Don Imus Dead, 79

a reply to: Jefferton

Absolutely was NOT sarcasm. I really liked Don Imus! He will be missed!

That booming voice, forever silenced.

a reply to: ketsuko

Totally unfunny and rather boring. He tried to be like Stern and wasn't very good at it.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Actually, it's the other way around!

Imus was winning Billboard awards while Stern was still in broadcasting school.

Plus, Imus' style is nothing like Stern's. The only similarity is they were both considered 'shock jocks'. Imus had a great broadcasting voice, whereas Stern just sounds like the stereotypical nasally whiny NY joo (probably why he's as famous as he is). Stern was better at marketing himself though, and he took some big risks which paid off for him.

Imus' style was brutal honesty. Stern's style is anything which will sell an advertisement. Imus was a true radio personality. Stern is just a whore. A very rich whore, but a whore none the less.

ETA - And if you ever want to see how biased wikipedia is, just take a gander at the wikipedia entries for Stern vs Imus. Stern's reads like he's an angel sent straight from Gawd himself, and Imus' reads like he was Satan's brother! Yet Imus gave much of his fortune to charity (children with cancer and blood disorders)...and what great charitable contributions has Stern made??? None, other than to donate to the church of Howard Stern.

ETA 2 - Personally, I think one of Imus' biggest mistakes was ever apologizing for anything he said. He would have been much better off just telling his critics he meant what he said and telling them to put a sock in it!

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Plus, Imus' style is nothing like Stern's.

Yeah, I know, I grew up in the NYC area in the 80's when they were both on mornings. Imus's style sucked ass and Stern was funny. Imus did dopey characters and Stern spoke extemporaneously, did comedy bits and also unusual interviews.

Stern also smoked Imus in the ratings which means that plenty of other people felt the same way in NY and other markets.

Stern's style is anything which will sell an advertisement.

That's an odd comment considering the amount of money made by Progress when they syndicated the show and how Sirius went from being the lower-subscribed satellite network to owning their competitor based on his performance.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Well, that's because Stern played up the whole 'Gloves Off' theme when he went to Sirius. Don't get me wrong, Stern played his marketing cards better, and was smarter than Imus in this respect. No argument there.

All I'm saying is Imus was a better radio personality, just from a sheer technical standpoint. His timing was much better than Stern's, all the way to the end. Imus consistently hit what we called the "seg" (segue) with near precision for the better part of 40 years. Stern couldn't do that. His timing was all over the place. Plus, Imus had an awesome broadcasting voice, and his annunciation was and vocabulary was perfection.

I mean, let's face it, both Stern and Imus had millions of followers. That's better than you and I can say. They were both multi-millionaires. In the end Stern prevailed, but you can't say Imus was an "Also ran" in the industry. He was far from that.

That said, I never really liked either of them from a content perspective. So, on that front we sort of agree. I wasn't a big listener to Stern or Imus, but both of them are up there with the likes of Casey Kasem, Wolfman Jack and some of the other pillars of radio.

When I was a kid, back in the '70's I built a giant medium wave (MF) antenna and put it on the chimney on our house so I could tune in KFI (Los Angeles) and WLS (Chicago) at night. Those were the heavy-hitters in the big-market radio industry. Heck, I can remember tuning in to Dr. Ruth Westheimer after midnight on KFI, before anyone even knew who "Dr. Ruth" was. Used to listen to her for a while with my headphones on and my DX long distance receiver, then I'd tune the dial to "Coast to Coast AM" with Art Bell. I'd wake up in the morning to static...I was a radio fanatic.

Anyway, Imus was a big voice. Love him or hate him, he will be missed. Not many out there like him anymore.

My .02

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Well, that's because Stern played up the whole 'Gloves Off' theme when he went to Sirius.

He was like that prior to going to Sirius, that's why the hired him.

In terms of success Imus had longevity, Stern smoked him the in ratings when they went head to head.

And frankly I don't care about the technical aspect, I want to be entertained, not hear some jerkoff wax poetic about his own voice.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

And frankly I don't care about the technical aspect, I want to be entertained, not hear some jerkoff wax poetic about his own voice.

Okay. Well Imus is DEAD now, so I guess you don't have to worry about it anymore!

Cos...he's DEAD! He won't ever upset your ears ever again.



ETA - He did more for charity and little kids than probably any other entertainer in the MSM world, Imus did, but who cares about that???

What did Stern do????? What philanthropic endeavors has Stern done???

Dude...Imus gave millions to sick and dying children!! What did Stern ever do, other than feather the bed of "Stern", and the kingdom of "Stern"???

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: ketsuko

Totally unfunny and rather boring. He tried to be like Stern and wasn't very good at it.

Imus's career was at least a decade ahead of Stern. Stern hated him because he wanted to be him.

originally posted by: vethumanbeing
Imus's career was at least a decade ahead of Stern. Stern hated him because he wanted to be him.

Stern was his own person, Imus was still doing those moronic characters even after he had gotten his ass kicked in the ratings, by Howard Stern.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Okay. Well Imus is DEAD now, so I guess you don't have to worry about it anymore!

Cos...he's DEAD! He won't ever upset your ears ever again.

I'm all sad and everything.

ETA - He did more for charity and little kids than probably any other entertainer in the MSM world, Imus did, but who cares about that???

I don't, because it's not really relevant to his radio career vis a vis Stern.

Dude...Imus gave millions to sick and dying children!! What did Stern ever do, other than feather the bed of "Stern", and the kingdom of "Stern"???

Oh My God! Think of the children! I mean, when I want to get entertained I watch boring losers like Jerry Lewis and Imus because of the children.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Okay...you win.

i like turtles

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: vethumanbeing
Imus's career was at least a decade ahead of Stern. Stern hated him because he wanted to be him.

Stern was his own person, Imus was still doing those moronic characters even after he had gotten his ass kicked in the ratings, by Howard Stern.

Like there isn't enough money (by content an acquired audience) or ratings to go around and make into very rich men, those inventive enough?

originally posted by: vethumanbeing
Like there isn't enough money (by content an acquired audience) or ratings to go around and make into very rich men, those inventive enough?

There wasn't for Imus in his hometown, he sucked it hard in the ratings ever since Stern moved to mornings and went head to head with him.