UPDATE 2-Don Imus signs deal to return to radio
(Updates with Citadel announcement)
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Fallen shock jock Don Imus, who was fired by CBS Radio in April in a national uproar over an on-air racial slur, has signed a deal with Citadel Broadcasting Corp to return to the airwaves on Dec. 3, the company said on Thursday.
The new Imus show will be based out of Citadel's New York station, WABC, airing daily from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and be syndicated around the United States through ABC Radio Networks, which is now owned by Citadel.
"We are ecstatic to bring Don Imus back to morning radio," WABC President and General Manager Steve Borneman said in a statement posted on the station's Web site.
"Don's unique brand of humor, knowledge of the issues and ability to attract big-name guests is unparalleled. He is rested, fired up and ready to do great radio."
Imus, 67, whose long-running CBS program blended locker-room humor with interviews of A-list politicians and other leading lights, had been widely reported to be close to a deal with Citadel and WABC for several weeks.
His old "Imus in the Morning" show was canceled in April after he referred to the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" -- a phrase that combined an antiquated term for coarse, curly hair with a slang word for whore.
The original show was produced and broadcast by the CBS-owned WFAN radio station in New York and syndicated on some 60 stations nationally. The program also was simulcast on cable television's MSNBC.
CBS and MSNBC first suspended Imus for two weeks, but as calls for his dismissal grew, notably from New York civil rights leader Al Sharpton, MSNBC canceled his show, and CBS followed suit the next day.
The controversy sparked a public debate about crude language and racial humor on the airwaves.
In August, the curmudgeonly radio personality and CBS settled their termination dispute in a deal reported to be worth $10 million to $20 million, clearing the way for him to seek a new broadcast outlet.
At the time he was fired, Imus was working under a five-year contract valued at $40 million.
(Editing by Arthur Spiegelman and Philip Barbara; e-mail: steve.gorman@reuters.com; Los Angeles bureau +1-213-955-6761))
