Everything Imus: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Don Imus | Jim Reed

Everything Imus: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Don Imus | Jim Reed | A happy-headed Joe

books:

Everything Imus: A...

	Everything Imus: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Don Imus Jim Reed Birch Lane Press, 1999 - 211 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

Shock jock. Curmudgeon. New York's Dirty Little Secret. Morning Mouth. Radio's first bad boy. All of these have been used to describe John Donald Imus Jr.--and all of them are squarely on target. For over twenty-five years, Don Imus has been spewing his own antic brand of venom over the nation's airwaves, at times entertaining nearly fifteen million listeners a week.

Imus's rocky road to glory is recounted for the first time in Everything Imus. Author Jim Reed, who hosts one of the most successful Imus Web sites on the Internet, has crafted a lighthearted but in-depth profile of one of radio's most controversial personalities. Named one of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential People of l997, Imus has had more than his share of career ups and downs. From U.S. Marine to starving musician, Imus made it to the top of the broadcast heap in just four years. Along the way, he battled serious drug and alcohol abuse before becoming America's favorite acid-tongued shock jock.

Everything Imus chronicles Imus's public battles with politicians from both parties, including his skewering of President Clinton at the Washington Radio and Television Correspondent's Dinner in l996--which propelled the Imus show to "must-hear" status.

Everything Imus is certain to attract attention from the I-Man himself in view of his recent formation of a book club similar to Oprah Winfrey's. Unauthorized, hugely entertaining, and often laugh-out-loud funny, Everything Imus is sure to become a hit.

for more information click here

A Good Read for I-Fans!

OK so it's not a pulitzer prize winner, but so what? Mr. Reed's book is written for the true Imus fan without the fancy words and long-winded accounts that make some books boring. If you like the Don Imus show, this book is a must. It takes you behind the scenes, introduces the cast of characters, as well as revisits Don's past. It's well researched and an enjoyable read.

A happy-headed Joe

You'll find this book somewhat amusing. It's everything you need to know about this "happy-headed Joe"* named John Donald "Don" Imus. Riverside,California-born Imus' radio career began back in the sixties somewhere in his native California. He wound up fired from one station for mentioning the word "hell" on the air. Now,how controversial can that be? That was a "picnic" compared to the offensive and upsetting comment he made on April 4. Secondarily,Imus was once a stand-up comedian recording a few albums. From 1971 to April of this year,Imus broadcast from New York-based WFAN 660 AM(originally WNBC) on and off. Throughout his career,he sparked some controversy several times,delivering slurs to various races. A quarter-century ago,Imus met his new fellow WNBC employee,Howard Stern who had just come from DC 101 in Washington,D.C. Prior to the events of April 4,not many people labeled Imus a "shock jock" as much as Stern. Also,a quarter-century ago,Imus was New York's(and probably America's) #1 disc jockey. Stern would later surpass Imus in the Arbitron ratings. Every disc jockey has his/her own fortes,Imus' being politics and country music and Stern's being supermodels,adult film actresses,heavy metal music and dysfunctional individuals. Although they later became friends,Imus refused to meet Stern when he arrived at WNBC in August 1982. Stern was instead given a "F--- OFF!" by Imus(you can see this in the 1997 Paramount film PRIVATE PARTS starring Stern and based on his autobiography of the same title). Imus remained at WNBC in September 1985 when Stern got the boot(the same happened to Stern at some of his previous stations). The call letters were changed to WFAN on October 8,1988 and the station became round-the-clock sports discussion. Subsequently,Imus married his current wife Deidre in 1994 and they had son named Wyatt. Imus and his brother Fred wrote a short large-print book and both marketed a line of edibles. Now for the April 4 events:Imus was talking about on his long running program "Imus In The Morning",the basketball game between two college teams,New Brunswick,New Jersey-based Rutgers University Scarlet Knights and the other,Tennessee-based. Imus watched the game on television when it aired the previous evening. It was okay to label the all-female players as "cute" and say they have tattoos. Unfortunately,one RUSK player,who is black,heard the comment Imus made and it offended her. Another player,who is also black,even sued Imus. So the offended players got a hold of WFAN and the station took action along with Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk,who himself made an offensive comment as well,got the boot from WFAN. Imus delivered an on-air apology before his firing and also on Jackson's radio show. Despite the apology,Imus was not forgiven by the offended. This,I believe,will not be the end of 67-year-old Imus' career. If he hasn't yet done so,Imus will have to tame his schtick in order to return to the public airwaves. He should re-join Stern on Sirius(pay) radio and if that happens,there will be no censorship at all. Stern left New York-based WXRK(K-Rock) 92.1 FM in 2005 after 20 years with the station because of higher salary offers and he let his contract with Infinity,the company that owns K-Rock,run out. You can check out some sample telecasts of IITM,which made its television debut in 1995 on the cable channel MSNBC,on youtube.com. The TV broadcasts went along with Imus' firing in April. My father and my late maternal grandfather loved listening to Imus' radio program. May Imus continue his career for many more years. *The need-not-be-mentioned comment rhymes with this quote.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

products you might be interested in

recommendations

The EVERYTHING List