Post by Sad sack ass fruitbooty on Aug 14, 2007 12:05:36 GMT -5
WFAN, the AM radio station in New York City that served as a flagship for Don Imus’s show before he was fired over his racial and sexual asides about a college women’s basketball team, has apparently settled on a permanent successor.
The station, owned by CBS Radio, has decided to hire Boomer Esiason, the former quarterback who is now a broadcast analyst for the CBS Sports show “The NFL Today,” as the principal host of its morning show, said two people who had been apprised of the plans but were not authorized to discuss them before an official announcement is made.
Mr. Esiason, who played for the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals, is a marquee figure who can be counted on to play things relatively safe, based on his appearances on the Imus show and in other forums. As Mr. Esiason’s partner, though, WFAN is said to have settled on someone who would seem at risk of plunging the station into the same dangerous waters Mr. Imus did.
He is Craig Carton, co-host of a New Jersey talk radio show known as “The Jersey Guys,” whose occasional lampooning of Hispanic immigrants, Chinese people and the mental illness of a former governor’s wife have drawn sharp criticism — as well as high ratings for his station, WKXW (101.5 FM) in Trenton.
While WFAN is nearing agreement with both hosts, those briefed on the arrangements said, not all contracts have been signed, nor is Mr. Imus believed to have reached a settlement with CBS Radio on the balance of his contract, which was to have paid him $40 million for the next four years.
Reached yesterday, Mr. Esiason’s agent, Steve Rosner, declined to comment. Mr. Carton, who was broadcasting yesterday afternoon, did not immediately return a message left with a receptionist at his station.
Asked yesterday if Mr. Carton and his fellow “Jersey Guy,” Ray Rossi, were on the verge of breaking up, Andrew Santoro, chief operating officer of Millennium Radio, which owns WKXW, said: “Craig’s a great talent. A lot of places want him.” When asked specifically whether Mr. Carton was about to jump to WFAN, Mr. Santoro said the question would be better answered by WFAN. Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, declined to comment.
The coalescing around Mr. Esiason and Mr. Carton represents a fallback plan for at least some executives in WFAN management who had favored the rehiring of Mr. Imus. Their sentiments, though, were not shared by Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive of CBS, who fired Mr. Imus in April, and Mr. Moonves has since said he has had no change of heart.
Should WFAN go ahead with the hiring of Mr. Carton, it will no doubt be pressed to explain how some of his prior antics do not cross the line that Mr. Imus somehow did.
In March Mr. Carton and Mr. Rossi initiated “Operation Rat a Rat/La Cucha Gotcha,” in which they encouraged people to turn in friends, neighbors and “anyone suspicious” to immigration authorities.
The campaign was derided by, among others, Hispanic elected officials, who demanded an apology. Instead Mr. Carton repeated his call to deport every illegal immigrant in the country. “If you’re here illegally,” he said at a news conference, “you are breaking the law — no better, no worse than the guy who robs the liquor store or the guy who waits to case your house out and robs you of your belongings.”
Two years ago the Jersey Guys infuriated Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey by making fun of the depression suffered by his wife, Mary Jo. Later they made enemies in the state’s sizable Asian-American community when they mocked Chinese people by using singsong accents. They later apologized for their remarks about Asians, saying that they were just acting as entertainers.
What an awful radio show this will be.
The station, owned by CBS Radio, has decided to hire Boomer Esiason, the former quarterback who is now a broadcast analyst for the CBS Sports show “The NFL Today,” as the principal host of its morning show, said two people who had been apprised of the plans but were not authorized to discuss them before an official announcement is made.
Mr. Esiason, who played for the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals, is a marquee figure who can be counted on to play things relatively safe, based on his appearances on the Imus show and in other forums. As Mr. Esiason’s partner, though, WFAN is said to have settled on someone who would seem at risk of plunging the station into the same dangerous waters Mr. Imus did.
He is Craig Carton, co-host of a New Jersey talk radio show known as “The Jersey Guys,” whose occasional lampooning of Hispanic immigrants, Chinese people and the mental illness of a former governor’s wife have drawn sharp criticism — as well as high ratings for his station, WKXW (101.5 FM) in Trenton.
While WFAN is nearing agreement with both hosts, those briefed on the arrangements said, not all contracts have been signed, nor is Mr. Imus believed to have reached a settlement with CBS Radio on the balance of his contract, which was to have paid him $40 million for the next four years.
Reached yesterday, Mr. Esiason’s agent, Steve Rosner, declined to comment. Mr. Carton, who was broadcasting yesterday afternoon, did not immediately return a message left with a receptionist at his station.
Asked yesterday if Mr. Carton and his fellow “Jersey Guy,” Ray Rossi, were on the verge of breaking up, Andrew Santoro, chief operating officer of Millennium Radio, which owns WKXW, said: “Craig’s a great talent. A lot of places want him.” When asked specifically whether Mr. Carton was about to jump to WFAN, Mr. Santoro said the question would be better answered by WFAN. Karen Mateo, a spokeswoman for CBS Radio, declined to comment.
The coalescing around Mr. Esiason and Mr. Carton represents a fallback plan for at least some executives in WFAN management who had favored the rehiring of Mr. Imus. Their sentiments, though, were not shared by Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive of CBS, who fired Mr. Imus in April, and Mr. Moonves has since said he has had no change of heart.
Should WFAN go ahead with the hiring of Mr. Carton, it will no doubt be pressed to explain how some of his prior antics do not cross the line that Mr. Imus somehow did.
In March Mr. Carton and Mr. Rossi initiated “Operation Rat a Rat/La Cucha Gotcha,” in which they encouraged people to turn in friends, neighbors and “anyone suspicious” to immigration authorities.
The campaign was derided by, among others, Hispanic elected officials, who demanded an apology. Instead Mr. Carton repeated his call to deport every illegal immigrant in the country. “If you’re here illegally,” he said at a news conference, “you are breaking the law — no better, no worse than the guy who robs the liquor store or the guy who waits to case your house out and robs you of your belongings.”
Two years ago the Jersey Guys infuriated Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey by making fun of the depression suffered by his wife, Mary Jo. Later they made enemies in the state’s sizable Asian-American community when they mocked Chinese people by using singsong accents. They later apologized for their remarks about Asians, saying that they were just acting as entertainers.
What an awful radio show this will be.
