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Infamous shock jock Don Imus returned to the New York radio airwaves today at 6 a.m. on ABC Radio Networks, eight months after CBS Radio and MSNBC yanked him off the air for referring to Rutgers University's women's basketball team as a bunch of "nappy- headed hos." Click here to listen to Imus' radio debut at his new home.  

So Imus' "punishment" for his remarks essentially amounted to a sabbatical in which he collected $20 million from CBS Radio following his firing, and now he's back. What's changed? Has Imus really made amends? And will it stick? (See also: All About Don Imus)

For starters, Imus adamantly pointed out that the show was adding some racial diversity with the addition of two black cast members, Karith Foster and Tony Powell. Their addition, Imus vowed, would help the show be a leading force about the discussion of race in the United States, although both are professional comedians by trade. For much of the morning, Powell appeared to be confined to giving periodic sports updates. Imus was also flanked by his longtime producer Bernard McGuirk, who actually set off the Rutgers firestorm by first referring to the basketball squad as "some hardcore hos."

During the broadcast, Imus was at times both contrite, saying that his firing was justified under the circumstances, and defensive, saying the media didn't put his remarks in the proper context of his total body of work, remarks he acknowledged were "reprehensible."

"If I hadn't said what I said, then I wouldn't have had to deal with it, and the Rutgers women wouldn't have had to deal with it. Everything began with my remarks," Imus said.

Imus described the events of his eventual meeting with the team and head coach C. Vivian Stringer. He said he offered apologies to the team describing himself as a good guy who made a mistake and that he wasn't a "viscous racist."

"But it sounded like one lame excuse after another," he said. "What I said was reprehensible. I humiliated myself and I humiliated them, putting them in the eye of a hideous storm they didn't ask for and didn't deserve."

Imus also pointed his finger at comedians Marlon Wayans and D.L Hughley, both black comedians who came under fire for defending Imus' remarks; both referred to the team by the derogatory term. (See also: 'Nappy-Headed Hos' Revisited: Why Is D.L. Hughley Getting a Free Pass?)

Following the news of Imus' imminent return to the airwaves, Stringer told ESPN last month that she was still angered over the remarks made by Imus but that she and the team were ready to move on.

"I figured that he probably would be going back at some point, and as we said all along, we never said he should never work again," she told ESPN. "He bothered to give a description of our team and I won't kid you, I was and still am very angry with that. But at the end of the day, what can we do?"

In bringing Imus back to the air, WABC-AM program director Phil Boyce told The Associated Press that the decision strictly boiled down to dollars and cents. "Obviously, we're doing this because we think we can make more money," Boyce said. "There's an opportunity to charge more for our advertising rates. I am not ashamed of saying it is about the money. We are running a business." 

But will those sponsors return? In the wake of Imus' toxic remarks on April 12, sponsors of the program fled, including Procter & Gamble and American Express (Nos. 14 and 23, respectively, on The 2007 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list) as well as other national advertisers including Staples, Simon & Schuster and Random House. And once the sponsors fled, pulling the plug on Imus appeared to be an easy call for both CBS and MSNBC.  

This morning, the first sponsor to welcome Imus back was Hackensack University Medical Center, which greeted Imus with a personal declaration from the hospital CEO. The Deidra Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology is named for Imus' wife.  Other sponsors included Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, NetJets, Optimum internet service, Bigelow Tea, and Subaru. It's unknown whether the host's other advertisers have plans to return to the broadcast. Perhaps they're waiting to see how the public responds to his return.  

On Friday, Imus' return was protested in Boston by a group of black community leaders who were upset with a local station's plans to broadcast the program, reports The Associated Press.

Guests for his return included a familiar cast of characters, including political commentators James Carville and Mary Matalin, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Christopher Dodd and Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, who greeted the Imus with "Welcome back, old friend."

Stringer is taking a wait-and-see approach with Imus, wondering if he'll be true to his word about a new, tempered approach to his broadcast. "We could have fallen into the same ditch that we all do and call him these names and demand that he be fired and all these other things," Stringer told ESPN. "But I think that if he's sincere about his apologies and his remarks to our players, then we'll see a much changed Imus."

That remains to be seen. While Imus vowed that he would "never say anything in my lifetime to make the Rutgers women regret or feel foolish that they forgave me or think I didn't deserve a second chance," he went on to say his show's basic template would change very little.

"Dick Cheney is still a war criminal. Hillary Clinton is still Satan. And I'm back on the radio," he said.

ABC radio is owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corp., also the radio home of controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh. The CBS broadcast will not be simulcast on MSNBC as was Imus' earlier show, although he does have a television deal with cable broadcaster RFDTV, which reportedly reaches 30 million homes across the country.

During the course of his return this morning, Imus did make at least one poignant remark. He commented that upon his ouster, many critics said the intense media spotlight would lead to a much-needed discussion about race and what is and isn't allowable on the public airwaves.

"I must have missed that discussion," Imus quipped. He's not alone.

(See also: Who Are Don Imus' Top 10 Enablers?)

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