't think his return to WFAN has been totally ruled out 100%. So keep providing updates as you hear them, until that last nail is definitely in the coffin, so to speak. Thanks.
It's a Sports Talk station. Imus should never have been left in place when it went all sports 20 years ago. The only games they should carry are Mets games.
If Imus didn't come aboard in 1988, there wouldn't be a WFAN. The idea was in serious trouble through the majority of 1987 and 1988 until WFAN switched from 1050 to 660 in October.
The argument can be made that Imus saved sports talk radio., or helped give it life.
do you really think the Boomer thing is a done deal? To me it still sounds like PR chaff at this point, maybe.
But WFAN is owned by CBS, ultimately. So...?
FYI, Vincent, Imus was brought over after WFAN went all sports.
Neil, this was posted by Ms M on SUPPORTIMUS.ORG:
St. Imus, DOES HAVE A NICE RING TO IT & before you are made a saint, you have to be a martyr first, oh he's already been a martyr....but then there is that miracle stipulation too....PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE & BOYCOTTING MSDNC/BS/media HOS/hil, obama
Now if we can get our miracle soon and get him back - we WILL call him St. Imus!! Hope this made you smile!
By the way, we know you were threatened by the almighty (only in his mind) Moonves to stop writing about the I-man - so we forgive you.
So Imus is heading to WOR? I hope that means he'll be syndicated nationwide.
Moonves/CBS have nothing to do with Newsday or am I missing something? Neil quit the story for other reasons - says it's because the story is over but I haven't heard of a resolution to this situation yet myself.
Neil, thank you for following this story. I don't know whether your decision actually came from you or your bosses but I do understand. It's going to be hard because you seemed to be the only one that knows we're (Imus fans) out here and I don't know where else we could get daily updates?
You have become part of the I-Family with your effort and time you put into your articles about Imus daily. I will miss your sense of humor.
As for the person who said Imus fans know nothing about sports...you don't know us/me at all. I have been a Nascar fan for 15 years. I am a huge Mets/baseball fan and I listen to the FAN all day not just when Imus was on. Imus was the reason I started listening to the FAN.
If you listened to the FAN all day you would know that they don't talk sports all day they do break it up!
After all these years of listening to the FAN I will now turn them off.
Thank you again Neil and I hope you have a nice vacation.
take care,
Neil, you've lost us. We're done with your blogs. Good luck.
Neil, the most important voice on sports radio is fired from the station and now its no longer a story for you. That logic is simply not credible. Finish the story or you'll be talking to yourself on this blog.
Where imus winds up will have huge implications for both ratings at WFAN and ESPN. Clearly this is a story for the sports/media guy but not someone like you who apparently doesn't like to follow through.
honestly, it seems a 3rd grader could understand that this story has enormous implications for sports radio. Where the most famous voice from the sports radio station winds up will effect advertising dollars at the fan, listenership in the morning, etc. But you'd prefer to waste our time talking about Kevin james and max kellerman. great reporting if you want to report to yourself.
To say this story has nothing to do with sports radio? What planet is neil best on. Perhaps bob raisman will fill me in. Or mushnick.
What a crock of baloney from you about the Imus story not being a media/sports story! Have fun talking to yourself about Kevin James - geez, what a joke.
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