Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Citadel Broadcasting

It's a happy day whenever wingnuts suffer...and especially when their businesses suffer. That adage definitely holds true today with the news that notorious right-wing radio conglomerate Citadel Broadcasting will be filing for bankruptcy. Merry Christmas and Happy Bankrupt New Year, you Citadel clowns!

Citadel is expected to file in a deal supported by many lenders collectively owed $2 billion, known as a "prearranged" deal in bankruptcy parlance.

These lenders plan to swap a big portion of their debt for equity in a reorganized Citadel, effectively handing them control.

The deal would reduce Citadel's debt load to about $762.5 million, the people said. The company will need to solicit more creditor support in court to get its reorganization plan approved by a judge.

Citadel's board approved the filing in recent days.

Citadel Chief Executive Farid Suleman is likely to remain at the helm once the company emerges from Chapter 11 protection, people familiar with the situation said.

Citadel representatives didn't respond to requests for comment..

Citadel's fall is emblematic of the troubles ravaging radio broadcasters, which took on loads of debt during boom times and now face a harsh advertising climate.

Of course, the economy isn't the only reason these wingnut gasbag outlets are facing a harsh advertising climate. Just look at the concerted efforts by the netroots to deprive Glenn Beck of the advertising dollars that fuel his ongoing campaign of hate and bigotry: nearly 100 advertisers to date have elected not to align themselves with Beck's idiocy any longer.

Citadel, though, has been one of the leading purveyors of wingnut ideology for years. Hatemongers like KSFO's Melanie Morgan and syndicated fossil Don Imus have relied on Citadel to dish out their vomitous spew to the mouth-breathing masses. Now, while Citadel apparently will survive in a streamlined form, the days of whine and roses appear to be over.

And that's good news for Americans who value truth and abhor the kind of disgusting garbage that Citadel airs. So, congratulations to Citadel Broadcasting and its CEO, Farid Suleman -- there's a special holiday gift under your tree now, because today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Melanie Morgan and Citadel Broadcasting

Score one for the good guys. One of the most hateful, bilious, deranged voices on right-wing hate radio has been silenced ... at least on the airwaves.

Melanie Morgan — the conservative radio talk show host who chairs Move America Forward, the group which has led efforts to shame and boycott Berkeley for its anti-U.S. Marine Corps recruiting stand — has lost her job at KSFO 560 AM.

Morgan, 51, delivered her final broadcast there today after 14 years at the microphone, she says in a news release. KSFO owner Citadel Broadcasting decided not to renew her contract as part of the company’s announced across-the-board financial cost cutting.

“The ratings were terrific and I got to connect with a lot of passionate conservative casues, and I’m really grateful for that,” Morgan told me just now. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to the show, I don’t know what’s going to happen to KSFO.”

If you don't know who Morgan is, check out some of her "greatest hits," as covered here during the one-Vulcan crusade my blogfriend Spocko took on against KSFO a year ago. I won't recount them here, other than to say that over the years, she's recommended the assassination of prominent Democratic and progressive leaders on the air, and she deserves to rot somewhere just for that. Sure, she'll be bailed out by wingnut welfare, but at least she's lost one avenue to spew her vomitous hate.

Meanwhile, Morgan's departure due to "cost cutting" signals another delicious development, as Citadel Broadcasting, which owns KSFO and numerous stations in some 50 U.S. markets (but none in Florida), is tanking financially (PDF). They lost over a billion dollars in the fourth quarter of 2007 "related to a continued deterioration in the radio marketplace and to a decline in [Citadel's] stock price during the three months ending December 31, 2007[,]" along with declining revenues in major markets like San Francisco (home of KSFO), Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington. There is more analysis here and here, but the bottom line is that it ain't pretty for this purveyor of disgusting right-wing rhetoric.

So, to Melanie Morgan, that vile load of filth, and to Citadel, who burnished their piece-of-shit image a few months ago by bringing back that scumbag Don Imus to the airwaves, congratulations! Today's Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

The Imus worshippers talk wank back

Well, I come home from an evening out only to discover that I seem to have stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest among the MBFs* who adore Don Imus. I got linked up at a couple of Imus-fellating blogs and the fun has begun:

You are the most ignorant person on Earth. Why don't you clean up your own language before you cast doubt about Don Imus.

This man does not have a racist bone in his body. And you trash him. Well guess what? You are dead wrong. And whomever reads your crappy blog are worse than you. Get a life and be open minded.

Or is it you just wish to get hits on you stupid blog.

Publish your email address and you will never catch up with all the negatives you receive.

You are a true and honest MORON!

Bruce
Bradenton, FL

Now Bruce, being the Rhodes scholar he obviously is, didn't read well enough to note that I have a contact link right here on this blog. Maybe I shouldn't have used words with more than two syllables. My bad.

But he does want me to be "open-minded." See, in Bruce's world, "open-minded" means "willing to accept racism, shoot guns, and hate on gays and everyone different than me." Sorry, Bruce, but that's not how I roll. Yet another good reason to stay the fuck away from Bradenton, I'd say (with apologies to any sensible, reality-based people in Bradenton) ...

Which reminds me: clean up my language? Okay, Dad. Whatever you say. I'll clean up the language on MY blog, just so I don't offend your tender sensibilities. Right. Sure. Here's a better idea: don't come here and read my foul fucking language, okay? Thanks in advance.

And "most ignorant person on Earth?" I'm offended, sir. Surely even someone of your limited worldview and education (not to mention grammatical skills -- "whomever ... are worse?" Nice try) must agree that Drunky McStagger is more ignorant than I. I'd sure be upset if I thought for a moment that I was more ignorant than that guy. So give me a little credit, won't you?

You obviously did no research and know nothing about Don Imus. Your article is nothing but journalistic flatulence.
PTBartman

I'd be offended about this one, too, if I were a journalist. Or a chronic farter. But, being neither, I'll just conclude that ol' PT is projecting and leave it at that.

Honestly: what more "research" do I have to do than to know that Imus used a profoundly racist slur to describe a group of mostly African-American women? He deserved to be fired, and the only reason he's back is because there are still enough mouth-breathing sycophantic idiots out there to listen to his tripe.

Anyway, you folks can write, e-mail, comment, rant and rave all you want. I'm moving on. Just wanted to thank you, though, for the intelligent discourse. I'm sure you can see that I've responded with the same level of thought, insight, and intellect that you all used.

---

* Moronic Brownshirt Fucks, of course. Used to be a popular epithet a few years ago in the blogosphere but has gone by the wayside of late. Pity. It's so accurate.

Imus is back in south Florida

While I try to figure out that tax rebate crap, here's some more shitty news for those of us in America's Glans™: nappy-headed radio personality douchebag Don Imus is coming back to our airwaves beginning next week:

Little-known (until now) radio station WSVU-960 AM, based in PBG, starts airing Imus in the Morning at 6 a.m. Monday. The area will become only the second market in Florida, after Tampa, to pick up shock jock Don Imus, nine months after he trashed the women of Rutgers University basketball. Fired by CBS Radio in April, Imus returned to work in December at ABC Radio Networks.

"I've already got a lot of positive feedback from advertisers," said SVU owner Chet Tart about his move. "And listeners love the idea." The station usually plays American standards like Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, aiming to reach the 45-and-over crowd.

So is Tart ready for more controversy? "What happened last year won't happen again," Tart says. "Besides, his show is on a 30-second delay. The network took all its precautions."

Positive feedback from advertisers? I can't wait to hear what advertisers they've gotten. My guess: gun shops, strip clubs, and beer ... precisely the sort of things that would appeal to the "listeners [who] love the idea." You know -- the "45-and-over crowd" who like Sinatra and Streisand. (I'm three years shy of that demographic, but 45 for Sinatra and Streisand?!? Jeebus ...). That group is also known as "Fox News' base."

I don't know who's worse: Imus and his ilk themselves, or the rat bastards like Chet Tart (now that's a name) who give those racist twatwaffles a forum to spout their filth. The good news, such as it is, is that the station carrying Imus is, to coin a phrase, "virtually irrelevant." Which is what Imus should be.

Good thing you'll have that 30-second delay, Chet. Because that's exactly how long your engineers will have to decide whether the next batshit crazy, inflammatory thing Imus says is something we need to hear. And you know it's coming ... it's just a matter of time.

You can't keep a bad man down

Radio hatemonger Don Imus, whose racist remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team last spring got him fired, is coming back up like last night's pizza and beer.

He'll be premiering next Monday on WABC in New York. As we learned from Spocko on Blast Off! Radio Monday evening, this is notable because WABC is owned by Citadel Broadcasting, which also owns the noxious KSFO in San Francisco. Remember KSFO? Spocko took them on about a year ago and made national news by exposing that station for the cretins they are. So it's fitting, really, that Imus would get picked up by a company that makes its profits on spewing hate and filth on the radio.

Monday evening, Spocko suggested that rather than boycotting advertisers, it was more effective to remind them what kind of heinous, hateful talk they were supporting. With regard to Imus, then, we can start with New Jersey's Hackensack University Medical Center.

It's unclear how many sponsors the new Don Imus morning radio show will have when it debuts Dec. 3 on Citadel Broadcasting's WABC in New York. But one advertiser, Hackensack University Medical Center, has made a preemptive bid to be the first sponsor on the program, confirmed Jerry Della Femina, CEO of the client's agency, Della Femina Rothschild Jeary and Partners.

Della Femina, who declined to say how much the client paid to be first, believes the audience for the early part of the program on day one will be huge because it will combine Imus' regular fan base with those that are curious to hear what he has to say on the air for the first time since being axed by CBS-owned WFAN radio for comments he made in April about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. "They're assured of a very big audience," he said of his client.

[...]

Imus and the medical center have a long-standing relationship that includes an annual radio-thon that has raised millions of dollars over the years for the center's efforts to combat cancer in children.

But if, like me, you're in America's Wang™, you might be interested to know that there's a Florida connection to this story, too:

Separately, a second advertiser, West Palm Beach, Fla.-based drug rehabilitation facility Hanley Center, has also confirmed it will air a campaign throughout the first week of the new Imus show, which in addition to WABC, will also air on Citadel Boston outlet, WTKK. The campaign is called "Second Chances," and as part of it, Imus will do will do a live read about the center, where he was treated in 1988. Other spots, created by Hanley ad agency, Woburn, Mass.-based Psynchronous Communications, will point to Imus as an example of how the center's program can help the addicted.

"The idea of 'Second Chances' is an important one that we'll no doubt hear more of during Don Imus' return," notes Psynchronous Founding Partner, Kevin Zundl. "We had a unique opportunity to show his strength of character through his 20 clean and sober years after getting help at Hanley Center. It is an important story to tell in inspiring others towards recovery and we are grateful to Imus for lending himself to this campaign."

Don Imus' recovery from substance abuse, like that of so many other individuals, indeed is inspirational and he ought to be commended for it. However noble Hanley Center's activities are, though, they deserve nothing but condemnation for enabling an addict to get his fix. No, I'm not referring to substance abuse, but rather to the verbal abuse Imus dishes out to people of color and others who aren't like him (i.e., white, male, and rich).

Curiously, no other advertisers are mentioned in the article. Are we to believe that Imus is having trouble finding people to pay for his obnoxious rants, and that only two customers have pitched in with a mere five days before the show starts? We can only hope ...

A profile in courage

It may not be young John F. Kennedy in PT-109, but Los Angeles Times sportswriter Mike Penner has plenty of courage of his own.

During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.

Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation.

As Christine.

I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them.

To call this "unprecedented" is a little like saying Rush Limbaugh is an obnoxious bag of assholes. In other words, it's a profoundly inadequate understatement.

Mike/Christine continues:

People have asked if transitioning will affect my writing. And if so, how?

All I can say at this point is that I am now happier, more focused and more energized when I sit behind a keyboard. The wicked writer's block that used to reach up and torture me at some of the worst possible times imaginable has disappeared.

My therapist says this is what happens when a transsexual finally "integrates" and the ever-present white noise in the background dissipates.

That should come as good news to my editors: far fewer blown deadlines.

So now we all will take a short break between bylines. "Mike Penner" is out, "Christine Daniels" soon will be taking its place.

From here, it feels like a big improvement. I hope with time you will agree.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Perhaps Christine's life will be easier in Los Angeles than it might be if she did this in, say, Dallas or Atlanta. But it's still going to be a tough road, and I admire her for not only coming to this decision, but for announcing it with good humor and the appropriate amount of care. And I applaud the colleagues and friends quoted, for taking the announcement in stride.

The more you see of this, along with similar statements by athletes and public figures like John Amaechi, the more the ignorant, hate-filled comments of people like Tim Hardaway and Don Imus will be marginalized, and people will be accepted for what they are, not for the degree to which they conform to some arbitrary "norm."

Imus continues with fundraiser while "mutiny" causes MSNBC to dump him

Nice to see that Don Imus still feels charitable:

Don Imus raised nearly $1 million in the first five hours of his annual radio charity fundraiser Thursday, but it was only by voice - MSNBC pulled the plug on his talk show's television simulcast amid the uproar over his racial slur.

"This may be our last Radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus said at the start of the event, which has raised more than $40 million since 1990.

[...]

Tony Gonzalez, supervisor of the Radiothon phone bank, said volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they did last year, and most callers were expressing support for Imus.

As of 10 a.m., $850,000 had been pledged, he said. Last year's Radiothon raised a total of $2.9 million for three charities - Tomorrows Children's Fund, CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch.

"We haven't had much of a negative at all," Gonzalez said. "Most of them are very, very supportive, think it's a terrible situation."

Well, sure they're supportive -- after all, the callers are his base.

It emerged Wednesday that a key to pulling the plug on his MSNBC simulcast was an internal mutiny within NBC. About 30 angry NBC News employees, many of them black, met with news division president Steve Capus and said they'd had it with Imus' brand of coarse ethnic humor.

"Within this organization, this had touched a nerve," Capus said Wednesday. "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."

That's the precise point that all the Imus apologists are missing or obscuring, as is Imus himself. Perhaps if this had been an isolated incident, viewers and critics might be more willing to forgive and forget (note I said "perhaps"). But it's not -- Imus long has been known for his often-virulent racism, which I'm sure is one of the reasons that his "fans," who undoubtedly share his views, have stuck with him. He's being punished not just for his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, but rather because those comments were the proverbial back-breaking straw. It's just a shame it took those comments to rouse the networks and advertisers to action.

He should have been gone long ago, or at least marginalized. The idea that people like Imus, who repeatedly display their intolerance and narrow-mindedness (see, e.g., Beck, Glenn) for all to see, have a forum on national media for their bigotry, disgusts me.

Al Roker weighs in on the Imus controversy

It's always interesting when network personnel start eating their own (no pun intended; remember, Al's a mere shadow of his former self).

Al Roker says Don Imus should exit stage right (wing):

I cannot tell you how many people have asked me about my thoughts on Don Imus. As a student of broadcasting, I know Don Imus was one of the original “shock jocks.” I listened to him growing up in New York City in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

He is a radio icon.

That said, it is time for him to go.

I, for one, am really tired of the diatribes, the “humor” at others’ expense, the cruelty that passes for “funny”. Don Imus isn’t the only one doing this, but today he’s the one in the hot seat.

What he said was vile and disgusting. It denigrated an entire team and by extension, a community and its pride in a group that had excelled.

[...]

Don Imus needs to be fired for what he said. And while we’re at it, his producer, Bernard McGurk, needs to be canned as well. McGurk is just as guilty, often egging Imus on.

The “I’m a good person who said a bad thing” apology doesn’t cut it. At least he didn’t try to weasel out of this by hiding behind alcohol or drug abuse. Still, he said it and a two-week suspension doesn’t cut it. It is, at best, a slap on the wrist. A vacation. Nothing.

The general manager of Cartoon Network resigned after a publicity stunt went wrong and caused a panic in Boston. He did the right thing. Don Imus should do the right thing and resign. Not talk about taking a two-week suspension with dignity. I don’t think Don Imus gets it.

After watching and listening to him this morning during an interview with Matt Lauer, Don Imus doesn’t get it. Maybe it’s being stuck in a studio for 35 years or being stuck in the 1980’s. Either way, it’s obvious that he needs to move on. Citing “context within a comedy show” is not an excuse.

He has to take his punishment and start over. Guess what? He’ll get re-hired and we’ll go on like nothing happened. CBS Radio and NBC News needs to remove Don Imus from the airwaves. That is what needs to happen. Otherwise, it just looks like profits and ratings rule over decency and justice.

Honestly, when you stop to think about it, this is pretty remarkable. You've got an NBC on-air personality advocating the departure of another NBC on-air personality on NBC's news website. No one's being thrown under the bus here, which might seem to be the case under slightly different circumstances. No, what you have here is a voice of reason saying what needs to be said, and a network that very well might be mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

Now, how long until we see someone at CNN speak out against Glenn Beck? (Yeah, right.)