Imus Turns Off The Red Light
• Don Imus did his final radio show on Thursday at Cumulus News-Talk WABC/New York, and over the course of the shortened broadcast, it was pure Imus, as he veered from one emotional extreme to another, by turns grateful, nostalgic, proud and boastful while also saving time at the end to take some parting shots at some of his critics and rivals.
Modest to the end, Imus said, “I know this in my heart… there’s been nobody ever better on the radio than me… and I mean that. And I’m not patting myself on the back. I’m telling you how it is. Nobody ever did this… nobody.”
Downshifting into a more tender gear, Imus also spoke fondly of the millions of dollars his listeners had donated to his Imus Ranch charity, saying, “You did that. You gave me that money. Every time I asked you for something, you gave it to me,” he marveled. He also spoke of the times he got fired and his fans stayed with him.
As the show started to wind down, the periods of silence between thoughts grew longer as Imus fought back tears as he addressed what he had described as that “one person” he had always pictured, saying, “You have no idea how much I’m going to miss you.”
Rounding the clubhouse turn and headed for home, Imus let loose in a torrent of invective aimed at certain unnamed rivals (you can draw your own conclusions), saying, “We were neither dissuaded nor diminished by the intellectually, morally, and ethically crippled losers the likes of a racist, bigoted civil rights charlatan (a or the insecure, envious shock jock all howlin’ and the chorus of like-minded yappin’ mutts lost in the dust of the caravan rollin’ by on the road to greatness. Rollin’ by on the road to greatness! We did that! You did that! I did that! That’s what we did! You goddamn right! That’s what we did!” and in a burst of feedback, Imus tore off his headphones and abruptly ended the broadcast, kicking right into Kid Rock‘s “You Never Met A Motherf**ker Quite Like Me.”
An aircheck of the last 15 minutes of Imus’ final show is posted on the WABC website.
