Shock jock Don Imus to retire from his show in March

Shock jock Don Imus is getting ready to hang up his headphones for good.

The notoriously surly radio host whose career was temporarily derailed when he made racist and sexist remarks, is retiring from his long-running morning show within two months, after nearly 50 years on the airwaves. 

WABC-AM says Imus’ last morning drive time show on New York-based station, Imus in the Morning, will be March 29. On Twitter, the show announced on Monday: ‘March 29th, 2018, will be the last ‘Imus in the Morning Program.’ Turn out the lights…the party’s over.’

Signing off: Shock jock Don imus, 77 (pictured at an awards show in 2010) is retiring from his morning show within two months 

‘Party’s over’: Imus in the Morning tweeted on Monday the host’s final show will be on March 29

In 2007, Imus sparked a national scandal and was fired by both CBS Radio and MSNBC for describing a mostly black Rutgers women’s basketball team as ‘nappy-headed hos.’

Controversy: Earlier this month, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean accused Imus of repeatedly fat-shaming a decade ago 

He apologized for using the racial slur and got a new gig six months later.

Earlier this month, Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean accused Imus of repeatedly fat-shaming her when she worked as a news editor on his show in the mid-2000s.

Dean told the site Moneyish that Imus would comment on her weight both on and off the air – even going so far as to suggest that she hire a personal trainer. 

The 77-year-old veteran radio personality, who had stints at WNBC in New York and WHK in Cleveland, offered a stew of media and politics on his shows and often had key newsmakers – including Donald Trump, John Kerry and John McCain – calling in to weigh in on a day’s events.

In 2009, he signed a deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to have his radio show simulcast on the newly launched Fox Business Network. The Imus-FBN relationship ended in 2015.

Imus said on his show in Monday that he was told by his syndicator and employer, Cumulus Media, which filed for bankruptcy late last year, that it will not be renewing his multimillion-dollar contract, reported Observer.

Imus is pictured talking to the Rev Al Sharpton in 2007, after he sparked outage by calling a mostly black Rutgers women’s basketball team as ‘nappy-headed hos’

Colorful character: Imus has been a fixture of the talk-radio world since 1971.  The irrelevant radio presenter and cattle rancher is a cancer survivor and married dad-of-three  

The cranky host added that he was announcing his retirement early to give his six-person staff time to find new jobs. 

Born in Riverside, California, to a family of cattle ranchers, Imus went on to serve in the US Marine Corp before moving to New York City, where he broadcast his first radio program in 1971.

Outside broadcast, Imus is a prostate cancer survivor and a married father of three grown children.

Until recently, he and wife Deidre Imus had operated a free camp for children with cancer at their family ranch in New Mexico.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk