This week's self-explanatory All Access newsletter WENT OUT WITH THE WRONG LINK. I sent the RIGHT link, but when they pasted it into the e-mail template they left out part of the link. Yes, I want to scream, why do you ask?
Here's a correct version of the thing. Read it while I go punch a wall:
Well, I guess there's not much going on in talk radio this week, so...
Frankly, I don't want to talk about the Imus thing, precisely because everyone- EVERYONE- else is talking about it. It's amazing how suddenly everyone's an expert on a show relatively few people listened to and a team about whose existence most people didn't care. Overnight, Imus became Public Enemy Number One, the Rutgers team ascended to sainthood, and a stupid, unfunny, off-hand slur became The End Of Civilization As We Know It and an excuse to indict the entire talk radio culture. And the cable talk shows were overrun with "experts" ready to make their pronouncements on guilt, innocence, virtue, free speech, hip-hop culture, charity, and radio.
I did not market myself as an expert on this one, because I really didn't want to be one of those people. I have my opinions, and I know what I would have done had I been in a position to make a Solomonic decision to solve the "crisis." But it would have been pointless, considering that I'm not in charge, nobody in charge was consulting me, and going on some cable show where the only way to get your point across is to out-shout the guy in the other little box on the screen wasn't going to do anybody any good. I watched and listened to a lot of those discussions this week, and I heard almost nothing that approached sanity or a calm, proportional reaction to the situation. But that's how the other media cover radio- they don't, until something minor and stupid happens, at which point they overreact until it's an international incident.
If there's one instructive thing to take out of the Imus situation, it's something I've told you before: you can get away with a lot, but the one thing your bosses will absolutely not tolerate is when they get "those" phone calls, meaning complaints. In this case, the complaints were bigger than just phone calls, and they went way, way up to the top of the company, to folks who just do not want or need to be bothered with trouble from some radio show right now. When it becomes clear that those complaints aren't going away anytime soon, not until "something is done," you're toast. Does that mean we're all doomed to walk on eggshells and stick to inoffensive material that won't rock any boats or generate any kind of reaction that might displease corporate? Man, I hope not.
All right, enough about Imus. Next subject: you know how every year someone at your office puts up a Girl Scout cookie sign-up sheet in the break room, and everyone kinda has to buy some Thin Mints because, well, you gotta represent? You know how annoying that is?
Sorry, but here it comes, with profuse thanks to Joel and Ria Denver for letting me do this:
See, there's this event coming up on May 12 in Los Angeles, the Entertainment Industry Foundation Revlon Run/Walk For Women. It's to raise funds for cancer research, and as some of you are aware, my wife Fran and I have a particular vested interest in this area, having been visited by the disease last year. We're going to walk in the event this year to celebrate Fran's courage and survival and to raise money for the cause, and that means I've set up the online equivalent of the break room sign-up sheet so that anyone who feels moved to make a donation may do so. No pressure or guilt-tripping here- I'm not going to be checking who's been naughty or nice- but if you can throw a few bucks toward a good cause, here's the link to click:
https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/la/secure/MyWebPage.cfm?pID=365992
You'll also find links to the same donation page at Talk Topics and at pmsimon.com. Thanks, and if you're in L.A. on May 12, come on down to the U.S.C./Coliseum area and look for us.
OK, let's quickly run down the stories you'll find at All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep column this week, in case you don't want to keep talking about Imus or Rutgers or Dannielynn's daddy: there's the comeback of your old-school arcade video games, proof that most people ought not to be playing with nail guns, why 911 is a joke in one town, a particularly disturbing improvisational drama class, why diets don't work, how Kirsten Dunst proposes to bring world peace, the strange case of the streaking swimmers, how much one testicle is worth, and the increasing popularity of the wedding iPod, plus "real news" like the extension of troops' tours of duty in Iraq, the health insurance crisis, and much more, "10 Questions With..." USA Radio Network "Daybreak USA" co-host Scott West, the Talent Toolkit with consumer information sites and material, and the rest of All Access with the industry's first/fastest/best breaking news coverage at Net News, the Industry Direct ory with complete listings of everybody in the business, the best job listings in radio, Mediabase charts, and lots more, all free.
Nest week: Vegas, for NAB2007 and RTNDA@NAB. Possibly the least fun than you can possibly have in Vegas short of incidents involving frearms and Pacman Jones. If you love my writing when I'm irritated and tired, you'll love next week.
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