surrounding Rush and WABC.
I concur...Mike Huckleberry Hound, Is just awful...comical.
Here’s the real story behind the controversy surrounding Rush and WABC.
The station is now owned by Cumulus Communications out of Atlanta. Cumulus inherited WABC (and other former ABC-owned stations) when Citadel Communications had to unload them a couple of years ago. Citadel bought them from ABC when Disney decided to unload most of its radio portfolio; that deal coincided with the onset of the recession and the collapse of the ad market. Citadel was saddled with billions in debt and Cumulus picked up their holdings at a fire-sale price.
Unfortunately, stations like WABC, WLS in Chicago, WBAP in Dallas and KABC in Los Angeles have been laggards in terms of sales and advertising revenues. In New York, for example, WABC has more than twice the audience of WOR, but bills only half of what KFI does in Los Angeles.
Lew Dickey, the Cumulus CEO, is looking for a scapegoat for his sales problems. Not too long ago, there was a minor house-cleaning at WMAL in Washington after Dickey decided that station wasn’t pulling its weight. To be fair, commercial radio is an ad-driven business. But to blame Rush for all of the sales problems at Cumulus is ridiculous. If it’s Rush’s fault, then why is KFI doing so well? Why does WCBS-AM in New York (with about the same number of listeners as WABC) bill far more than the Cumulus outlet? Why are a number of Clear Channel news/talk outlets (other than KFI) doing quite well in ratings and revenue?
Dickey has a notorious reputation as a blowhard and tightwad. Privately, he’s probably been told that his talk stations can’t afford to lose Rush, but by painting him as a revenue drag, he’s hoping for a better deal when his contract comes up for renewal. As I’ve noted on FR before, Rush is one of the few syndicated talk shows where local affiliates have to pay for the program and split the advertising slots with Rush and his syndicator. The vast majority of talk programs are offered for free, with the affiliates giving the syndicator a certain number of commercial minutes per hour.
If Dickey can’t work a better deal, he plans to put Mike Huckabee on stations like WABC in Rush’s time slot. Cumulus signed Huckabee to a deal last year and his show airs in many markets in the same time slot as Rush. Ratings for Huckabee’s show have been disappointing at best, but Cumulus stations will get that show for free and they won’t have to split the ad revenue with Rush.
Here’s how this scenario plays out, IMO. Rush will get a new contract, for eye-popping numbers); Cumulus won’t get the deal they’re looking for, so they will drop Rush for Huckabee. Ratings for WABC, WLS, WBAP and other Cumulus stations will crater. More Clear Channel news/talk outlets will pick up Rush’s show and in some markets, operators like Cox, CBS and Clear Channel will flip station formats to carry his show. This has already happened in markets like Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Raleigh, and it will happen elsewhere.
One more thing: there will be a major bidding war for Rush’s services. Clear Channel/premier wants to re-sign him, but don’t count out CBS and News Corp, among others. Fox News Radio doesn’t have a host with Rush’s audience, and Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch can match any offer from Clear Channel. CBS may seem like an odd pairing, but they have hundreds of stations around the country and they could bring even more affiliates into the fold.
Getting rid of Rush would be a colossal mistake, and it would cost Cumulus tens of millions of dollars in the next five years alone.
On WBAP Rush pulls the heavy advertisers.
Other programs get subsidized by the Ad council which is like letting the Gov subsidize.
If Gov pays the bills Gov has a say in program content.
You’ll never hear an ad council spot on Rush’s show.
He’ll walk before he allows it.
Cumulus seems to depend heavily on ad council revenue.
Wow, thanks for posting that. I hope Rush, Sean and Mark leave WABC for Wor. I hate that WABC put Geraldo on before Rush instead of a conservative.
Very interesting commentary.
The local AM station that I listen to Rush, WTIC AM, is a CBS-owned radio station and it gets its feed from WABC AM in NYC. WTIC AM has a mix of both local and national talkradio show hosts which has been very sucessful. Mr. Dickey learn from CBS radio.