Cumulus has been struggling financially for several years, and their acquisition of Citadel (which owned the former ABC stations) didn’t help. Now, they’re looking to dump Rush and Sean Hannity in favor of their “own” talent, and hoping to save a few dollars.
As I’ve posted before, Rush and Hannity are rather unique in the world of talk radio. Most syndicated shows are offered for “free,” in exchange for a split of the advertising time. With over 500 affiliates each, Rush and Sean command programming fees for the right to carry their show, and a healthy cut of the advertising revenue. Cumulus believes they make more money by putting their own shows (programs they syndicate) in the slots now occupied by Limbaugh and Hannity. No programming fees and they get to keep all the revenue.
Only one problem with that theory. Huckabee has been competing directly against Rush for over a year, and has done nothing in the ratings. Michael Savage (who was also signed to a long-term deal with Cumulus) has a better track record, but in many cities he’s airing after Mark Levin.
In fact, if you polled a number of talk radio program directors, most would rather have Levin in the early evening slot instead of Savage. Some of Savage’s rants about cooking or holistic medicine drive listeners away; Levin is much more focused, sticks with politics and the law, and does a better job retaining his audience. Savage would not work at an earlier hour, and don’t look for Cumulus to try him in afternoon drive.
What happens to Rush and Hannity in markets where they will be dropped by Cumulus? That blueprint was designed a long time ago; in cities like Pittsburgh, Raleigh and New Orleans, Clear Channel (which syndicates their shows through Premier Radio Networks) moved them to one of their under-performing FM stations in the market, and flipped it to a talk format. All of these FM talkers have done very well, and you’ll see a similar move in cities where Cumulus currently airs Rush and Sean.
One possible exception is New York City, where Clear Channel just purchased WOR-AM, the station that dominated the local ratings for years, up until the 1980s. When Rush and Hannity become available, they will move down the dial and WOR will become a conservative talk station. That move will absolutely destroy WABC, the Cumulus flagship, but no one is willing to tell the company’s CEO (Lew Dickey) that he’s making the biggest mistake in radio since CBS switched WCBS-FM to the “Jack” format. That experiment lasted less than two years before the oldies returned, and WCBS-FM is among the top five stations in New York.
There has also been some speculation about the stations that will pick up Rush and Hannity in Washington DC and Chicago. There are several candidates in the nation’s capital, including CBS-owned WNEW-FM, which launched an all-news format in 2012, but hasn’t made a dent against Hubbard’s WTOP. CBS could flip the station to talk, pick up Rush and Sean, save a ton of money (all news is probably the most expensive of all radio formats) and kill WMAL in the process.
CBS also has a struggling FM station in Chicago that could shift to conservative talk, and I’ve even heard rumblings that Rush could wind up on WGN-AM. The Tribune outlet prefers local personalities, but they could use a boost in the early afternoon, and Rush would bring a ton of listeners from WLS. The only problem is WGN’s broadcasts of Cub baseball; doubtful that Rush would allow his program to air on a station that would pre-empt him multiple times for baseball in the spring and summer.
Rush and Hannity will be fine; Cumulus is digging its own grave.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/rush-hannity-leaving-cumulus-wor-article-1.1411314
Lefties have been salivating at the thought of Cumulus “silencing the haters”. So they get replaced by Savage and Huckabee. Please do. That’ll show ‘em.