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Talk Radio Face-Off (or as someone on a radio board puts it, the answer to a question no-one asked?)

>>About 600 stations carry Mr. Limbaugh’s show, the anchor for talk radio, about 125 of which are owned by Clear Channel. Of the more than 180 that will carry Mr. Huckabee’s show at the start, 40 are owned by Cumulus. In many markets, the new show will be tape-delayed, potentially making it harder for the show to gain traction. But Mr. Dickey said the number of stations carrying the show had far exceeded the company’s expectations.

For now, Cumulus will carry Mr. Limbaugh’s show instead of Mr. Huckabee’s on dozens of its stations, something it says it is contractually bound to do through 2013. But what then? Mr. Dickey would not say, but many people in radio contend that if Mr. Huckabee’s show is successful, Cumulus will schedule it in Mr. Limbaugh’s place.

In part that is because the fees stations must pay to carry it have become expensive when cost-cutting is the norm. “The Mike Huckabee Show” could give stations leverage.

Mr. Hogan said, “I think our affiliates absolutely understand and value Rush, but it wouldn’t be radio if they weren’t complaining about the price.”

Mr. Dickey is aware of the whispers that what they are trying — a moderate, all-are-welcome approach — is antithetical to talk radio, which has thrived on the kind of controversy that Mr. Limbaugh provides.

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