Imus To Finalize Radio Return This Week

Variety:

Embattled radio jock Don Imus is close to inking a multimillion-dollar deal to return to radio with Citadel Broadcasting, owner of ABC Radio Networks.

Deal, expected to be finalized this week, would put Imus back on the air on New York City's WABC-AM, the nation's largest talkradio station, as of Dec. 3.

Imus is seeking a TV element to his radio deal similar to what he had at MSNBC when he was with CBS Radio. That would give him a national platform and, perhaps, the ability to regain some of the high-profile personalities on which he used to depend as guests.

Deal would put Imus in competition with his former employer, CBS Radio, but in a much diminished form. WABC was Imus' main competition in New York when he was on WFAN-FM, but unless Citadel syndicates the show or he lands a TV deal, Imus becomes a well-paid but local personality with limited national pull.

Read the whole story: Variety

Comments

[gman87]

I am reasonably sure that the Clinton Machine was behind much of the hand-wringing that forced Imus off the air, for Hillary was the target of many of his rants.

Looking forward to Imus mercilessly attacking Hillary from 3 December to the election in November.

[manymoons]

Hallelujah, we get our show back soon.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=192961944&blogID=320066345

[xapim22]

I'm glad Imus is coming back and I hope he does not change at all and for all of you that don't like don't listen it is just that simple.

[juleso]

Imus back on in 46 days!!

[dba]

Shut down BET, fire Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, the rappers and their producers. Are you as outraged by the fact that they have accumulated billions of dollars by denigrating the women of their own community? The NABJ’s hypocrisy is staggering and appalling. By what right does the NABJ appoint itself as the authority to decide who should or should not be employed? "Protests" and "marches" now and again will not suffice, nor will "recommendations" by Russell Simmons to refrain from such language. I am also still waiting for Sharpton to organize a boycott of the advertisers who sponsor misogynistic videos on BET and rap lyrics on the radio’s public airwaves. Will the rappers apologize to the women in their community?

A racist would not have supported Harold Ford Jr for the senate. A racist would not have called out the administration' dismal response to Katrina as rooted in the fact that the victims were African-Americans and not white, just to name a few examples of the ignorance of those who had never listened to the show except for the joke that he acknowledged was ill-conceived, and for which he apologized.

From my perspective as a liberal feminist and female listener, the feminists of yesteryear propelled us to positions of unimagined strength and power. But, thanks to the new generation of NOW and its PC cohorts, today’s generation has transformed us into whining victims in need of protection, lacking the spine to laugh at ourselves and laugh off tasteless and poorly conceived humor, or at least, to dish it right back.


The “market” did not fire Don Imus since we, the listeners/consumers are the market, and Capus and Moonves did not consult with us. It is a mind-boggling disgrace that such craven “executives” caved into a group of employees when making a business decision, rather than considering the actual consumers/listeners who buy pay their salaries by tuning in and buying the advertised products.

[Ginzaman]

Impeach Bush and Cheney

[Carolinagreens]

Hello - Don Imus advertisers: come on back because I Fans are buying what you're selling!

[SadAmerican]

Where in the above post does it state a quote re: "Morning Joe We're in Trouble"????????
The only current morning program, even worth watching is CNN American Morning. They give the news and are NOT hot-shot hosts, like all the rest !!! Without a doubt, Joe is the worst!!

Why does HuffPo print such misleading headlines?

I can't wait for Imus to return. I just hope it will not only be heard by local listeners. He needs a National audience.

I say to the people who don't like him, turn off the radio. I personally hate Rap; so I don't listen to it or buy the CD's. Simple solution!!!!

[kroses98]

CNN is so biased that I barely turn it on anymore. This includes the two on the morning show!

[baygirl]

And that Morning Joe on MSNBC is doing so well it scratched in the ratings on Monday! MSNBC is pathetic and will probably go out of business soon and be swallowed up by NBC News judging from all the layoffs.

[baygirl]

Imus in the Morning is my favorite show and I will be tuning in and I suggest you don't if you don't like him!

[longhairrepublicansurfer]

What many fail to realize about Imus is that he was increasingly, quickly moving to the Left. He regularly called Dick Cheney "that fat war criminal", or "that fat bastard". He was the only big audience host who had Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Howard Fineman of Newsweek, and Chris Matthews on his show ALMOST EVERY WEEK! He fought big Pharma for poisoning children and creating many cases of Autism - again REGULARLY. He thought Bush was a dope, Iraq was a disaster, and raised many TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars to help kids with cancer. Yet, for some off the cuff remark, you people threw him under a bus. I don't envy what you'll get in return when he returns.

[truthyguy]

I think he is a bigger man than that. I expect the same honest tell it like it is commentary when he is being serious.

[dadw5boys]

FINE MAN? WHAT A JOKE!
HE SCAMS A CHARITY THAT IS SUSPPOSE TO HELP KIDS WITH CANCER FOR MILLIONS CHARGING $3,000 A NIGHT AT HIS RANCH.
30 TIMES WHAT OTHER CHARTIES CHARGE.

[steamboat]

Regardless of his politics (whether neo-lib, liberal, moderate, conservative, or neo-con) the FIRST AMENDMENT gives him the right to say what he wants. As long as it isn't an endangerment to people (such as yelling 'fire' in a theatre). He has RIGHTS, also. So who cares what a Jackson or a Sharpton thinks. There just a couple of hypocrites anyway.

[kevenseven]

The first amendment enjoins the government from restricting his speech without good reason.

CBS and ABC are under no such restriction. Imus has no more "right" to a talk show on CBS than I do.

Yes, Imus has the right to say "skanky hos" or whatever, but CBS is not required to give him a platform. He can indeed lose his job and his platform if his employer decides that is the way it is going to be.

[9Hockeyman]

You do not have to be on the left to call Dick Cheney a war criminal. That is the truth. If you cannot see that, then you are a moron. He also had Republicans on left and right. He had man-love Santorium, Crazy JD Hayworth, JC Watts, Bill Frist, Mary Matlin, old man Bush and other conservatives. You people. You are the idiot.

[PTBartman]

And He had HArold Ford, Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Kerry, George Carlin etc etc and so on...

He was neither right or left just truly fair and balanced.

[Nonamnesiac]

He also supported Kerry for President, but was supporting "Kill-em-all" McCain this time.

I think his comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team was way over the line, but no different from similar comments stereotyping Blacks, Hispanics and women negatively he has made for 30 years. I believe the reason it was jumped on this time is because of his effective oppostion to the war. Imus's base was the Reagan Democrats, and he effectively argued to them against the war. The right feared his effect on the Reagan Democrats, because it wants them voting Republican. Just before this happened, the pro-war crowd tried to convince him to go to Iraq, figuring that he'd meet some troops and be reluctant to condemn the war.

If he gets TV, I hope he's on opposition Morning Joe. Joe Scarborough is simply a Dixiecrat philosopher who opposes using racial epithets. On every issue that has a racial component, he either denies the racial component or supports the racist side (e.g. he favored the Supreme Court's reversal (in reality) of Brown v. the Board). He is far more racist than Imus, but Imus really has to cut out the racist and sexist remarks he regularly used and keep Bernie off the show.

[AurigaRa]

ooohhh I'm a scared! Maybe he will will have Rick Santorum on as a co host.

What have we become when we praise a TV personality for telling the goddam truth?

[kroses98]

That is the REAL reason he is gone!

[kroses98]

The above comment was meant as a response to longhairrepublicansurfer.

[purplepeopleeater]

TRUTHGUY...Sharpton and Jackson lost their credentials as reverends during the persecution of a fine man.

The only thing they reved up was racial tensions.

[dadw5boys]

FINE MAN? WHAT A JOKE!
HE SCAMS A CHARITY FOR MILLIONS CHARGING $3,000 A NIGHT AT HIS RANCH.
30 TIMES WHAT OTHER CHARTIES CHARGE.

[truthyguy]

Has anyone cleared this with those pillars of virtue Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson?

[AurigaRa]

It's wrong to criticize David Rockefeller or the Rothschild family....they have done SO MUCH charity work.

[SmellyOne]

Good for Imus.

Exceptionally talented broadcaster.

Looking forward to seeing if he's changed more than Paris Hilton has.

[abbiehoffmansghost]

Hi Stinky. I figured that you'd be an Imus fan.