NY Daily News.
<!–Posted on 05 Dec 2007–>

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

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