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| Don Imus July 23, 1940-December 27, 2019 |
Imus was 79. His passing was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
"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," Imus' family said in a statement.
John Donald Imus Jr. known for his radio show Imus in the Morning which aired on various stations and digital platforms nationwide until 2018. He attended broadcasting school in the 1960s and secured his first radio job in 1968 at KUTY in Palmdale, California. Three years later, he landed the morning spot at WNBC 660 AM in New York City; he was fired in 1977.
In 1979, Imus returned to WNBC and stayed at the station until 1988 when the show moved to WFAN. He gained widespread popularity when the show entered national syndication in 1993. He was labelled a "shock jock" radio host throughout his later career. He retired from broadcasting in March 2018 after nearly 50 years on the air, and died the following year.
In 1966, Imus enrolled at the Don Martin School of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences in Hollywood after seeing a newspaper advert; he was thrown out for being "uncooperative", but studied enough to obtain a broadcasting license as required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Upon winning a talent contest at Johnny Otis's night club, he worked as a singer-songwriter with Otis serving as his manager. After hearing a morning radio DJ at KUTY in Palmdale, California, Imus went to the station and successfully persuaded the owner to hire him. He signed on the air on June 2, 1968. It was at KUTY where Imus began his on-air character Billy Sol Hargus, a radio evangelist named and inspired by preacher Billy James Hargis and businessman Billie Sol Estes. Imus was an instant success at the station; in two months, he had become number one in the ratings for his time slot and earned a Billboard Award for Air Personality of the Year in a medium-sized market.
Imus then had a short stint at KJOY in Stockton, California, from which he was fired. Imus moved to KXOA in Sacramento, California, which became known for his prank call to a local McDonald's restaurant as a National Guard official to order 1,200 burgers for troops. The segment influenced a later FCC ruling that required all radio DJs to identify themselves when they make phone calls on the air. In 1970, Imus left KXOA for WGAR in Cleveland, Ohio, for a $50,000 salary.[14] In 1971, he won his second Billboard Award, this time in the major radio market category.[9]
On December 2, 1971, less than three years into his radio career, Imus started his morning show at WNBC in New York City, with a $100,000 per year salary. On his second day, he overslept and missed the show.
Imus was involved in various projects during his time at WNBC. He released three albums containing radio segments and songs: 1200 Hamburgers to Go (1972), One Sacred Chicken to Go (1973), and This Honky's Nuts (1974). The latter features material from his stand-up comedy at Jimmy's club in Manhattan.
Imus started to drink heavily during this period which soon affected his working life. He started to miss work and became increasingly unmanageable. He missed 100 days of work in 1973. In August 1977, WNBC decided to reformat the station and let go of their on-air staff. Imus described himself as "awful" and "a jerk" during this time. He returned to Cleveland and began an afternoon drive show on WHK in 1978. He found the experience humiliating, but took the job in order to earn money and "get my act together".During this time, Imus recorded episodes of IMUS, plus..., a late night talk show on WNEW-TV5 in NYC..
On September 2, 1979, Imus returned to the air in mornings at WNBC from 5:30 am. By this time, Imus had started to use cocaine until he quit in 1983. He continued to drink, and his on- and off-air behavior became erratic; he turned up for work without shoes and slept on park benches with large amounts of money in his pocket.
In April 1981, Imus renewed his contract with WNBC with a five-year deal worth $500,000 a year with bonuses if he surpasses ratings targets. Following the addition of Howard Stern in afternoons in 1982, he and Imus began a longtime feud though both were paired on WNBC print and television advertisements.
In July 1981, Imus released his first book, God's Other Son, a novel about the life of his on-air character Billy Sol Hargus that he wrote with McCord. It was republished in 1994 and spent seven weeks on The New York Times best seller list. By October 1981, Imus was the most popular radio DJ in the US, reaching 220,000 regular listeners and number one in 12 of 13 demographic categories.
On October 7, 1988, after WNBC was sold to Emmis Broadcasting, the station permanently signed off the air to have WFAN, the nation's first all-sports station, move to the station's signal. All the station's staff was let go apart from Imus and his radio show team, who stayed to become WFAN's morning show.
In 1989, Imus signed a five-year deal to continue his show on WFAN. In April 1989, Imus was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
The show became nationally syndicated in June 1993 when it was simulcast on WEEI in Boston, followed by four other stations nationwide. The began simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996.
On January 22, 2018, Imus announced that the show would air its final episode on March 29, 2018. While his contract with Cumulus Media was set to end in December, the company requested that he retire sooner as a cost-savings measure due to the company's bankruptcy.
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