CBS Radio in predicament after firing Imus

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp. bowed to public pressure and fired shock jock Don Imus on Thursday, walking away from its best-known radio personality and millions of dollars of advertising revenue,

The media company had found itself in a tricky position since Imus called members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on his April 4 show, sparking a public and political outcry.

If CBS kept Imus, it would have faced a public relations nightmare and the show may never have attracted the caliber of guests and advertisers that had made it so valuable.

But now CBS must find a way to replace the sponsorship and recognition that Imus brought to a radio division that had yet to recover from the loss of Howard Stern to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. last year.

Revenue from radio, the third-largest source for CBS after TV and outdoor advertising, fell 7 percent last year to $1.96 billion.

"They may be about to find themselves in a familiar, maybe worse, predicament. They had a year and a half to prepare for Howard Stern's departure and still could not find a viable replacement," said Holland Cooke, a news talk specialist with radio programming consultants McVay Media.

CBS had initially only wanted to suspend Imus but finally fired him after a slew of advertisers from General Motors Corp. and Procter & Gamble Co. pulled their commercials from his radio and TV shows.

In announcing the decision, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said he had been "deeply upset and revulsed by" Imus' statements about the basketball team.