Wednesday, April 17, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Representatives of the National Association of Broadcasters honored radio shock jock Don Imus by inducting him into their Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Imus, host of the syndicated "Imus In the Morning" show heard locally on KVEG 840-AM, was presented with a plaque, custom-made black Western hat and a lunch at the Las Vegas Hilton on Tuesday afternoon. CBS television and radio personality Charles Osgood presided over the ceremony.
"I was torn today toward being candid and sitting down," Imus said in reference to his sometimes acid-tongued wit. "I see the first lady and president are not here. They're probably out testifying someplace."
Imus recently delivered off-color jokes at the Radio and Television Correspondents' dinner in which he referred to President Clinton's alleged extramarital affairs. The president and Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the event.
Following a video chronicling Imus' life growing up on a cattle range in Arizona to his days as a disc jockey, the shock jock talked of his music and alcoholism.
It was during this early period that he and his brother, Fred, attempted to coax radio disc jockeys into playing their records.
"I felt, 'How hard can this be?'" Imus remembered of his interest in radio in the late 1960s. "Fred and I realized that our records sucked. I was offered a (DJ) job in Stockton, took it and was eventually fired. I went to Cleveland and then NBC (in New York City)."
Imus said he was fired there, too. But he was hired again in 1979 and has been at NBC radio ever since.
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