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The Resurrection of Don Imus

Over the summer, sources say, CBS and Imus began talking about a possible comeback (though neither side will confirm nor deny any such talks). At one point, sources say, CBS had also started negotiating with Boomer Esiason, another temporary Imus fill-in, to take Imus’s slot at WFAN. But as the weeks went on and no deal was announced, rumors began to circulate that CBS wanted to wait and see if the climate changed, making an Imus return more feasible. Imus’s friends, meanwhile, began whispering to Matt Drudge and “Page Six” that an Imus return was imminent. The gossip game got more interesting when rumors surfaced that Imus might instead sign on at another station.

Where else might Imus go? Satellite isn’t attractive to Imus the way it was to Howard Stern, according to one close friend. The money might be good, but “it would be a small audience, which would have an effect on his guests, and on his charitable work.” And both XM and Sirius (currently in merger talks) have budget issues. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin loves him, “but Mel’s not going to hire him,” says a source. “There’s not much money to go around after Howard Stern.”

The three traditional radio companies, Citadel, Clear Channel, and Buckley Broadcasting, meanwhile, have all put out feelers. Citadel appears to be the most serious suitor of the three. It just bought WABC and the ABC radio network nationwide. Citadel is run by Farid Suleman, who was Karmazin’s No. 2 for many years at Infinity when Imus was a star there, and Suleman was the comptroller then. So he understands the money Imus generates. WABC in New York already has a successful morning team in Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby (and Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity later in the day). But one knowledgeable source says that putting Imus in that morning slot could increase the company’s revenue by as much as $20 million. “I think if Don was available, we would be very happy to see what we could do,” Suleman says. He sounds like he’s already got his answer to the inevitable “How can you justify this?” question already written. “What he did was wrong. But the consequences of what he did seemed out of proportion.”

Another possibility would be for Imus to strike out on his own—to create a syndicated program and sell it town to town, door to door. “He’d be working for himself,” one Imus friend says. “He’d own all his rights. That’s how Rush Limbaugh started.” Then there’s TV. There’s no reason why Roger Ailes wouldn’t want to talk with Imus—and one friend of Imus’s says he has heard as much (a Fox spokeswoman says she has no knowledge of such a conversation and that the network is not currently in talks with Imus).

In the end, several sources say, Imus will most likely reach a settlement with CBS and go elsewhere. A source close to Imus says Esiason, despite CBS’s flirtations with an Imus comeback, is almost a lock as Imus’s replacement on WFAN. “They’re going to announce Boomer soon,” he says. “But they also have to have an Imus settlement done in time. Because legally, if they hire someone while he’s still under contract, it worsens their position if they’re in a lawsuit.”

According to one knowledgeable source, the settlement deal on the table at the moment has the money worked out—not the $40 million Imus signed for but not nothing, either. There also may be a limited noncompete feature, requiring Imus to agree not to go anywhere else until January. The potential settlement is also said to include a non-disparagement agreement. “He won’t be able to say anything about Les or CBS for a number of years,” a source says. That clause, the source says, means as much as anything to Moonves.

There’s always the possibility, of course, that no one will hire Imus. For a new employer, taking him on would mean building an expensive new franchise around a 66-year-old shock jock who said something that many people still find unconscionable. “Someone’s going to have make an investment in him until he’s 71,” says one friend. “They have to believe that he’ll still be getting listeners six months after he comes back.”

Most of his friends, however, are certain Imus will be back. The only questions are where and when. “Willie Nelson told me that his favorite thing in his life since he was a little kid was to get into trouble and then get out of it,” says Kinky Friedman, the songwriter, columnist, and recent Texas gubernatorial candidate who is one of Imus’s best friends. “And I think the same thing can be said of Imus. The time he was fired from New York and sent down to Cleveland, for cocaine and alcohol and everything, I never thought I would see him alive again. When I said good-bye to him, I thought, ‘That is it. He will never come back.’ And he rose like a phoenix.”

If he does come back, will he return a changed man? “I don’t think he’ll give up his sense of humor,” says Michael Lynne, the New Line Cinema president who has been Imus’s friend for 35 years. “But I do think he’ll be more sensitive to the implications of words that are said on the air and whether they’re hurtful or not. Don has something meaningful to contribute in terms of creating a dialogue in our society—not just about politics or books but about race and diversity. I think he can be a force for good in that dialogue when he comes back.”

Imus has been cagey on the phone with Friedman lately, but nevertheless clear about what he wants to happen next. “He’s got a secret plan he mentioned, but he won’t tell me what it is. Of course, you don’t want to tell me anything, because I’m the town crier. He’ll be back. It’s his M.O., you know?”

In any case, he hopes so. “I call him a truth-seeking missile,” Friedman says. “He is totally ruthless about it. And, you know, we need this. Society needs someone like this. In that sense, he’s a lot like Lenny Bruce.”

Or perhaps, inevitably, he’s just Don Imus. “Here’s what you have to remember about him,” one friend says. “I love him, but he’s a really angry guy. A recovering alcoholic, okay? So he has demons sometimes.” That, his friend says, “can be difficult.”