Don't be a Dickey

Everyone I know who works in radio has their opinions about the Dickey brothers who controlled Cumulus broadcasting until being kicked downstairs in a recent shakeup. Those opinions are almost universally negative. I never met them personally, so I can't comment on that, but I certainly agree with Don Imus' take, which he aired publicly on a Cumulus station yesterday. From Tom Taylor's NOW column today...

Don Imus unloads on the Dickeys. They “went around the country and ruined radio stations,” says the Westwood-syndicated I-man on yesterday’s show. He says his flagship, WABC New York, is one of them. When he lashed out, Imus was coming out of a lengthy spot break in his third hour that was larded with promos for weekend infomercial shows. He says “Now [WABC] is being programmed by the sales department. It’s a disgrace…I know they have to make money, but that’s why they got rid of the Dickeys.” He went on – “They went around the country and ruined radio stations. This [WABC] is one of them.” He reminisces a bit – “When I first came to New York and went to work at WNBC [Don stressed the ‘N’], our big rival was WABC, with Cousin Bruce Morrow, the great Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison and all those people.” He says now, “they sell time to these idiot doctors who have programs on the weekend” – and who’re entitled to promos during the week, sometimes stacked up in morning drive.