In most markets, a station owner would give his eye-teeth to get the Rush Limbaugh franchise. It's a proven money-maker, so if one station lets it go, there are others waiting for just that opportunity.
Yes, and those other stations are often Clear Channel stations, owned by the same company that syndicates Rush's show. Do you know if CC owns any talk stations in Baltimore? Because if they do, and WBAL/Hearst hasn't recently signed a long-term distribution deal for the show, then WBAL just signed its own death warrant on that time slot. CC plays hardball, and they will yank their programs from a non-CC station at the slightest provocation (such a 30-day loss of ad revenue in Baltimore) and move them to CC stations the moment the contract is up.
Often, they'll even do it without provocation, which is what they did in my town. One Friday Rush was on a local mom-and-pop station, where it had been for years, and on Monday it was on the local CC station, with the old station having to settle for G. Gordon Liddy. (Though I have to admit the local station was apparently Planet of the Tarleks, as practically EVERY local slot on Rush's show was left empty. (Let me tell you, the Spatula City ads and "The FBI This Week" PSAs are not very entertaining when you hear them nine times in a three-hour period. I don't know how the station ever made a dime running that show. Does Premiere still pay to put shows on in certain markets? I thought almost everything in radio was barter these days, except for O'Reilly, and it was hugely embarrassing to Bill when word got out that they're paying stations to carry his program.) The moment Rush was moved to the CC station, every local slot was filled from the first day. So it was better for Rush and his syndicator to move the show to the better-run station.)