The Rush Limbaugh Program is considering ending its affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media at the end of this year, a move that would bring about one of the biggest shakeups in talk radio history, a source close to the show tells POLITICO.
Should the move take place, 40 Cumulus-owned radio stations would lose the rights to the most popular talk radio program in the country. In addition, the show might be picked up by competing regional radio stations in Washington, New York, Chicago, Dallas and other major markets.
According to the source, Limbaugh is considering the move because Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has blamed the company's advertising losses on Limbaugh's controversial remarks about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student. In Feb. 2012, Limbaugh referred to Fluke as "a slut" because she had called on congress to mandate insurance coverage of birth control. The subsequent controversy over those remarks resulted in a significant advertising boycott.
The true extent of Limbaugh's effect on Cumulus's advertising revenue is not known. In an August 2012 earnings call, Dickey said Cumulus's top three stations had lost $5.5 million, in part because of the boycott. In a March 2013 earnings call, Dickey said the company's talk radio side had "been challenged... due to some of the issues that happened a year ago." Nevertheless, Limbaugh remains the most highly rated talk radio host in the country.
Cumulus Media, which has a contract with Limbaugh through 2013, declined to comment for this report: "Cumulus owns the premier talk radio distribution platform in the United States and doesn't comment on negotiations with talent under contract," Davidson Goldin, a Cumulus spokesman, told POLITICO. Clear Channel, which distributes the Rush Limbaugh Program through its Premiere Radio division, also declined to comment.
You know I rarely listen to the radio anymore, but when I am out running errands my car radio is tuned to a talk radio station that features Limbaugh, so I hear bits and pieces of his lunacy every couple of days or so.
Lately I have noticed that the companies advertising with him seem very fly-by-night.
There are companies selling identity theft protection, funeral services, financial aid, and one guy, and I swear this is true, who is selling his house in, I think it's Florida.
Just a guy buying up advertising time for his pal Rush, to sell a house for millions of dollars that probably NONE of Limbaugh's listeners could ever hope to afford. Nothing desperate about that.
Not only that but Limbaugh is voicing a large number of these ads himself which means that the ONLY way they would advertise with him is if he played their little prison bitch and did the voice over for their crappy "nobody has ever heard of this" product. Sometimes I have a hard time differentiating between when he is a radio host and when he is pimping aluminum siding.
So I can say with some confidence that the Boycott Limbaugh movement has had a REAL and lasting effect.
However before we all dance around the bonfire screaming in victory we need to remember the lesson of Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck who left Fox News in virtual disgrace, only to pop back up on radio, and who is now supposedly worth at least 80 million dollars.
So I have little doubt that Limbaugh will find another place to spew his vitriol and hatered, but remember this....at one time Beck was a CONSTANT presence on cable news and was quoted and talked about in all kinds of places. Today the only way he can get any attention is by accusing the President of the United States of covering up for the "real" culprits behind a terrorist attack.
Someday soon we may also be saying "Rush Limbaugh? You mean that guy is still on the radio someplace?"
Rush Limbaugh . . . Rush Limbaugh . . . Hey, isn't he the bloated guy who used the word "retarded" generoulsy throughout one of his shows and this was perfectly okay with Ol' $crawny Falsies $arah - even defended his use of the word.
ReplyDeleteBut no one else can dare use the word "retarded" as it offends Ol' $crawny Falsies $arah?
Chickens***t much Ol' $crawny?
It's good to know that boycotts work. Let's hope that other outlets will avoid him like the plague that he.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Beck might still be out there, but I never hear of him, which makes me happy as hell.
ReplyDeleteLimbaugh sounds like he is going much the same way. I purposely have not listened to Limbaugh on his radio show in years.
Now, Palin is the next one I want to see go 'completely' away and I'll be one happy camper!
Sometimes I wonder how far his "stock" would have dropped if the Attorney General of Florida (or even the county from which he broadcasts) had actually CHARGED him under the law in Florida making it a crime to impugn the reputation of a woman. (Or whatever the law says.) He was clearly guilty of violating said law when he called Ms. Fluke a "slut".
ReplyDeleteSo...?
Rush Limbaugh is toxic and I think he will have a hard time in the open market.
ReplyDeleteI find it really interesting that Beck can go off the mainstream air waves to satellite radio, and make MORE $. In the long run though, I don't care as most of the regular folks don't have satellite radio and therefore Beck and his ilk have less of an audience to spew on. Let the people who want his brand of fear and hate pay for it, and not inflict it on innocent listeners who are just turning the dial.
ReplyDeleteRush is ranting about Benghazi, Susan Rice, Libya, Susan Rice, cover up, Susan Rice, Meet the Press, Susan Rice, Face the Nation, Susan Rice, Administration, Susan Rice, America, Susan Rice, terrorists, Susan Rice.... "I'm telling ya they're blowing this thing sky high."
ReplyDeleteHe's openly lying about the "apology" e-mail transmitted from the Egyptian Embassy in Cairo.
He argues like Sarah plays the flute.
O/T What a S I C K society.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/kidding-nra-pushes-guns-kids-young-newtown-victims-sick-youth-day-article-1.1335901
NRA caps annual convention by enticing children as as young as 3 to fire weapons -- and even offers them free six-month memberships.
O/T Must read SCATHING Palin NRA article
ReplyDeletePalin, who showed up with a T-shirt that read 'Women Hunt,' certainly appealed to the mean, dumb, angry crowd she found in Houston.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/lupica-sarah-palin-appearance-national-rifle-association-convention-perfect-phony-patriots-article-1.1335927
Palin should have worn a prom dress, but on this occasion wore a T-shirt that read “Women Hunt.” In her case, that means hunting for attention.
Or relevance.
You know Palin was talking all over again about the elite media in Houston like she is some sort of expert, even though her spectacular lack of talent has made her virtually unemployable on television.
"Cumulus owns the premier talk radio distribution platform in the United States and doesn't comment on negotiations with talent under contract,"
ReplyDeleteTalent? Rush Limpdick has about as much talent as a dead, maggot-filled rat crushed under the wheels of a NY City subway train.
Just sayin'....
Tim Tebow fans petition President Obama to help with Jacksonville gig for QB
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.al.com/wire/2013/05/tim_tebow_fans_petition_presid.html#incart_river
Those idiots need to petition SARAH. LOL
DeleteShe's the one that "cursed him"..
I don't understand why he won't play tight end...oh, wait...yes, I do...all he cares about is getting his fat face on television and being a tight end means he would fade to obscurity. This way he gets to play the martyr and have his cuckoo Christian fans continue to think that they're being persecuted, which they love more than Jesus.
DeleteLimbaugh being the most popular talk radio host needs to be akin to being the best buggy whip manufacturer. Sure you're the best. But how many people need a buggy whip?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I have my radio tuned to PBS/NPR in the car. If for any reason it doesn't work, I have a classical station set on another button.
Limbaugh's and Beck's audiences are dieing off, literally. They are the old and getting older. Young people don't listen to him. Why should they? They've got iPods and can listen to music without any advertising whatsoever.
At least NPR is entertaining. Click and Clack, Wait wait don't tell me, Prairie Home Companion.
Rush and Glen don't have much to recommend them except hate and vitriol. Those that feed on it will always find it. But they will be fewer and fewer in number. And without the target listener, you won't sell that advertising. Without revenue, you're history.
It would be nice to see Cumulus drop Limbaugh and see just how many stations do pick him up. Might be very embarrassing to him. He might say he's retiring to avoid public humiliation.
O/T Maybe this is beating a "dead horse"
ReplyDeleteHere's the video of the Palin brunch interview:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/sarah-palin-kentucky-derby_n_3222351.html
Notice how appropriately attired everyone is and what a mess Palin looks. Check out the back of her head near the end of the video. She's SCARY!!
http://www.lex18.com/images/thumbnails/2C01D1D494DF63B3961AA38B69D6BF55_292_292.jpg
OMG!
DeleteShe looks AW-FUL!
Her face is all puffy and her hair looks ridic!
The Air Force officer in charge of the military branch's sexual assault prevention program was arrested for sexual assault, ARLNow reported Monday.
ReplyDeleteStars and Stripes confirms that Lt. Col Jeffrey Krusinski, the chief of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, was arrested early Sunday in Arlington, Virginia.
The crime report reads:
On May 5 at 12:35 am, a drunken male subject approached a female victim in a parking lot and grabbed her breasts and buttocks. The victim fought the suspect off as he attempted to touch her again and alerted police. Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington, VA, was arrested and charged with sexual battery. He was held on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
According to Wired reporter Spencer Ackerman and NBC News, the Air Force has removed Krusinski from his post, pending an investigation into the allegations.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/jeffrey-krusinski-arrested_n_3225155.html?ref=topbar
Yeah, that boycott has had such a huge effect that Limbaugh resigned with Cumulus, he is on more stations than any other political talker and he is the most popular political talker ever. Boy, that boycott really killed him.
ReplyDeleteT
This is what left-wing radio host Thom Hartmann had to say about the failure of a boycott:
ReplyDeletehttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/08/05/oops-liberal-radio-host-says-media-matters-limbaugh-boycott-hurt-liberal-talk-radio/
He basically says "progressive talk radio" was hurt by the boycott. But hey, you keep peddling the fiction that a guy who just singed another multi-million dollar contract with Cumulus has been devastated by a lame boycott by left-wing astroturfers.