The decision to fire Don Imus is going to cost CBS, as the company faces a soft radio advertising market and ongoing recovery form the departure of Howard Stern a few yeas ago. Imus' show added some
$15 million to the CBS radio unit's roughly $2 billion in revenue, and its loss leaves a hole for CBS and syndicator Westwood One.
"It takes a while to develop that [popular talk show]
talent," says A.G. Edwards analyst Michael Kupinski. "I don't know if there's anyone waiting in the wings." While Imus didn't get canned until Thursday, the end may have come when cable channel MSNBC
dropped its morning simulcast of his show and several major advertisers defected. MSNBC paid CBS $4 million to carry Imus and without that, the show was only modestly profitable.
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