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Legendary Radio Shock Jock Don Imus Dead at Age 79
RADIO ONLINE | Friday, December 27, 2019 |
Legendary radio shock jock Don Imus has died less than two years after retiring from radio and his last flagship station WABC-AM/New York, according to a statement released by his family. He was 79. He passed away Friday morning at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, TX, after being hospitalized on Christmas Eve.
The controversial morning personality left the airwaves on March 29, 2018, after nearly half of a century on the radio. His then syndicated program aired on 84 stations and was distributed by Cumulus Media.
Imus' career was temporarily derailed back in 2007 when he made racist and sexist remarks. He was fired by CBS Radio and MSNBC for using a racial slur to talk about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He later apologized and made the move back to syndicated radio a few months later.
Imus, who'd been on the radio since 1971, has also had stints at WNBC/New York and WHK/Cleveland. Imus began his career in Palmdale, CA at KUTY. He was a recipient of 4 Marconi Awards, was selected as one of Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential People in America for 1997. Imus was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1996.
The Imus family has raised over $250,000,000 (a quarter of a billion dollars) for cancer research, childhood illnesses, the Intrepid Fallen Hero's Fund and various charities including the Imus Ranch for Kids with Cancer which Don and Deirdre Imus founded, personally donating millions of dollars in the process, the Tomorrow's Children's Fund, SKIP and the CJ Foundation for SIDS.
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