Imus Is Back!
But Not Quite Live! Bloodied Radio Cowboy Returns Dec. 3 With 21-Second Delay; WABC Says Ad Sales Going at Fast Clip; First Day’s Guest, Carville; Ambivalent Russert Battered on Blogs
“I think I’ve had some history of defending friends of mine that have been in uncomfortable circumstances,” said James Carville. “I defend the speaker, not the speech. If there’s no redemption, what are we here for?”
Mr. Carville, speaking by phone to The Observer on Monday, was referring to his former boss, President Clinton, but also to another public figure undone by his own indiscipline: Don Imus, the irreverent, sensitive, occasionally boorish, and strangely compelling radio talker who in April was fired from CBS for referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as--remember 2007?--“nappy-headed ho’s.”
Redemption! Since the dark days of April, Mr. Imus, 67--a denizen of Central Park West, and one of the paradigmatic radio heroes of the 90’s--has accomplished the beginnings of a media resurrection. Last month, he siged a 5-year deal with Citadel Broadcasting, through which he’ll return to the radio on December 3rd, as the host of a morning drive time show on the company’s WABC, the top-ranked AM radio station in New York City. The agreement, which will end Mr. Imus’ six-month sabbatical, is reportedly worth between $5 and 8 million annually—a pay-cut from Mr. Imus’ $10 million annual salary at CBS.
Still, his freedom will be curtailed: CBS kept him on only a five-second tape delay, which it rarely used, according to Martin Garbus, Mr. Imus’ lawyer. But a wary WABC told The Observer they’ll have him on a 21-second delay, giving them ample time to bleep out anything...troublesome. It may not be pure democracy, but at least he hasn’t abandoned the wide-open spaces of AM radio for the paywall of XM.
Crucially, many of Mr. Imus’ big-name guests from the worlds of politics and media appear ready to welcome him back with open arms, unconcerned about the inevitable charges that by returning to the scene of the crime, they’re accessories to buddy-buddy bigotry. Indeed, Mr. Carville—not a man known for turning down opportunities for publicity—told The Observer that he’s already locked in as a guest on Mr. Imus’ first day back.
The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta was similarly unequivocal. “I said I wouldn’t go on at the time of the controversy,” he told The Observer. “But I wouldn’t make that same claim today. Because I think people deserve second chances. If you believe in rehabilitation, if you don’t believe in the death penalty, you believe that some people can be reformed and changed.”
Of course, for Mr. Imus’ new employer, redemption and rehabilitation are secondary concerns. “Obviously, there are a couple of reasons to look at him, but the biggest reason is the revenue opportunity,” said Phil Boyce, WABC’s operations manager. “There’s a lot of money to be made there. And we’re in the business of making money.”
And even after his fall from grace, Mr. Imus would appear to be a safe bet on that score. Mr. Boyce said that a number of national advertisers had already lined up behind Mr. Imus, though he declined to name any. “I can tell you from talking to our sales force that’s out pitching the show, I don’t think they have had a great deal of resistance,” he said.
Mr. Imus’ reach will be diminished, at least to start off. At the end of his tenure at CBS, his show was syndicated on about 60 stations around the country, giving him over 2.5 million listeners a week, according to an estimate by Michael Harrison, a talk-radio expert and the publisher of Talkers magazine.
But WABC execs say they have syndication deals in the works. They wouldn’t elaborate, but Mr. Harrison said that with the syndication and the muscle of the ABC radio network behind him, Mr. Imus could get his audience up to as high as 6-10 million listeners a week, within the next year. “Citadel has a lot to prove,” he said. “This is their first major aggressive move. They’re going to want to make it work.”
And publishers are guessing that his former power—second only to Oprah, say industry experts—to move books off shelves simply by using his show to give a platform to authors, will be undiminished. “I don’t think he’ll miss a beat,” said Seale Ballenger, a publicist at William Morrow. “I think his show will pick up right where he left off, and I think it’ll be just as important as it was in its previous incarnation.”
According to Mr. Boyce, for the past couple of weeks since the deal was inked, Mr. Imus, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has been micromanaging every facet of the soon-to-launch program, from the sound of the jingles to the look of the clock, to the frequency and timing of the commercial breaks. “He’s intimately involved with these decisions,” said Mr. Boyce. “This isn’t a guy who is sitting back with his feet propped up letting other people put this show on the air.”
One of Mr. Imus’ priorities seems to be bringing back his old gang. Charles McCord, Mr. Imus’ longtime on-air sidekick, will return to the show, according to Mr. Boyce. And Bernard McGuirk, the producer who, during an on-air call, goaded Mr. Imus into making his fateful comments about the Rutgers team, is rumored to have an off-air role—though Mr. Boyce wouldn’t comment on it. Next Page >
I can't wait for dec. 3rd!!!!!!!!It will be so refreshing to finally hear someone express an original thought and be honest about it. As for those wonderful loyal friends that abandoned Imus I hope he never speaks to them again!!!! This means you, Newsweek (which I never would buy another copy) and all of MSNBC--Harold Ford Jr. and the rest of those spineless wanabees. I do hope however that a television network picks up the program. Congratulations Imus and Citadel. Good Luck!!
Yes! I am so happy he is back. I too hope it gets picked up by a tv station. I am just glad he's back doing what he does best. Best of luck!
I'm happy beyond words to see my favorite media bigot returning to the airwaves to spew his racist, homophobic, hate-filled spew! And what a thrill it will be to see political figures and the media elite brown-nosing Central Park West Cowboy Don.
I love Imus and his show and just wish he would go on Sirius or XM and as far as the guests.....I think he will get a lot of former pundits to return but those that bailed because of their feigned shock..Screw them! Screw that phony SOB Sharpton!
I'll take the 'CHAFF'(sophomoric, adolescent locker room banter, ridicule of even Me my Family and or our ethnicity or traditions) because the WHEAT(Meat, Pearls, Wisdom, Insanely Hilarious, Biting, Incisive, Humor and Declaration of The Emperors' Nakedness) are all WORTH IT AND SORELY MISSED TOO LONG!!!! Welcome Back IMAN, Please God, let them not have hamstrung you, or worse with this 21 second 'Brit'
I'm thrilled he's back on the air. But saddened I'll not be able to listen because I live in San Francisco and he isn't carried out here. Hopefully, he'll be picked up on Cable TV and my mornings will be again..... Entertaining ! I'm a non
politically correct queer who was never offended. Imus trashed everbody including himself. As for Russert, what a PC whimp, I turn the channel everytime he's on.
We've signed up for DirectTV so we won't miss a minute on 12/3 going forward (bye bye Time Warner). It's been such a long 8+ months of tedious morning programming and I'm so looking forward to hearing what the great man has to say about everything going on in our country, hearing some great music, getting turned onto some great books and having a good laugh in the morning. I'm thrilled Charles McCord, Bernard McGuirk and Lou Rufino will be back (and hopefully, Rob and Larry too, of course).
As for the NBC and Newsweek people, Imus fans don't miss them. We felt personally betrayed when they piled on last April and we're not feeling so forgiving yet...better start groveling if you want us to buy one of your stupid books again.
Thank you, Citidel and RFD-TV for making many, many of us very happy again.
I'm glad he's back. My god, mornings have been a lot less interesting lately.
One question: will the radio station management be savvy enough to post podcasts of the show like the sunday news talk shows do now, for those of us out here in the middlands who can't get the station on-air itself?
Please?
Neil J Robbins (above) likes to be insulted, so Neil, you shmuck with your sad excuse for an ethnicity, let's go bite the ass of the emperor together, you self-loathing sheep! yay!!! yay for sheep yay!!!
I'm very happy to read that my favorite morning curmudgeon is returning...and cannot think of a better tv venue than RFD TV. Really looking forward to Dec. 3.
Yes, he said a bad thing, and was totally contrite about it. And he's paid the price...so it's time to move on. The locker room banter was something I could have always done without, but he was on WFAN, which was a sports station, so locker room banter was appropriate.
The authors, political punditry and social causes (Vet treatment at Walter Reed and elsewhere), and great music are what I miss.
Does Mr. Tanenhaus now support all talk radio hosts or only the ones who are trendy at the moment and, more importantly, support his book?
Whoohoo..can hardly wait. I love Imus. He trashed everyone if they deserved a trashing. The Rutgers girls did not deserve a trashing, it all was lead by that idiot Bernard, who is a pig.
It was started as a joke, not a very good one, by Bernie. Bernie is gross and disgusting. Imus foolishly joined in.
Imus had done so much for kids. He was involved in many many projects to help kids, and our soldiers. He did a lot of good for this country.
I am glad he is coming back. However, I am sure there are a lot of political people that are not. He held their feet to the fire. If caught lying or talking crap, Imus let them have it. He hates the war, the lying bunch of scum in the White House, and I will always think that that is the main reason he was shoved out so fast.
But now, its time to be happy. Imus is back.
Congratulations Imus and the crew too !!! As far as I am concerned you never should have been removed from the air in the first place. Citadel is smart to pick you up. I will never look at Harold Ford the same. I do not watch MSNBC any longer either, and all the others that dropped you in the grease. I have dropped them.
Good luck, and congratulations again.
WELCOME BACK DON IMUS! WE HAVE MISSED YOU!
It was never a question that Don Imus was returning, it was where and when.
Citadel Broadcasting/WABC Radio has made a great choice. Mr. Farid Suleman, CEO of Citadel should be commended for the futuristic vision he has.
To hate "IMUS" is to love him. Most listeners to the soon to be former C and K show on WABC are too young to appreciate the humor Mr. Imus has given the masses since the early 70's. And now being simulcast on RFD-TV via DirectTV, Dishnetwork and various Cable Companies in the U.S., he will give "Morning Joe" the death nil. He will also give Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton on WFAN (Imus' former employer) some terrific competition. Guess they will have to kick it up a notch or they will be in the trash bin within a year. Or will become the sportscasters on the hour for another team.
But that is the price CBS and MSNBC will have to pay for being crazy back in April. They had the gold, and let it slip through their hands.
December 3rd is less then 19 days away. So set your dial to 770 on your AM dial or one of the many local affiliates in your area. You will be glad you did. I know I am. And Hillary Clinton is also.
It will be great to have Imus back. I am looking forward to December 3. He was gone way too long.
previosu poster says it will be so good to "finally hear someone express an original thought and be honest about it."?
Tell me, what's so original about bigotry? There are plenty of hacks about who will do it for less than 8 million.
Question. Is Mr. Imus going to be on TV any time soon?
Question. Is the Imus show going to be televised? If so when?
Would it have killed the Observer writer to mention whom Imus is replacing in that morning time slot on WABC? I assume it's not just dead air, waiting to be filled.
How could you think about putting Imus on Sirius Radio? To compete with the great Howard Stern would be impossible. I'm not sure what kind of audience Imus pulls.. but it's obviously right wing.
Baba Booey
Theh show will be on RFD-TV which is carried on Dish and DirectTv and some cable stations...call your cable provider and beg that they carry it although Time Warner has been less than responsive to me so I've signed up for DirectTv.
Goodbye Morning Joe, it's been...ahhh...painful! Welcome back, Imus in the Morning. This is an early Christmas present for us!
While there has been fan support for him in situations like this (with provocation), I am surprised that a man with so many listeners disappeared from the scene with barely a peep. There has been NO public clamor for his return. The pols & pundits miss him because they can't use his show for their agenda. The public could care less. Why doesn't he take a longer break? America has moved on. I think we have a 60 year old janitor here at work that is more in tune with what is going on in the world AND communicates more clearly than Imus. I honestly think you could find a better radio host if you randomly chose from a crowd.
ap/radius new york
It is commendable that Citadel/WABC-AM has the chutzpah to confront the thought-police of the Guaranteed Outcome Administration. Imus/Bernie did make a mistake, but both were appropriately contrite and it appears NBC and Viacom are the real losers in this story.
Good. I missed Imus, the gasbagcurmudgeon that he is.
And as far as the 21 second delay is concerned, there are stations in New York who digitally delay thier programming by up to 40 seconds with a combination delay and software that recognizes and "bleeps" non-permitted words/phrases automatically. Cheap memory chips and big FCC fines made it both feasible and necessary.
Welcome Back Imus..
In the words of that paragon of prayer, Reverend, Dr. Billy Sol Hargis, "Say, 'Hallelujah!!!'".
Been listening since Imus was new in New York and I was in high school. Missed him when he was canned back in the 70's for a softer more gentle morning show morning jock. Remember "Hi, I'm Eli", yech. Mercifully that banishment also only lasted months and then NBC came to their senses and brought him back.
Never thought he was a bigot, of course as he got older (and sober and cranky) he just stopped caring what people thought and said what came to mind. Uh, what most of us would like to do. Better yet he got paid for it, got to gab with interesting guests and used his celebrity for some very worthwhile causes. Not a bad record for a non-PC curmudgeonly old geezer.
Keep it cool, man! We need you to protect us against Darth Vader and his puppet. You know, the little one who likes to play president; I call him George III.
I only wish his father, George II, had practiced withdrawal 60 or so years ago.
Keep it cool, man! We need you to protect us against Darth Vader and his puppet. You know, the little one who likes to play president; I call him George III.
I only wish his father, George II, had practiced withdrawal 60 or so years ago.
Been a fan since the ( outrageous )mid 70's and well remember that disastrous stand up schtick at that theater in Danbury in the 80's bringing along my then 14 or 15 year old son, when one of Don's staff came into the audience warning us that Mr Imus' material was not suitable for young children, not to worry, turns out that my hero was so out of it on whatever drug or alcohol that was in his system that his act lasted about 20 minutes and he had to be helped of stage. Various rehabs in place Don made an a remarkable comeback over the years that should make of all people, the Rev Al proud, but enough of him, so i'd say WELCOME BACK IMUS and please remain your irreverend self. GOOD LUCK.