In New York City there were only two kinds of radio listeners, Stern-guys or Imus-guys. We started out a Stern guy but gradually migrated over to Imus. We found him genuinely funny and liked his mix of depravity and politics.
In the summer of 1994 we were listening to Imus while on a drive down the New Jersey Turnpike. Imus called the Churchill Nut Company, who pulled its advertising from his show:
-Church Hill Nut Company.
-Yeah, your nuts suck CLICK.
We laughed so hard and so long our (then) girlfriend had to grab the wheel.
By the end of the 90's he was an establishment media figure and frankly, a suck up.
Imus was mean, mean-spirited, petty and self promoting. He couldn't shut up about books he liked or his ranch for kids with cancer, which he berated us listeners about constantly. The show turned into a never-ending fundraiser when he could have raised the money doing public speaking engagements. Everyone became a 'lying weasel' or an 'empty pant load.' It wasn't funny anymore.
By the early 2000s we stopped listening.
Phil Mushnick, The New York Post's TV and radio critic has the best summary of the I-Man's 'complicated' legacy.
Speaking of genuinely funny, this commercial certainly was, it must have aired for two years:
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