News preview: Imus to return
Radio station KCAA (1050 A.M.) is planning on bringing Don Imus back to the Inland Empire. Imus, as many will remember, endured national criticism in 2007 after mocking the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Many thought Imus' remarks were racially offensive and called for him to be taken off the air. Others thought Imus sounded like a blowhard but didn't deserve to lose his show.
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By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO -- Professional contrarian Don Imus'
"Imus brings his own firestorm with him," Baxter said.
Dennis Baxter, general manager for KCAA radio and a San Bernardino councilman, said he inked a deal to bring Imus back to inland radio on Thursday.
Baxter said Imus' show is slated to return to KCAA from 9 to 11 a.m. on Sept. 1. The show is set to continue broadcasting in that time slot on weekdays.
Imus, who was born in Riverside, generated a surge of negative publicity in 2007 for calling members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hoes" on his program.
CBS Radio fired Imus for those remarks after his words became a national news story and a source of debate over whether the always-brash Imus was simply being rude or opening a window into deeper held racism.
At the time, Baxter and KCAA did not shy away from the controversy. In April 2007, he and Westside Story newspaper publisher Wallace Allen co-hosted a rebroadcast of the Imus broadcast that sparked the national discussion on whether Imus deserved to lose his broadcasting gig or allowed to remain on the air.
At the time, Baxter opined that Imus, who apologized for his comments, deserved a suspension but that firing went too far. His station continued to rebroadcast Imus shows until CBS Radio's legal team stepped in.
CBS filed a federal lawsuit that claimed KCAA violated the copyright laws by broadcasting unauthorized Imus reruns. The local station and CBS settled the case.
Beyond the Inland Empire, Imus and his career survived. The caustic commentator found a new home with ABC radio, and is advertised as "coming soon" to KCAA.
Imus' iconoclasm extends to his own life. His official biography notes that he graduated high school "with no honors and no skills" and emerged from 12 years of public schooling lacking any formal education.
In 16 months since Imus bad-mouthed the Rutgers players, Baxter thinks "we (society) have done a lot of healing" and the anger that followed Imus' remarks has died down.
For now, he's not expecting Imus' return to generate a backlash against KCAA.
"I don't foresee it, but we'll take it as it comes," Baxter said.
andrew.edwards@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3921
About SB Now Blog
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