A follow-up to the Tom Barnard situation: According to an Associated Press story published on MSNBC's web site, Don Imus is returning to the radio airwaves. Citadel Broadcasting, to whom Disney sold most of its stations and the ABC Radio Networks, has hired Imus to take over the morning drive program on New York's WABC-AM starting December 3. No word yet on a syndication deal.
Imus, you'll recall, was fired from his radio and TV jobs last spring for making racially insensitive comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. This created a national debate over who can say what to whom without being publicly flogged for it.
Like Barnard, Imus had been getting away with questionable humor for many years, as long as the ratings were high and the money was rolling in. Unlike Barnard, Imus attracted guests from Washington and the news media, lending an air of credibility to what he was doing.
Apparently, Citadel (along with most of the radio establishment) felt that Imus has been rehabilitated enough. He'll fit right in with the other conservative talkers on WABC-AM: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
No other talk show host in America will be as scrutinized as Imus will be in the next few weeks. He can apologize all he wants for the hurt he has caused, but now he will have to earn the listening audience's trust and forgiveness.
UPDATE (1/23/18): Imus recently announced that his 45-year broadcasting career will end at the end of March. He's 77 now, and reports are that his departure has more to do with WABC-AM's current owner Cumulus going through bankruptcy, meaning they're trying to get out from under some money-losing contracts they can no longer afford. They might even sell a few stations if it comes to that. But whatever you think of Imus, it's still a loss for radio.
UPDATE (12/28/19): After a long and controversial career in radio, Don Imus passed away December 27 at the age of 79.
Cumulus has pretty much gotten out of the New York radio market, having sold most of its stations. WABC-AM was sold to a local New York company.
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2 comments:
Thank you, finally someone has come to there senses. I'll be waiting for Dec. 3rd. Is the whole crew coming back with Imus?
I was watching the morning that Imus made the comments. He was speficially commenting on the amount of tatoos that the girls on the team were wearing. It was referring to how one does not expect college women to look that
way. In all subsequent meetings, the team was always shown in jackets that covered them to their
neck and long sleeves. It may have
been insensitive, but there was
no malicious intent. He was vilified unfairly. Has he been insenitive on various things, yes..
but not worth losing his job over.
Cathy Hastings
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