Perhaps senility was setting in:
Posted on 12/27/2019 7:11:25 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The controversial radio personality passed away on Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas. Don Imus, the radio personality whose insult humor and savage comedy catapulted him to a long-lasting and controversial career, has died at 79. His three-hour radio program, Imus in the Morning, was widely popular, especially with the over 25-male demographic.
Imus died Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, after being hospitalized on Christmas Eve, a representative said. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Mike and the Mad Dog host Mike Francesca tweeted Friday, "Shocking news on the passing of my friend, Don Imus. He will long be remembered as one of the true giants in the history of radio."
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough added, "Morning Joe obviously owes its format to Don Imus. No one else could have gotten away with that much talk on cable news. Thanks for everything, Don." Morning Joe started as a fill-in for Imus in the Morning after Imus was fired from MSNBC in 2007.
Imus in the Morning, which debuted on WNBC-AM in New York in 1971, most recently reached radio listeners via Citadel Media and was simulcast on the Fox Business Network.
Imus was loved or hated for his caustic loudmouth. Outspoken in an age of political correctness, his often coarse satire offended sensibilities. Yet his listeners included those whom he often ridiculed. His call-in guests included President Clinton, Dan Rather, Tim Russert, Bill Bradley, David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani and political analyst Jeff Greenfield, who once remarked, “He's out there talking the way most of us talk when we're not in public.”
He sparked national outcry in 2007 when he made derogatory, racist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. CBS Radio and MSNBC then dropped his show.
He rebounded by signing a multiyear contract with the Fox Business Network in 2009 to simulcast Imus in the Morning from 6-9 a.m., with Fox anchors appearing during the program.
Imus battled a lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol. In 2009, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Imus was often compared to syndicated shock jock Howard Stern, who also had a stint on WNBC radio early in his career, and they frequently appeared on each other's shows. Although Imus could not match Stern's audience in terms of numbers, advertisers were well aware of Imus' better-educated and richer demographic, often preferring him.
Imus in the Morning sandwiched music around his in-your-face commentary in which he mocked authority figures and ridiculed social and political problems. His no-holds-barred humor, including gags and pranks, spurred the onset of “shock jocks” like Stern. A mix of rock ’n’ roll, raunchy humor, call-ins and hard barbs, Imus in the Morning was a huge hit.
He also performed stand-up for a time, garnering favorable reviews from such unlikely reviewers as The New York Times.
An active philanthropist, Imus and his wife, Deirdre, founded the Imus Ranch in 1999, where each summer children with cancer could enjoy the outdoors.
John Donald Imus Jr., was born on July 23, 1940, in Riverside, California. He was raised in Prescott, Arizona, where his family owned a large ranch. He dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Marines and after basic training won a chair in the band.
Following discharge, he worked at an array of odd jobs: window dresser (he was fired for staging mannequin striptease shows), uranium miner and railroad brakeman, where he suffered a serious neck injury and won a large cash settlement.
While recovering, he set his sites on becoming a disc jockey, ostensibly to play his own music on the airwaves. He moved to Los Angeles, enrolled in a Hollywood broadcasting school and landed his first deejay job at KUTY, a station in Palmdale, California.
During an eight-month stint there, he developed a skill for comic patter and moved to KJOY in Stockton, California, where he staged satirical social and political gags, including an Eldridge Cleaver look-alike contest when the Black Panther was on the lam. His station manager did not see the humor, and he was fired.
He moved to KXOA in Sacramento, where his satirical hijinks were appreciated by the station manager who counseled him that his humor would be more lethal and less likely to attract legal action. Intent on becoming more lethal, Imus created a slew of satirical characters, including the huckster Rev. Billy Sol Hargus.
His on-air antics infuriated authorities, including the FCC, which was not amused when he phoned a fast-food outlet and ordered 1,200 hamburgers and requested a bizarre array of toppings. The gag resulted in a ruling that deejays must identify themselves when making on-air calls. The clash with government authority, not surprisingly, boosted his ratings, and KXOA was No. 1 in Sacramento while he was there.
Imus is survived by his wife, Deirdre; sons Wyatt and Lt. Zachary Don Cates; and daughters Nadine, Ashley, Elizabeth and Toni.
"Don loved and adored Deirdre, who unconditionally loved him back, loved spending his time watching Wyatt become a highly skilled, champion rodeo rider and calf roper and loved and supported Zachary, who first met the Imus family at age 10 when he participated in the Imus Ranch program for kids with cancer, having battled and overcome leukemia, eventually becoming a member of the Imus family and Don and Deirdre’s second son," his family said in a statement.
The family will hold a private service in the coming days and asks for donations to be made to the Imus Ranch Foundation.
He was brilliant
It wasn’t a nice thing to say but I nearly drove off the road laughing :-))
RIP I-man.
It was only racist because they were black.
Nah. A lot of redheads have the same type of hair.
He called them his that’s why.
He called Hillary satan.
Haha, he knew how to compliment!
LOL! Never heard that one before. :-D
RIP, I-man.
I used to listen to him on my three hour commute from Western MA to Portland Maine. He was a fun listen. He had great guests and he knew what was what in politics.
He never offended ME. And if he had, I would have stopped listening.
Perhaps senility was setting in:
Pure Imus.
Imus was mostly a leftist, but an honest one. To me, “free speech” means Don Imus got to say whatever he wanted to say with no legal repercussions.
Most don’t remember that Imus cut a few comedy albums back in the day. He had one album of his prank calls on the radio, including the 1200 hamburger call. He also had one that included a bunch of his Billy Sol Hargus routines including the one where he asks the congregation if God talks to them.....”They’re going to lock your a$$ up....He don’t have time to talk to people. But He talks to me, and I talk to you”
He also did an album called “This Honky’s Nuts” - a direct response to Richard Pryor’s “That Nigger’s Crazy” album. The stuff he said on that album made the “nappy headed ho” comment that drove him off the radio sound like preschool talk. I used to have a copy, but don’t think I do any more - wonder if it’s still available? Talk about a snowflake trigger.
Yeah, but after his Nappy Hos observation, he folded like a cheap suit on his Apology Tour
Oh he did?
Ah, then I don’t care that he died :)
I didn’t know that. Wuss.
Classy
So ...
I have a question for yourself, or any of the other new-yawker’s out there.
Back in 1989, I spent some time as a co-op with IBM in lovely Poughkeepsie. On my way to ‘work’ in the morning, on the AM radio (crappy Ford Escort AM radio), I would catch this morning show out of NY with comedy bits, including one of the radio personalities would do this amazing Bullwinkle impression.
My favorite of these was Bullwinkle’s version of “Stairway to Heaven”.
Does anyone have any idea who that was, can it be found on youtube, anything like that?
Wondering...
I could tell you to go #### yourself but THAT’S not classy :)
With what you contribute to the board...it wouldn’t be wholly unwarranted
i’ve seen your drivel :)
Don’t know bro.
I actually only listened to Howard Stern and remember Imus when I was like 8 in my aunt’s car.
God forgive me I thought howard stern’s show was hysterical but incredibly crude and..
well I would still think it was hysterical!!!
Torn between humor and the decay of American society!!
RIP, Quack Quack!
He called them ho’s. It was a racial insult. And since he actually had nappier hair than the women on that team, that was also a racial insult.
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