Rush is too big to be pushed around by anyone - including Clear Channel. He has direct and sole control of the editorial content of his program. If his guest hosts are all spouting the pro-Romney line....well, it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out where Rush is on this election.
Didn't it happen occasionally in the "golden age" of Hollywood that a major studio went into a snit about a star, and refused to put him (or her) in a movie and refused to release him from the contract or allow him to work for another studio?
The thing is I don't believe Rush owns a single radio station; he broadcasts through contracts with station owners. Bain and Thomas H. Lee (also Mormon run) took Clear Channel private in 2006. And as I said, Rush's syndicator (which I take to function something like an agent, placing the show, dealing with contracts, etc.) is also owned by Bain. I don't know how long Rush has been with this syndicator (Premiere) or the specific contract provisions, but we all know the courts see plenty of contract disputes, in spite of all the lawyer hours that go into drawing up multi-million dollar contracts, in which one party insists on construing a contract provision in a way utterly unforeseen by the other party.
I do think there has to be a reason why Rush saw early on that Mitt was the Dems' hoped for Pubbie. And then dropped that theme right down the memory hole apparently.
Boston may be merely an isolated instance, but a couple of years ago Rush, who for years broadcast here on an Entercom station, was moved to a new Boston Clear Channel station.
We also know Mitt has been running for the past 6 years, quite methodically getting all his ducks in a row.