EXCLUSIVE: Key analyst says talk radio’s biggest companies close to pulling the plug

Media Equalizer ^ | 9/8/14 | Brian Maloney

[GulliverSwift]

Cumulus, which merged with Citadel Communications (which itself had absorbed ABC Radio) a few years back, has made peculiar choices searching for “the next Rush Limbaugh”, with an ill-fated push to syndicate moderate Mike Huckabee, which ended up a disaster. From the left, it tried to do the same with Geraldo Rivera, but that fared even worse.

That might not matter if not for the fact that it owns the nation’s biggest news/talkers (WABC, WLS, WBAP, KGO, KSFO, WJR, sad-sack KABC and more), legendary outlets it has seemingly worked tirelessly to run into the ground.

But Hannity and Limbaugh really have little to do with this disturbing trend. Talk would be much worse off without them. Instead, corporate befuddlement at how to program stations combined with a shortsighted refusal to develop promising new talent (they might leave for the competitor!) has led to its potential downfall.

And politics has played a big role, as well: rather than incorporate an overt Fairness Doctrine, the Obama Administration has relied on behind-the-scenes pressure to undermine the format.

It’s similar to what was predicted by longtime industry executive Brian Jennings in his 2009 book Censorship: The Threat To Silence Talk Radio. Jennings maintained that backdoor approaches would accomplish just as much destruction without generating a public backlash.

And that’s exactly what is occurring: undermine it, weaken it further, let it slowly fade. But conservatives have been unsurprisingly asleep at the wheel.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Savage sucks, his jacket sucks and his dog is stupid looking.