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John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. (born 2007 , rumors surfaced that Imus would be returning to broadcast radio.http://drudgereport.com/flash2ii.htm PERSONAL LIFE Don Imus was born in Riverside , California .1 He served in the Marine Corps from 1957 to 1959. When interviewed in '' Vanity Fair '', Imus stated that he dropped out of school while living in Prescott, Arizona , and joined the Marines, transferring from an Artillery unit to play the Bugle in the Drum And Bugle Corps . According to the interview, he received an Honorable Discharge , despite an incident when he and a friend stole the stars off a general's jeep and put them on their own vehicle. He subsequently worked as a Miner , gas station attendant, railway Brakeman and rock musician. Imus had battled Alcoholism during his early career in New York, but in 1987 finally pursued effective treatment. ( As Of 2006 , he says that he has remained sober for 18 years and counting2). In 1988, with his Cocaine and alcohol addictions now part of his self-publicity, Imus reshaped his show from strictly comedy into a forum for political issues, charitable causes and news-based Parodies . In 1979, he divorced his first wife, Harriett, and he married his second wife, Deirdre Coleman on December 17 , 1994 . He has four daughters from his first marriage and one son, Frederick Wyatt ( Nickname d Wyatt, born July 3 , 1998 ), from his current marriage. Both Don and Deirdre Imus are Vegetarian s. In 1999, Imus and his wife founded the Imus Ranch , a working cattle ranch near Ribera, New Mexico , 50 miles southeast of Santa Fe . The Imus Ranch is a charitable organization for children with Cancer , as well as siblings of SIDS victims. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, the Imus family goes to the New Mexico ranch. Until the cancellation of his show on April 12 2007 , Imus would broadcast from a studio there, while the rest of his cast broadcast from New York and New Jersey. In 2000, Imus suffered serious injuries after a fall from a Horse at his ranch, and broadcast several shows from a hospital. Imus maintains three residences, one in Manhattan , another in Westport , Connecticut , and one in Ribera , New Mexico .3 EARLY CAREER Imus began as a radio IMONTHE.Net when he left for a job at KJOY, a small radio station in Stockton, California . He was later fired for saying "hell" on air.4 After being fired in Stockton, he went to KXOA in Sacramento, California . His on-air pranks, such as calling up a restaurant and ordering 1200 hamburgers to go, made his show immensely popular and boosted ratings. ''IMUS IN THE MORNING'' See Also: Imus in the Morning After a stint at WGAR-AM in Cleveland, Ohio , Imus moved to New York City and WNBC in 1971, where he gained a reputation as a loose cannon who often favored crude humor. During this first stint at WNBC, Imus recorded three record albums, two for the RCA Victor label, (''1200 Hamburgers to Go'', including some of his more popular humor from KXOA, WGAR and WNBC broadcasts, and ''One Sacred Chicken to Go'', a primarily studio-created album centering on his satirical character, The Right Rev. Dr. Billy Sol Hargis) and one for the Bang label (''This Honky's Nuts'', an album of his stand up comedy act at the Manhattan nightclub "Jimmy's"). There was also a 1973 RCA Victor single, "Son of Checkers," issued by Imus. In 1977, WNBC fired Imus for unprofessionalism and abusing Cocaine and Alcohol ; he had missed one-hundred days of work in one year. Imus then returned to work in Cleveland at WHK and cleaned up his act somewhat. In 1978, Imus commuted between Cleveland and New York to tape a TV talk show, ''Imus Plus'' at WNEW-TV . (The show was nationally syndicated by Metromedia , which owned WNEW at the time.) Imus was reinstated in September 1979 as WNBC's morning Drive Time host. From 1982 to 1985, the station also employed talk-radio host Howard Stern , and WNBC heavily promoted the pair in print and television ads, which often featured the slogan "If We Weren't So Bad, We Wouldn't Be That Good." Although Stern's show aired later in the day, Imus and Stern often made brief appearances on each other's shows, giving the audience an occasional glimpse of an on-and-off-air rivalry that continued for many years. During this period, Imus was best known for character Billy Sol Hargis, a radio Evangelist whose name was a cross between infamous real-life radio and television preacher Billy James Hargis and real-life Texas Fertilizer Swindler Billie Sol Estes . As Billy Sol Hargis, Imus touted on-air the merits of the "First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship". Imus published the 1981 novel ''God's Other Son'' that further depicted Hargis's adventures. The novel was republished in 1994 and spent seven weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List .5 Other regular Imus characters included the supposed general manager "Geraldo Santana Banana", and "Moby Worm", a monstrous creature who devoured local schools (which was reported on the show's "breaking news updates"). Imus was also the utility announcer for Geraldo Rivera 's monthly TV series '' Good Night, America '', which aired as a recurring segment of ABC 's ''Wide World of Entertainment'' program. Imus was also the inaugural Video Jockey for the launch of the VH-1 cable network in 1985. In 1988, WNBC-AM was sold to Emmis Broadcasting , and consequently, WNBC-AM permanently signed off the air and Emmis' WFAN -AM was moved from 1050 AM to WNBC's former spot, 660 AM. ''Imus in the Morning'' remained at 660 AM among WFAN's sports programs with his music and comedy bits as the staples of the program, and the beginnings of a political forum. The radio show became nationally syndicated in 1993, and began Simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996. He wore his signature Cowboy Hat during his broadcasts. Imus is a friend and supporter of Opie And Anthony , also bitter rivals of Howard Stern, and it may even be fair to say that each show's biggest supporter is the other. He occasionally wore an Opie and Anthony XM Radio T-shirt during MSNBC broadcasts. In support of a what was originally a "stealth" publicity campaign, later acknowledged to be funded by XM Radio in support of the Opie and Anthony Show, Imus drew fire for quoting a billboard along Sunset Boulevard that stated "the average whore a gay Jew." The stunt enticed listeners to the show and produced a major bump in XM subscriptions during its brief 2 week tenure. Imus is generally credited - inadvertently or not - with drawing attention to the stunt. Imus’ behavior has often drawn the attention of the press. He famously called Rush Limbaugh "a fat, pill-popping loser" and Lesley Stahl a "gutless, lying weasel." His exchange of insults ("fat pig") regarding his show’s former news reader, Contessa Brewer , made news as did Brewer's response ("cantankerous old fool"). When Tucker Carlson brought up Brewer on the program in 2005, Imus hung up on him, calling him "a bowtie-wearing pussy." While on the air during the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Imus in the Morning program was among the few live American broadcasts to continue airing commercials well after the first reports of the attack. These commercials pre-empted word of the second plane hitting the south tower of the World Trade Center. The commercials that continued to air included one for a major airline, Continental, along with a jeweler based in the World Trade Center, and a spot read "live" on the air for a broadcasting school, in which it was said careers in broadcasting were "exploding." Imus noted the ironic writing, but continued reading the spot. His production staff also had great difficulty in simulcasting live TV news coverage when requested by Imus. Imus helped raise over $6 million toward Center For The Intrepid , a Texas rehabilitation facility for soldiers wounded in the War In Iraq . Considered to be the largest technological center of its kind in the country, it is designed to help treat disabled veterans and help them with their transition back into the community. More recently, Imus took on the cause of the living conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center . Imus' rants preceded Army resignations, including that of Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley , then Army Surgeon General. Imus had earlier criticized Kiley's personal fitness for military duty and dedication to wounded soldiers. The remarks which led to cancellation of show On became the first news outlet to report the remarks, transcribing:
The audio for the Imus incident can be found here , on YouTube . There were African-American players on both the Rutgers and Tennessee teams. Imus initially dismissed the incident as "some idiot comment meant to be amusing".101112 Two days later, amid mounting calls for his firing, Imus issued a statement of apology: :"I want to take a moment to apologize for an insensitive and ill-conceived remark we made the other morning regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team, which lost to Tennessee in the NCAA championship game on Tuesday. It was completely inappropriate and we can understand why people were offended. Our characterization was thoughtless and stupid, and we are sorry." On April 9 , Imus appeared on Al Sharpton 's syndicated radio talk show to address the controversy. Sharpton called the comments "abominable", " Racist ", and " Sexist ", and repeated his earlier demand that Imus be fired. Imus said, "Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far. Here's what I've learned: that you can't make fun of everybody, because some people don't deserve it."13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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