Citadel Broadcasting Brings Don Imus Back
The big question of the moment is “how will Don Imus act on Monday?” He’s coming back to radio on the Citadel Broadcasting radio, after his eight-month time out for bad behavior.
The buzz will bring in lots of listeners, without a doubt. And a bit of cash, too. Imus’ show on Monday will be four hours long, and $100 tickets have already been sold to benefit the Imus Ranch for Kids With Cancer. The show will usually be aired from 6-9 a.m. weekdays.
From reading through the news stories and blogs, it looks like Imus will have a black person on as a guest fairly often, which is probably intented to temper some of the anger from civil rights leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton. A lot of people are still a bit miffed because Imus called the Rutgers University women’s basketball players "nappy-headed hos." This writer doubts that Imus has any major change of heart on the matter, and will continue to say and do whatever he believes will get him the greatest amount of controversy, and the largest number of listeners to his radio show.
Some folks disagree with me - especially the people who are banking on the radio celebrity’s successful comeback. "I don’t have any doubt on his future," said Phil Boyce, WABC-AM program director. "He’ll obviously be wiser, smarter and a bit more careful. He’s learned from this. I’m not concerned that he’ll have a repeat." According to Fox News, he then also went on to say "Obviously we are doing this because we think we can make more money," Boyce said. "There’s an opportunity to charge more for our advertising rates. I am not ashamed of saying it is about the money. We are running a business."
Fortunately for the people in this particular business, America’s listeners love a controversy, and we have a short attention span. Next time Imus comes up with an "unacceptable" remark, we’ll all be just as shocked as ever.
Just in case you missed that "nappy headed ho’s" comment, here you go: