Maybe Don Imus' latest racist flap isn't attracting the outcry last year's "nappy-headed hos" remark did because there are fewer people to cry out to. In this type of situation, the infuriated classes have two people to sound off to: The broadcasters who carry his show (his new five-year $40 million gig is through Citadel Broadcasting and Rural Media Networks) and the advertisers who pay to reach his audience.

Except every since losing his old gig and finding new partners, his reach has slid; he no longer averages the 2.25 million listeners per week he did with CBS Radio. But more importantly, the advertisers who fund his operation – which reaped $20 million a year to CBS' WFAN flagship, plus $20 million collectively to other affiliates – are nowhere to be found.

The last media storm the shock jock created prompted advertisers such as Procter & Gamble and General Motors to pull their ad spending from CBS Radio and MSNBC, where his show also appeared. But his new gig at Citadel Communications' ABC Radio Networks has yet to attract any of those major advertisers.

[...]

Natalie Swed Stone, who heads radio buying at Omnicom Group's OMD for major radio spenders such as McDonald's and JC Penney, said her clients have not been actively involved with "Imus in the Morning" since it returned to the ABC airwaves in December.

[...]

General Motors, which previously supported Mr. Imus' charitable efforts for children with autism, said via a spokeswoman, "General Motors Corp. did not return as an advertiser and had not been a backer of his show since he was off the air last time in [2007]." Although neither Nielsen nor TNS Media Intelligence can extrapolate the top 10 advertisers during Mr. Imus' morning drive-time daypart (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) on WABC in New York, it's safe to say Mr. Imus' client list is considerably less blue-chip than it was during his MSNBC-affiliated heyday.

[AdAge]