Irony of ironies, Rush is being slowly done in by, of all things, capitalism.
He is unique in that he charges a big up-front fee to carry his show. Yet revenues in radio are dropping everywhere as younger people eschew it in favor of online services (my 23 year old does not even own a radio).
The result of this is that Rush’s show is only marginally profitable to stations now after they pay his bill. They can schedule a local show or a bartered program with half the ratings that will turn out to be much more profitable. Radio has changed, and Rush seriously needs to revisit his business model.
This is part of an overall trend and has virtually nothing to do with Sandra Fluke as these articles maintain.
Rush’s other problem is that he keeps turning off his longtime audience by spending hour upon hour talking about book promotion, deflated footballs, and tea. He needs to get back to what made him great. More humorous updates and Paul Shanklin parodies wouldn’t hurt.
Rush’s other problem is that he keeps turning off his longtime audience by spending hour upon hour talking about book promotion, deflated footballs, and tea. He needs to get back to what made him great. More humorous updates and Paul Shanklin parodies wouldn’t hurt.
Excellent analysis, and I agree with every word.
Today, Rush has competition from Andrew Wilkow on Sirius satellite radio as well as others in his time slot.
Will always listen to Rush, but his problem is started in elementary schools all over the country. From the minute a kid starts their education in a public school, right on up through graduation from college, they are browbeaten to death with liberal pro-abortion, anti-American, code-pink teachers and these kids naturally grow up to be liberals. Unless they have a strong conservative at home, someone that will keep them on the right track, they are lost forever. They are democrat voters for life because they have heard nothing but put down America their entire lives.
>> More humorous updates and Paul Shanklin parodies wouldn’t hurt <<
Amen to that. Rush used to be upbeat and cheerful much of the time, with all kinds of hilarious material. In those days, I tended to think of him as a sort of “Falstaff” — a man whose deep wisdom and serious analysis was enriched by ironic humor.
But no longer. Since the abject failure of his “Operation Chaos” strategy in 2008, it seems to me that El Rushbo has become too much mired in doom and gloom. So during Rush’s time slot, I now listen most days to Dennis Praeger.
I’m still a Rush fan, but I do think he’s lost his edge a bit...his anger, as it was stated upthread. For that reason, I’m more likely to want to tune in when Mark Steyn subs.
But the Paul Shanklin parodies...please, no more. IMO they are so corny.
Your last paragraph sums it up for me as well.
Our kids are not captive to Mom and Dad running either the AM or FM dial in the car. They just use their device ( insert it's name ), forget about Sirus or Disk in the car, they get Spotify and listen to their tailor made music. He is also running against the wind with kids communication via twitter, snapchat, instagram. How does he teach them about the subtleties of a Flat or Fair Tax vs the current mess when they have the attention span ( because of their devices ) of a gnat!
And that is fostered in the schools as their is no time to discuss anything in depth while pedaling to the metrics of Common Core and every other education mandate. Add to that their "Freedom" to discuss is truly totalitarian as they can't go against the new Statist Heterodoxy or they will be destroyed and they know it.
FWIW, he needs to hire some 15 yr old's to get the Conservative message out or he starts spinning the disk at a Rave that has lyrics about the Founding Fathers.
It is sad, we are dinosaurs and we are shoveling it against the tide...
Exactly, the Internet is what is killing Rush, as are all talk shows.
My wife is the only person on our family who listens to radio, and only in her car going to and from work. My daughter never has (she grew up with MP3 players and the internet with youtube and streaming services) and I listen to music on my Fire Phone and home computer.
Once we dropped Cable/SAT TV it became very hard to stomach constant commercials. I can barely watch a Live NFL Football game now because the commercials annoy me to the point I want to leave the room and find something useful to do. Radio seems to be nothing BUT commercials now. If we are in the car I either turn it off or wear noise canceling headphones and listen to music while I read. I just refuse to listen to the constant blather of commercials anymore.
The elephant in the room. Radio is being hit like newspapers and magazines.