Blog

Stephen Metcalf pens what I think is a pretty insightful piece about Imus and his appeal. Growing up, I basically listened to Imus every morning. My shower radio was always tuned to the local sports radio station and Imus was the morning personality. My folks were fans, and there was something comforting about the same personality and cast of characters jawing every morning. It could be outrageous and taboo-breaking in a way that was thrilling (particularly for a teenage boy), but eventually the shtick grew old. He was cruel, and racist, and misogynist and homophobic and I went to college and my parents stopped listening to him. During all of this I-man controversy, I’ve tried to remember why it was that we listened to him in my uber-liberal household, and Metcalf does a good job of explaining the show’s appeal.