Advertisers Hold the Key To Imus's Future

ByABC News
April 11, 2007, 4:24 PM

April 12, 2007— -- NBC has bailed on Imus. So have several advertisers. Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson continue to call for him to be fired, from his radio gig.

But with his radio future still on the line, the key to his career might be how many of those remaining advertisers decide to stay on, at least one analyst says.

On Wednesday, one after another of the show's advertisers pulled their support.

"Advertisers don't want to be anywhere around a racial controversy," said Eric Dezenhall a crisis management consultant with Dezenhall Resources.

There are still a few holding on and taking the wait-and-see attitude.

Ultimately, NBC's decision to pull an Imus simulcast on MSNBC didn't rest solely with advertisers, media watchers say.

"Within this organization, this had touched a nerve," NBC news division president Steve Capus told the Associated Press. "The comment that came through to us, time and time again, was `when is enough going to be enough?' This was the only action we could take."

The fate of Imus now rests with the CBS Corp., which owns both the radio station WFAN-AM that is the host's broadcast home, and the syndicator Westwood One.

CBS Radio has suspended Imus for two weeks without pay and is waiting to see how this story plays out.

Dezenhall said that if Imus is able to pull in a strong audience when he returns in two weeks, advertisers can flock back to him, keeping the show alive.

Imus, said Dezenhall, has two things going for him: He has made a career "by being obnoxious" and he has strong ratings.

"So there are people who are interested in keeping him on the air," he said. "Where you get into a lot of trouble is when you have someone who isn't that successful, who is easily dispensable."

Over the years, the actions of radio host Howard Stern have cost him advertisers. But, he has also picked up many along the way, keeping a strong source of revenue for the show.

"There have been plenty of TV shows that have gotten in hot water before, but for everybody they lose, they also pick up someone else," noted Dezenhall.

Some advertisers have very strict policies about what shows they are affiliated with.

Eric Rabe, vice president for media relations at Verizon Communications, said Wednesday: "We don't advertise on Imus and actually we have a policy of not advertising on Imus and have had for some years."

Verizon has a similar policy with Howard Stern. "We'd rather not have our advertising in the show," Rabe said.

Others changed their minds as momentum against Imus grew Wednesday.

Early Wednesday morning, General Motors spokeswoman Ryndee Carney spoke about being an historic advertiser on Imus."We have no plans to change our advertising plans at this point in time," she said.

But by noon, GM had a bit of a turnaround saying in a statement that it was going to suspend advertising "while we continue to monitor the situation."