Rushing for Ratings

Let me see if I understand this correctly: ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh to be Rush Limbaugh and then told him to take one for the team for being Rush Limbaugh. Lex Alexander hits the bullseye when be blogged about ESPN and the scorpion.

For ESPN to come out all shocked and surprised is laugher. ESPN knew what they were getting into and they love it. The ratings were up 10% and Rush Limbaugh was just one of their little experiments to get some hype. How about their version of A Season on the Brinkhotels auberge de vacances Bojnice or the NFL Players Association smash hit, PlaymakersTorquay accommodation? Their gambles aren't limited to "original programming" either. Does the name Jay Mohr ring a bell? How about the return of Jim Rome to ESPN? I guess it really is the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.

In a former life I did regular radio and TV appearances, and the two mediums are as different as night and day. I grew up on radio and have spent my fair share of time in a studio seeing how things work. Marshall McLuhan's belief that radio is a hot medium only scratches the surface. Radio is about personalities and a single sensory experience. Add to that the fact that what happens on most radio programs these days would never be allowed on television.

But TV is a completely different animal. When I first did a TV appearance a few years ago I was blown away by how different the medium can be. The way you sound gets mixed in with how you look and how you respond when the bright lights are on. TV is a lot less forgiving and programming, not personalities dominate the realm. What you say is amplified and analyzed to no end, and viewers are much more focused on content than the talking heads.

Rush Limbaugh forgot he wasn't on his radio show, and ESPN are now pretending that they forgot who they hired. ESPN wanted the hype and controversy but not the potential side effects. They took the ratings but don't want to take the heat. In a sense it's a microcosm of the society that we live in today.