Don Imus’ Simulcast Turns Into Simulcrash
Just 24 hours after Don Imus put his show back on track, he got blindsided Tuesday by one of the ugliest technical train wrecks in recent radio and TV memory.
On their first day in a new studio set up for the RFD-TV simulcast of his WABC (770 AM) radio show, Imus and his team found much of their equipment didn’t work properly through the first half of the show.
Clearly furious, Imus refrained from a major outburst even after he had to postpone and then shorten a phone interview with columnist Tom Friedman because the phone connection at first didn’t work at all and then made Friedman sound like he was speaking from a mine shaft.
Similar problems recurred with other guests and cast members. At times, Imus and his in-house team couldn’t communicate with engineer Lou Ruffino at WABC across the street.
At one point, Imus had Charles McCord read news headlines, while Imus tried to contact Ruffino on a cell phone. While McCord read the news, Imus could be heard in the background trying to resolve the problem.
“It was certainly embarrassing,” said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade site Radio-Info.com. “Such displays don’t make anybody look good – including Imus himself, who has nothing to do with the technical end.”
“It wasn’t one of our finest moments,” said WABC program director Phil Boyce. “Complicating it is that because this was just his second show for us, we had no backup tape to put on while we worked to fix it.
“Fortunately, I believe we did fix it. We were on it all day and I don’t think it will happen again.”
Some radio people wondered why Imus didn’t do the show from WABC until the RFD studio was fully tested. But that could have killed the TV simulcast.
RFD was not available for comment. But Imus vowed to Friedman the problems would not recur. Imus also joked, “I’ve had eight months to work on controlling my temper,” suggesting the day was testing that resolve.
Other news for Imus yesterday was better. While radio does not have overnight ratings, his return Monday drew a lot of attention and generally good reviews. A number of major advertisers were also back, including Hackensack Medical Center, Bigelow Tea, NetJet and Mohegan Sun.
Taylor said he’s confident this was a one-day disaster.
“Phil and his folks are sharp,” he said. “They’ll figure it out.”
– By David Hinckly
