Music

Edge 102's ratings plummet since Dean Blundell's firing

by Mark Teo

When Dean Blundell’s firing was announced earlier this month by 102.1 The Edge, the Internet mostly erupted with joy: Good riddance, Toronto seemed to collectively sigh. We’ve had enough of Blundell’s completely unfunny, questionably homophobic ranting. The job posting for Blundell’s vacant position couldn’t have gone up fast enough, right?

Wrong.

Today, Devon Group, a PR firm supposedly related to the ex-radio star, revealed that the station’s listenership has been in serious decline since Blundell’s firing. They said that since January 6, the day Blundell was fired, listenership has tanked by 50 per cent—half!—among the station’s key demographic, men aged 18 to 40. According to Devon, under the Deaner’s guidance, the show once earned 12 per cent of that coveted demographic; with Fearless Fred at the helm, the morning slot now only accounts for 6 per cent.

Ouch. Sorry, Fred.

The National Post notes that the Devon Group’s head, Bob Richardson, is an apparent friend of Blundell. As it stands, his PR firm has been the only public group to speak for Blundell since his firing. The last we’ve heard from the shock jock came courtesy of a blog post on his site, which addressed the reason behind his firing—namely, that he was homophobic.

“Let me state unequivocally that I am not a homophobe,” Blundell wrote. “If you do something every single day, for as long as I have, making a career out of pushing the envelope and being inappropriate at times, there are bound to be differences of opinion that arise. I respect that. But I am not a homophobe.”

He supposedly proved this by allowing gay people on his show. How, um, nice of you, Dean. “Over the 13 years I have been live on the radio, I consistently had guests on from the LGBT community. I did not discriminate on my show. I made fun of everything and everyone, and was encouraged to do so with the brand of entertainment we were employed to deliver.”

Ah, the ole I’m-not-a-bigot-I-hate-everyone-equally rationale. Must. Stop. Compulsive. Eyerolling.

“I will have much more to say about this unfortunate situation in the coming weeks,” he concludes in his post.

Well, Dean, if there’s any time to address your firing from the Edge, now would be the right time. Corus, Edge 102’s parent company, have yet to issue a statement.

Edge 102’s plummeting ratings, however, raise a whole host of other questions: Were Dean Blundell’s detractors—and there were many, and they were loud—simply a vocal minority? Was everyone hate listening? Does this somehow vindicate Blundell? Or, more seriously, is this a mark against the Edge’s young, male listenership? Does the Edge’s plummeting listenership indicate that, among young men, borderline homophobia actually sells?

Because that, friends, would be a mighty shame. Your turn, Dean.