A Reminder for Radio to Not Stray From Your Audience’s Expectation

Time after time, we see the somewhat improbable become possible with celebrities, corporations, and culture. Yet time and again, individuals, companies, and even cultural icons have watched their reputations crumble—not because of a single bad decision, but because the brand drifted from the “thing” that made them matter in listeners’ or audiences’ lives in the first place.

This piece is a Tuesday morning reality check—or warning—for your adult brand about those who have lost sight of their core expectation. Be hyper-aware of radio backlash, fading relevance, or outright collapse, and what our brands can learn from historical mistakes.

We fully understand that our radio identity is what “prints” in the audience’s mind. Also, be fully aware that as a talent, your persona is what your audience expects when you are on-air and off-air.

For perspective—and until we get to the core point of today’s column—a quick review of branding fumbles through the decades.

Examples of Missing the Mark

With celebrity, the culture map is littered with unaware and oblivious roadkill that dismantled their brands while derailing audience expectations.

In 2018, Roseanne Barr had resurrected her once over-the-top career, driving her ABC sitcom Roseanne back to weekly ratings dominance. One racist tweet dismantled that comeback, and Roseanne retreated to Hawaii to lick her wounds. Her show continued under the banner of The Conners for another half decade.

Also see boneheaded comments (and actions) that played against audience expectations from Mel Gibson, Paula Deen, Lance Armstrong, Charlie Sheen, and Ellen DeGeneres, among dozens of others.

Within corporations, industry branding failure is sometimes headline-making, while others slip under the radar.

At one time, retailer JCPenney was a robust outlet that offered sporting goods, lawn equipment, and even a record department. JCPenney was wise to shed those loss-leading units to focus on soft lines. However, even the sharpest can trip.

In 2012, new JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson launched the “No Sales Strategy” for “Everyday Low Prices.” The JCPenney shopper had grown accustomed to sales and coupons. Revenue plummeted, and their CEO was dismissed after 17 months. The lesson: understand who your shoppers are before redefining your brand.

Famous dim actions you’ve certainly noted include the 1980s New Coke debacle, Bud Light’s recent Dylan Mulvaney controversy, and the failure-to-evolve non-actions by BlackBerry, Blockbuster, and Kodak.

What about cautionary tales from radio?

That list includes lengthy casualties such as Don Imus getting fired for racist slurs against a women’s basketball team, Opie & Anthony’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral stunt, and Don Geronimo’s characterizations of a female sports icon—each resulting in termination.

And then there’s The Greaseman.

Doug Tracht—widely known as The Greaseman—was the funniest of the Shock Jock era. His off-air videos are legendary.

This one about radio sellers and radio production for the 1995 Mercury Awards not only resonates today but is cry-out-loud funny.

The characters The Greaseman built in our imaginations still resonate today, and he’s a large part of why I chose this profession.

Even The Greaseman blundered a successful career.

Winter 1986. “The Grease,” as he was affectionately known, was anchoring mornings at WWDC (DC101) when he launched into a dark and offensive racist comment about the upcoming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

What followed was a swift dismissal, worldwide negative press, and much-needed sensitivity training. “The Grease” would put wind in his sails to revive his career, only to make a similar racist verbal disaster in the late 1990s at WARW (94.7 The Arrow).

Another example of expectations bursting when you arrive at your morning laugh spot on the dial and the host is spouting hate.

What To Learn From Jimmy Kimmel

Which brings us to the core point of today’s commentary.

Jimmy Kimmel.

Now that the dust has settled on the late-night rhetoric, what are the true facts about the Jimmy Kimmel Live! situation?

He’s one of us.

Jimmy Kimmel didn’t get his start in stand-up, acting, or even theater.

Jimmy got his start in college radio—like a bunch of us—leading to a tour of stops mostly in the West: Phoenix, Palm Springs, and Washington. Eventually, Jimmy docked his radio ship at the world-famous KROQ in Los Angeles as “Jimmy the Sports Guy” on The Kevin and Bean Show.

Kimmel built his brand on radio slapstick, fireable stunts, and sophomoric, inappropriate (but fun and funny) bits that eventually led him to television.

He caught the attention of television casting experts hosting Win Ben Stein’s Money on Comedy Central, which won Kimmel an Emmy. He then transitioned to his non sequitur humor on The Man Show in 1999, also on Comedy Central (also fun and funny).

When Jimmy Kimmel was recruited to host his own late-night program, he jumped at it. Recurring viral bits like “Mean Tweets” and “Unnecessary Censorship” became fun and funny internet staples. His inside jokes, along with stellar ratings, made his show competitive and now make Jimmy Kimmel Live! the longest-running late-night program of its type.

The clear audience expectation of Jimmy Kimmel Live! was appointment viewing—an excellent avenue to unwind with a beverage and laughs before bed.

That expectation began to shift a decade and a half ago when his monologue and content pivoted from gregarious comedy to politics.

Ratings success also began to shift.

As Jimmy Kimmel Live! became awash with political rhetoric, its ratings slid downhill, now garnering less than 0.5% of all Americans. The program struggles to gain 125,000 of the prime 18–49 demographic nightly—the same demo in which Jimmy Kimmel built his brand.

Let’s be crystal clear about the September 2025 suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! following his comments on the death of political figure Charlie Kirk:

The program was easily pulled by Disney and affiliates, as there would be little audience loss compared to the nationwide uproar about his statements.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! will not regain previous ratings highs, as its current path to content building doesn’t align with core listener expectations.

Jimmy Kimmel and his parent company, Disney—then and now—are free to say anything on their affiliates within the guidelines of free speech.

Whether or not Jimmy Kimmel Live! is funny is up to the end user. The shift in content creation has certainly sucked the expectation of fun out of late night.

We’re pulling for Jimmy Kimmel to succeed. His radio-to-television transition is something that inspires even the grizzled radio veteran.

The hope here is that someone—anyone—in the Jimmy Kimmel camp will get through to him (Kimmel, through his company Kimmelot, is also the producer) that audience and advertisers will vaporize on his current path.

A Reminder….

This advisory for your brand is to stay true to what brought you success—especially among adult radio formats, where the listener comes to you for a feel-good moment in their day and makes you a favorite because you’re a bright spot in their lives.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters today and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.