The alleged demise of Rush Limbaugh is the global warming siren that never ends...............
Posted on 05/30/2016 12:46:50 PM PDT by EveningStar
Earlier this year, as that unmistakable bass line of the Pretenders’ My City Was Gone faded into the background, Rush Limbaugh opened his daily three-hour broadcast with characteristic bombast. “[According to the] latest research data,” he intoned, “the audience is expanding at near geometric proportions, as people seek guidance, answers, explanations, information, and an answer to the basic question, ‘What the hell is happening out there?’" ...
And yet, there are signs that all is not well in the Limbaugh radio empire. Because even as his influence is sky high and his dominance at the top of talk radio remains unchallenged, as a business proposition, Limbaugh’s show is on shaky ground. In recent years, Limbaugh has been dropped by several of his long-time affiliates, including some very powerful ones: He’s gone from WABC in New York, WRKO in Boston and KFI in Los Angeles, for example, and has in many cases been moved onto smaller stations with much weaker signals that cover smaller areas.
Why? Because four years after Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” on air, spurring a major boycott movement, reams of advertisers still won’t touch him. He suffers from what talk radio consultant Holland Cooke calls a “scarlet letter among national brand advertisers.” And for someone who has said that “confiscatory ad rates” are a key pillar of his business, that spells trouble. (Limbaugh ignored multiple interview requests.)
Limbaugh’s extremely lucrative eight-year contract—estimated to be worth roughly $38 million a year—is up this summer ...
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Rush is 65.
A three-hour broadcast every weekday would be a challenge to keep interesting.
He’s got plenty of money. He may want to retire within a few years. Maybe even after the November elections. I wouldn’t blame him.
A smart businessman -- whoever he preferred -- might have steered twenty nautical miles away from that mess.
To his credit, he often did, but when he slipped, he pissed half of us off.
Exactly. So-called experts have been predicting his demise for decades, but Rush keeps soldiering on. With at least 13 million listeners a week, he’s still the biggest draw in talk radio—by far. And, as even Politico is forced to admit, Premier Radio still makes money on Rush, even when they pay him $38 million a year.
As for Rush’s departure from WABC, that was dictated in large part by the financial woes of Citadel (which bought the former ABC stations) and Cumulus, which picked them up when Citadel went belly up.
Lew Dickey, the self-styled genius who ran Cumulus into the ground (until the company board of directors fired him last year) was among the radio executives who complained long and loud about Rush and the impact of his Sandra Fluke remarks. Of course, Lew never mentioned that Rush consistently out-performed other programming on his stations. He’s typically #3-#5 in his timeslot on WMAL in Washington, making him the station’s highest-rated personality. Meanwhile, Dickey’s favorite host, Michael Savage (who Dickey installed in PM drive around the country) rarely cracks the top 15 in that time slot.
Also missing from this story are the markets and stations where Rush does well. He’s #1 in Atlanta on WSB, and he also tops his time slot in Raleigh, NC, which is a pretty liberal city. Rush is also a ratings powerhouse on a number of other affiliates around the country. In fact, many of the stations that have dropped him have problems that go far beyond the cost of Rush’s program, or the ad revenue they have to split with him. That includes stations like WABC and WLS in Chicago, which are shadows of their former selves under Cumulus’s gross mismanagement.
Obviously, radio has changed in the internet and satellite era. Still, Rush will be able to command a big check when his contract is up next month.
I think his biggest problem is that he’s not as entertaining as he once was. Fewer humorous elements in his show and that was once a good part of the success of his show. His true genius is understanding what makes an entertaining show, he’s a consummate radio professional. But I think he’s started to believe that he’s more than that and it’s hurt his product.
I’m the same age as Limbaugh and I’ve never seen him as any important thinker. He’s not. He began as popularizer of conservative material that most listeners weren’t aware of, usually found in small circulation magazines. The humor page of American Spectator. Articles from National Review (most without attribution which used to result in some grumbling). That sort of thing. He’s not all that well read, he rarely if ever speaks of any serious books that he’s read. One by Hayek is the only one I remember hearing him mention. But that’s not why I listened to him.
I gave up on Hannity when he told his listeners that that drug headed felon, Snoop Doggy Dog (or whatever) said that "Hannity was a cool guy" or something to that effect, and Hannity just about giggled and drooled over what he said instead of ignoring the stinking drug infested pimps words.
Never listened to him again . . . and also, Hannity has not brought up his so-called pro-life stand for years. I think you call people like this Media Whores.
All talk radio supports homosexuality and gay marriage and all the rest.
Discussions of TV, movies, arts, science, family - it’s all changed because of that support.
Being forced to discuss perverted and sinful sex acts is the same as being force to participate in those acts.
It’s just not my culture anymore.
Yes.
Yes he is.
Precisely. Many national “brands” and retailers have avoided talk radio for years—locally and nationally—because they’re afraid of controversy, no matter the station or the host. At the same time, some of the advertisers who have used talk radio have been very surprised by the results, for a couple of reasons. First, the talk audience is by far the best informed/educated of any in radio and secondly, they have more disposable income than any other demo.
With more boomers working into their 60s and 70s and earning comfortable incomes, advertisers may have to re-calibrate their approach. Would you rather go after the “Depends” demo—the audience once ignored unless you’re selling burial policies or Medicare supplements, but the group that actually owns homes and can afford to buy new cars. Or, do they prefer to chase millennials who racked up more than $100,000 in debt on a worthless college degree and are living at home with their parents, because they don’t qualify for any job paying more than $10 an hour.
Radio as a whole and talk radio in particular have proven surprisingly resilient. Sixty years ago, the smart boys and girls were writing radio’s obituary because of the arrival of television. Radio not only survived—it thrived. Likewise, talk radio evolved from a “fringe” format into the most popular on the airwaves. And BTW, Rush Limbaugh is the #1 reason that AM radio survived into the 21st Century and that news/talk became the top format.
I consider Rush equivalent to the founding fathers of this nation. He has been a radio Paul Revere for decades, warning about liberalism (what leftist now call progressivism).
The communist in America would love nothing better than to get rid of Rush.
I pause with suspicion at people on this board who talk negative of Rush. It is a telling sign of liberal trolls.
Rush had his glory days but everything changes and cycles in and out. He will still have some sort of show if he wants it.
Look at old man Don Imus— who listens to him anymore yet there he is.
I still chuckle at when Michael Savage gloated about how he took over the Detroit area 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. slot on WJR here in Detroit when they "dropped" Sean Hannity.......
The reality was that Sean was at the end of his contract with his parent company (I don't remember the name) and signed on with a new one that immediately placed him in their own local stations - both 1440 AM AND 92.7 FM in the 3:00 - 6:00 PM time slot....an extra hour more than he had with WJR........LOL!
I’m as conservative as they come. I haven’t listened to him in years because I have no interest in golf or endless commercials from the same three companies.
Yep. To her, being called a slut, is paying her a compliment.
Thanks, that is what I thought but I get mixed up a lot lately. I think this might be the start of a setup against Rush because the truth against hillary will do much damage.
The alleged demise of Rush Limbaugh is the global warming siren that never ends...............
Agree. His comment on Fluke were fine. It was his support of the pro-amnesty Rubio, and after that, the fervent support of Cruz that may have sunk him.
LOL.
I’ve never heard of the twit that wrote this crap.
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