IMUS

My earlier employment history includes a stint of time at Westwood One/CBS Radio. Westwood One distributed "IMUS in the Morning". It was one of the shows I was responsible for while I was at Westwood One. While I am not a huge Don Imus fan, I have spent a considerable amount of time listening to his show because it was my job to make sure it was at least on the air.

Comments aside......there is this one thought that keeps going thru my head. There is a delay on all live talk radio. Where was the technician in regards to the "DUMP" button when Imus made those comments? Did the technician running the show not think that he should have used the delay and bailed on the comments? Did he think they also were acceptable for air? Back in my days at Westwood One, the technician would have been just as responsible for something like that making it on the air as the host would have been for making the comment in the first place. Now I have no way of knowing if the technician running that particular show has been fired or not and Don Imus is definitely getting grilled by the public-at-large but there is that other side of the coin that would have kept all of this from being heard in the first place. The "DUMP" button. The whole reason for the delay in a live broadcast is to edit out comments that shouldn't go out over the airways. We are all trained to catch the 4-letter words but what about phrases and comments that even the most insane idiot would have to have known was out of line?

That said.....how many comments are made by your favorite broadcaster that never make it to the air because someone "DUMPS" them? We all think our favorite broadcasters are flawless. Well so-and-so would have never said anything like that.....I bet you they would have and that they actually HAVE. Just in that case.....someone hit the DUMP button and saved them from a public grilling.