Don Imus announced this morning that he will exit Cumulus News/Talk 770 WABC New York and his Westwood One syndicated program on March 29.
The 77 year old Imus began his broadcasting career in 1968 at KUTY Palmdale CA. After bouncing around California and WGAR Cleveland for a few years, he joined 660 WNBC New York in December 1971 for his first run that lasted until 1977. He then returned to Cleveland at 1420 WHK for afternoons until returning to WNBC in 1979 through its sale and flip to Sports WFAN in October 1988.
Imus would then become the anchor of WFAN’s lineup and went into syndication in 1993 and added a television simulcast on MSNBC until his April 2007 racist comments about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team led to his termination. Imus would then join WABC in December where he has remained since. In recent years he has hosted his show from his ranch in Texas while the remainder of the staff remained in New York.
March 29th, 2018, will be the last 'Imus in the Morning Program.' Turn out the lights…the party's over.
— Imus (@WhereMyImusAt) January 22, 2018
Imus cited the Cumulus Media bankruptcy as one of the reasons he’s retiring, according to an audio clip Mediaite posted this morning.
Bernie & Sid (Bernard McGuirk and Sid Rosenberg) are now hosting the Imus show on Fridays but it’s not certain if they’ll get the gig full-time.