Don Imus on Fox: ‘You’ve got nuts in this building’
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Radio provocateur Don Imus, whose daily talk show begins simulcasting on Fox Business Network on Monday, said the cable channel “is a much nicer place” than the other networks that have run his program.
That said, “you’ve got nuts in this building, and I’m not one of them,” Imus told Neil Cavuto on Friday. “I love Glenn [Beck], but I’ll tell you this, it doesn’t end well.”
The debut of “Imus in the Morning” on Fox Business Network comes 2 1/2 years after the shock jock was dropped by CBS Radio and MSNBC for making derogatory comments about the members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. Imus said he understood the action they took. “You have an obligation if you work for News Corp. or GE to behave yourself,” he said. “It’s irrelevant as to whether I was kidding or not. It starts with the comment. ... I fully understand that. Probably what I would have done.”
In an effort to mesh Imus’ wide-ranging program with its business news mission, Fox Business plans to intersperse financial news throughout the simulcast, which will start off each morning at 3 a.m. Pacific with news updates from anchors Connell McShane and Jenna Lee. They will provide market news throughout the three-hour program. Former New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso will be one of Imus’ guests on Monday.
Imus said the audience for his radio program is a great fit for the upstart business channel. “It’s a high-income, high-intelligence audience, which is difficult to believe because nobody on the program has an education,” he said.
-- Matea Gold