Shocking But True: Imus Returns to Radio

Has it really only been six months? It seems like just yesterday that we had Don Imus to kick around. And his racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team seem as freshly offensive today as they did when he made them last Easter. Now, to no one's surprise, the self-styled "I-Man" is back, courtesy of the Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, which has announced that Imus will return to radio December 3 during morning drive time on WABC-AM in New York -- the same city where he was unceremoniously banished from the airwaves last spring.

To recap, briefly: Imus was up to his usual repugnant tricks of beating down the defenseless for cheap laughs when a sudden, perfect media storm erupted. The toxic combination of relentless, single-focus 24/7 news-cycle attention, sponsor desertion, and open employee revolt against executives at the corporations that distributed, enabled, promoted and protected Imus for so long suddenly toppled a man who had previously appeared immune to such pressures.

The surprising result -- after all, the loutish remarks and behavior of Imus and his on-air crew had been well documented for years -- was that, after first merely "deploring" their shock jock's characterization of the women as "nappy headed ho's," the corporate overlords at CBS and NBC were forced to suspend, and later fire, Imus for doing precisely what they had hired him to do in the first place: insult, "entertain," shock and enrage, thus creating controversy, boosting ratings, and making more money for himself, themselves, and the companies behind the whole pathetic crew.

Now the man even the normally staid Associated Press has taken to calling "the Rasputin of radio" is back from the brink, and, as the AP notes, "poised to do it again." I can't wait!

Neither can the I-Man's new bosses, apparently. "We are ecstatic to bring Don Imus back to morning radio," WABC President and General Manager Steve Borneman told the press. "Don's unique brand of humor, knowledge of the issues and ability to attract big-name guests is unparalleled. He is rested, fired up and ready to do great radio." And Citadel Broadcasting CEO Farid Suleman also defended Imus, telling The New York Times, "He didn't break the law. He's more than paid the price for what he did."

Las Vegas-based Citadel, which bought WABC and other ABC radio stations from Walt Disney Company last year, now owns more than 240 radio stations around the country. Its flagship station already airs other top-ranked, nationally syndicated right-wing talkers such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin -- a "galaxy of stars," according to station manager Borneman, who called Imus, "certainly an amazing addition to our station and for our company." And Phil Boyce, vice president of news-talk programming for Citadel, gushed to the New York Times that "The chance to get Don is something we couldn't pass up." Boyce also said he expected other Citadel radio affiliates to carry Mr. Imus's show, but declined to identify which ones yet.

WABC station representatives confirmed that they will bring back much of the original cast of Imus' previous show, including his longtime "news anchor" Charles McCord. No mention was made of fellow cast member Bernard McGuirk, whose hateful observations about the Rutgers women's basketball team provoked the affair that got Team Imus fired in the first place, but it's safe to assume that McGuirk will return in some suitably slithery role as well.

Although his supporters try to differentiate Imus from other conservatives who dominate talk radio, and claim he is "more liberal" because his guests include media luminaries (some slightly left of center) such as Frank Rich of The New York Times, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell and Tim Russert of NBC, and political bigwigs such as Senators John Kerry and Bob Kerrey, the political dimensions and ramifications of the current round of hiring and firings at WABC seem fairly clear. The new Imus show will replace a more politically balanced program that was quite popular locally -- more highly rated, in fact, than the previous Imus show on WFAN, which it aired opposite.