Everything Imus Display

In this fan's tribute to the ""I-Man,"" the legendary radio shock jock Don Imus, Reed lovingly recapitulates every tasteless detail of Imus's rise to media infamy. Acknowledgments to ""listeners who are as crazy about Imus as I am"" and to anonymous members of Imus newsgroups on the Net who ""helped me dig a little deeper into Imus history"" may give a sense of Reed's research methods and partiality to his subject. After glancing at Imus's childhood as a bad seed on his family's Arizona ranch, and his brief stint in the Marines, Reed tracks his hero's airwave ascendance, beginning with his 1970 ""Disk Jockey of the Year"" award and ending with his unceremonious 1977 firing from NBC. Even the news that Imus's mid-career struggles with cocaine and alcohol addiction were largely to blame for the firing doesn't put a damper on Reed's celebratory tone. About half the book chronicles the rivalry that has dominated Imus's career since 1982, when brash upstart Howard Stern arrived at New York's WNBC. Timelines chronicle the fight, while charts compare the virtues of Imus to those of his nemesis (Imus wins every time). Stern may currently be ahead in the ratings, but Reed never gives up hope. Reed also includes lists of Imus's philanthropic acts, on-air characters and ""Disgruntled Sponsors."" A doting, awkward tribute to the man who once said, ""The two most important things that happened in radio were Marconi invented it and I decided to talk on it,"" this book is brain candy for hardcore loyalists, but will prove a turnoff for the unconverted. (July)