I’ve never heard of this Imus boob, but they claim he’s been a shock jock since the 1960’s! Is he out of NYC? And, how can you stop a person who has been doing this for 40 years and now it’s wrong? Not saying what he did was right, but you’ve let the genie out of the bottle long ago, folks who patronize this kind of show. I fail to understand how people get a kick out of trash…
Imus was originally from Cleveland in the late 60s but moved to New York in the early 70s. He’s a different type of jock than many: he’s funnier, for one, and doesn’t really use shock the same way. What got him in trouble here is his tendency to say things ironically – he doesn’t mean them, but says them with a straight face as a joke. (I remember back when he first came to New York how when mentioning one of his advertisers – a men’s clothing store – would say, very seriously, “If you buy a suit there, the arms will fall of.”)
So much of what he says he doesn’t mean. The problem is that he went into an area where that sort of joking is unacceptable.
He’s the guy they’re using to fill up all those inches/airtime that was originally blocked-off for Anna Nicole news.
He’s actually kind of interesting. He used to be a junkie, has really good taste in country western music (which I usually hate), has intelligent interviews with a variety of politicians and news people, and runs a camp for kids with cancer. On the other hand he is pussy whipped by his younger, hotter wife who never met an alternative medicine fad she didn’t like, has a frat boy sense of humor, and is racist and sexist.
He hasn’t really been doing this for 40 years. Part of his career was as a Top-40 morning DJ whose target audience was pre-teens to early 20s.
Sacramento, actually.
Though some of his comments may be in questionable taste, for the most part Imus is much more than a “shock jock”; indeed, many political figures make a point of stopping by the Imus program during their campaigns. For those of us over 30, this is far more satisfying radio than listening to lesbians spank each other.
Just MHO, you understand.
He’s a boring guy who has been saying bigoted crap for the last thirty years or so, yet somehow manages to stay around. He was a Top 40 DJ who managed to stay relevant in transition thanks to a few gimmicks. I sort of vaugely liked Moby Worm for a while.
Honestly, the pure sexism he exudes put me off of him over a decade ago. He’s a fossil of the 1960s… and I don’t mean the hip and happening 1960s.
He is, or was, Howard Stern’s arch enemy, or at least one of them. They worked together once and Imus used to big-time Stern if I remember correctly. The unfunny dick. Now apparently he is a weaselly unfunny dick as well.
Yes, want2know, I like to listen to lesbians spanking each other
Honestly, before this scandal I had only heard his name in the punch line of one of Dennis Miller’s jokes. Don’t feel bad that you’d never heard of him either.
I don’t think that anyone who calls him a “shock jock” has heard his show. Imus metamorphosized over the years, he started out as a more or less standard top 40 DJ, then, if you want to call him that, a shock jock with such daring lines as “Are your peaches fuzzy?” and telling female listeners to sit on the radio. Big deal. He was also the first host for VH1. I never really found him that shocking, and he was never as vulgar as Howard Stern. He eventually reached a point where he played almost no music, and mostly made fun of politics and politicians, then his station was taken over by an all sports station . He simply spoke a little bit more about sports but kept up the same thing. It was interesting to listen to his junkie type endless obsession and instant gratification take on everything, sort of like looking at a car wreck. To say he was (is) self absorbed is an understatement worthy of Mr. Spock. He had a sought after audience, male, relatively affluent, and eventually reached a point where top politicians would want to appear on his show - Clinton (the ex pres, not Satan, as he calls her), Bush Sr, Kerry, McCain, Lieberman, and so on. In general, he allowed the politicians and writers to state their case without seriously challenging them. He endorsed both liberal and conservative politicians, depending on his whim. He had also become a book club type host, with all the major popular historical and political writers wanting to pitch on his show - sort of the manly alternative to Oprah. Lately his program was more or less a leftwing country western metrosexual health food/greening-toxicity screech, probably due to his wife’s influence.
No, I don’t think Imus is that. It’s the name of an excellent book he wrote. The book is about either an insane televangelist or God’s other son, depending on how you look at it. The book contains incest, underage sex, drinking, swearing, smoking, and dwarf abuse. It also contains a slut who is a devout Christian, two lying televangelists who really believe their frauds lead people to Jesus, and an ignorant redneck who spouts racial epithets but truly believes all the races are equal and adopts a black teenager as his son.
I’ve read the thing I know not how many times. I’ve often considered starting a thread on it so Christian dopers can help me out. For example, on my first reading I didn’t realize that three incidents I took as evidence Billy Sol Hargus was delusional are based on the three temptations of Christ and could be read as proof of Hargus’ divinity.
I’ve never listened to Imus. But, the man can write like hell.
Broadway producer Jerry Zachs heard that Imus and good friend Kinky Friedman had written a musical version of God’s Other Son. He asked to hear it. His response was “If I try to bring this to Broadway, not only would it not win any Tony Awards, but the Tony Committee would revoke the Awards I already won.”
Yep, I always thought he was funny despite the sometimes questionable stuff he had Bernard say. I liked the deadpan humor. And I heard about 911 while listening to his show. But I don’t tune in very often and personally won’t miss it.
Time Magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He’s been on the cover of Newsweek. He’s been on 60 Minutes and many other programs. You don’t have to like him, but to minimize his celebrity is inaccurate, to say the least.
As I recall, Imus and Stern were actually generally worth listening to back when they did a show together in New York City. The fact that each men had a partner meant that they were forced to actually say something interesting or risk losing the audience’s attention to the other. But apparently neither like the effort and both men went on to the easier format of being the star of their own show and surrounding themselves with syncophants who were paid to be amused by anything the boss said.
Imus does a radio telethon every year for the CJ Foundation for SIDS (started by Joel Hollander, an executive at the radio whose daughter died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and raised money to have a children’s cancer center added to Hackensack Hospital. He also founded the Imus Ranch for children with cancer.
The man has done a lot of good in his life.
Specficially, they were generally worth listening to when they mainly played music.
ETA: I don’t recall them ever having a show together. Imus did the morning drive and Howeird did the afternoon drive.
It appears you are correct that they have two different shows. But WNBC, which broadcast both shows, often had them make promotional appearances on each other’s show.
He was on the Time list in 1997.
I heard him on the car radio a couple of times while driving thru the NYC area but couldn’t stomach it for more than 5 minutes.
How much was his 8-figure salary?