Don Imus is a known American radio host who became popular for his talk show called “Imus in the Morning”.
He is a known humorist who always said what he meant no matter the consenquences.
Early life:
Imus was born on July 23, 1940 as John Donald Imus, Jr. in Riverside, California as one of two sons to Frances and John Donald Imus, Sr.
He and his younger brother Fred (who also later became a talk show host, but not for long) lived with their parents on a ranch The Willows, close to the Kingman city in Arizona.
He never liked going to school so at the age of 17 he quit school. Donald joined the Marine Corps when he was seventeen, as a bugler. He was there until 1960.
He was close to his brother Fred and when he became famous so he invested in business.
Career development:
John Donald worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a breakman. Although he had a job, he was always joining talent shows, trying to find a job that would let him do the things he likes most: singing and stand-up comedy. He won a talent contest in a known nightclub so he began working as a singer in the same club and his manager became the owner of the club.
He listened to radio all the time and one day he decided just to go to the city’s radio station and to persuade the owner to give him a job as a DJ.
That was his first radio job, as a DJ on KUTY in 1968.
Only a year after he left this job and found a new one ar KJOY radio in Stockton. He was dismissed because of saying “hell” during the show.
After that he went ti KXOA in Sacramento. He became known because of his pranks and his show boosted ratings.
In 1971. he joined WNBC radio in New York where he published 3 albums which included his popular sketches and pranks from the radio stations he worked in and stand-up comedy acts at “Jimmy’s”, a known Manhattan night club.
He also released a single called “Son of Checkers” in 1973, which reached Top 200.
The same year his show called “Imus…In The Morning…In The Evening” started airing nationally.
He was fired from WNBC four years later together with some other hosts in station’s effort to boost ratings with new names.
That is why he returned to Cleveland to WHK. He also taped a TV show “Immus Plus” on WNEW-TV.
In 1979 he was called back to work at WNBC and to start with his morning show again.
They also employed Howard Stern and the two of them became a well known host pair who both had their own show.
He was very angry by the success of Howard Stern’s show so he changed his comedy show into a more modern show which included politics, news and similar. He thought Howard was his rival and didn’t even want to talk with him although they worked together and often met at their workplace.
Imus made up his alter ego for the show, Reverend Billy Sol Hargis in “First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship”. It became very popular so he published a book “God’s other Son”. That book was also about Billy Sol Hargis.
He also acted in roles of “Geraldo Santana Banana” and “Moby Worm”.
In 1985 he became the inaugural video jockey for VH-1 network and he was very pleased becsuse he was elected.
He stayed the host of the show for years, even after the station changed their owner.
In 2006 he ranted Congressman Joe Barton because he used his position in order to stop funding research for autism. That made Don angry so he called him with a lot of ugly names including “coward and a crybaby”. Don and his wife are great supporters of organizations for autism research. They are both great philantropist.
In 1996, Imus held a speech at the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington which was attended by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.
Imus wasn’t a fan of Hillary Clinton and he made some insinuations about the affair that came out around that time and involved her.
Imus was listed as one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by a very known Time magazine in 1997. In 2007 he made it to the cover of the same magazine.
He was a part owner of Autobody Express stores together with Fred (his late brother) but in 2003 the stores were closed. It seemed that they just wasn’t interesting to people.
He is still an owner of a coffee store and was an owner of Imus Ranch Foods before it was closed in 2014.
He won 4 NAB Marconi Radio Awards and is included in NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1989. These achievements are his great legacy.
Personal life:
Don had only one brother, Fred (short for Frederick), and they were very close until Fred died in 2011.
Fred was often a guest on his brothers show but was also very known as a host of Trailer Park Bash, a country music program launched in 2006 and which aired on a weekly basis.
He was married to his first wife Harriet until 1979, when they got divorced. He has two stepdaughters from this first marriage: Nadine and Toni. He treated them like his own.
For a long period of years he battled alcoholism. It was until 1987 when he got an effective treatment and finally became sober.
In 1994 he married his second wife Deirdre who was also a vegeterian as Don. They were both eating healthy and trying to live following the nature.
Deirdre and Don have two daughters together: Ashley and Elisabeth, and one son named Frederick Wyatt.
In 1999, Imus and his wife founded the Imus Ranch, in New Mexico, which was made for children with cancer to cone and rest. It was closed in 2014.
In 2000, Imus fell of a horse and gained serious injuries which caused his later breathing problems. This was one of the reasons why Imus couldn’t stay in New Mexico – because the altitude made jis breathing worse.
In 2009 he was diagnosed woth prostate cancer and began treatment.
In 2014, the family decided to sell the ranch and give all the money to a charity foundation because it was to difficult to handle the ranch due to his bad health condition.
Quick summary
Full name: John Donald Imus, Jr.
Date of birth: July 23, 1940
Birthplace: Riverside, California, U.S.
Age: 77
Profession: radio and TV host, writer
Height: 1,88 m
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $35 million