Imus Returns

Don Imus returns to radio this morning.

Imus and his new station, WABC-AM, aren't saying much about the format of the new show, although at least one black person will participate regularly, along with longtime news reader Charles McCord.

His premiere will be held at Town Hall in Times Square, where $100 tickets were sold to benefit the Imus Ranch for Kids With Cancer.

Imus' backers believe his comeback will be a successful one. They say he has paid his price for his mistake and learned his lesson.

"I don't have any doubt on his future," said Phil Boyce, WABC-AM program director. "He'll obviously be wiser, smarter and a bit more careful. He's learned from this. I'm not concerned that he'll have a repeat."

Imus' return won't impact me at all.

I did't listen to him before he was canned because of the "nappy-headed hos" controversy and I won't listen now.

Nonetheless, I am somewhat interested in Imus' reemergence.

Rising star among the Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee will be a guest. I suppose he figures that he's far more likely to benefit by the massive exposure he's sure to get by appearing on the debut show than he is to be hurt by associating with the disgraced Imus. Other guests include Dem attack dog James Carville and Levon Helm. The former member of The Band is slated to perform live.

Not everyone eagerly awaits Imus' return to the air.

There have already been some protests.

BOSTON -- A group of black community leaders angry with the decision to bring back Don Imus protested at WTKK-FM's office Friday, three days before the radio host returns to the airways after being fired for making racist and sexist comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"We as black men could not sit idly by while you reinstate an individual (Imus) who has insulted the black community and in particular black women," Sadiki Kambon, the director of The Black Community Information Center at Roxbury Community College said, speaking of the station. "Yes, we cannot stop the Imus return, but can express our anger at your decision, which in the very least is racist in nature."

...Kambon said his group would now would focus on asking companies to pull their advertisements off the station.

These leaders really hold a grudge, don't they?

I don't know how airing Imus' show can be considered racist.

Months ago, he made a really offensive remark. He apologized, profusely. He was fired.

I think he's earned a second chance.

Kambon's group should hold off on pressuring advertisers for the time being and at least wait until Imus makes his first slip up.

To appease those still troubled by the controversial remarks that led to his firing, Imus will have a sidekick aimed to soften the hard feelings.

NEW YORK -- The black sidekick joining shock jock Don Imus on his return to the airwaves today is an Oxford-educated Texas cowgirl whose career has ranged from broadcast journalism to stand-up comedy, sources told The Post.

Karith Foster, a Harlem resident who grew up outside Dallas, was brought on by Imus to ease tension stirred up by his racist comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team, which got him booted in April, sources said.

Foster was raised in upscale Plano, Texas, which she describes on her Web site as having “the ethnic diversity of a Klan rally."

...Despite her Texas roots, “I'm really a Jewish girl from Long Island trapped in this body, which technically makes me a JA-AP [Jewish African-American Princess]," she jokes on her Web site.

“So it's not ‘talk to the hand,' but ‘talk to the manicure.'"

Is Foster serving as his sidekick or as his monitor to keep him in line?

Whatever, WABC has determined that Imus has been rehabilitated and he's ready to reenter society.

I wonder if Al Sharpton agrees.