Don Imus is
hanging his familiar cowboy hat in a new television home:
RFD-TV.
The radio
personality, who returns to the airwaves December 3 on
WABC-AM, will debut the same day on the seven-year-old
cable and satellite television station that caters to
viewers with homes on the range, the Rural Media Group
Inc. announced Wednesday.
The radio show
will be simulcast on weekdays, 6-9 a.m., and will be
rebroadcast 6-9 p.m. each evening, said Patrick
Gottsch, founder and president of the Rural Media
Group. The program will also be available to RFD's
nearly 30 million homes through on-demand services, Gottsch
said.
Imus signed a
five-year agreement with RFD, Gottsch said. An e-mail sent
to Imus's lawyer for comment was not immediately returned
Wednesday.
Two weeks ago,
Citadel Broadcasting Corp. announced it was bringing Imus
back to host a New York-based morning drive time
show. The cranky Hall of Fame broadcaster was fired
eight months earlier after his ''nappy-headed hos''
crack regarding the Rutgers University women's basketball
team.
RFD, with studios
in Nashville, has a mostly rural audience that receives
programming like The Cattle Show, National Tractor
Pulling, and the Largent and Sons Hereford
Cattle Auction.
''Don's passion
and understanding of rural America fits in so well with
our ongoing effort to bridge city and country folks with
this channel,'' Gottsch said. His station launched in
December 2000, billed as the first 24/7 television
network dedicated to rural America.
The previous
incarnation of Imus in the Morning was
simulcast on MSNBC, which dumped the show shortly after
Imus's ill-conceived comment. (AP)