CBS News was spinning hard last week over Katie Couric’s ratings drop in her fourth week on the air. Although Evening News slipped to No. 3, a CBS press release trumpeted her"unprecedented double-digit, across-the-board gains!" (The 25-54 demo was a dead heat.)
But it didn’t stop radio station WPLJ New York from mocking the ex-Today host’s ratings woes in a send-up set to the tune of Jimmy Buffett’s "Margaritaville." To hear the song, click here.
"They hired a honey for sick lots of money/hoping their news would become number one," goes the opening lyric. "They’re not even lurking. The plan isn’t working/Can’t beat Brian Williams or Charlie Gibson."
And here comes the chorus: "Cause poor Katie Couric can’t get out of her own way/And I bet she’s sorry that she left Today."
The song was written and performed by Todd Pettengill, co-host of WPLJ’s Morning Show. He was unavailable to comment, but his executive producer, Joe Pardavila, says the satire was nothing personal: "We like to skewer anybody, and Katie was that day’s target."
While it may be true, as the song notes, that "most people don’t give a rat’s ass anyway" about Couric’s ratings, the song may just turn the legions of Parrotheads (as Buffett fans are known) into Katie-heads.
