Posted on 06/19/2015 5:29:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rush Limbaugh's woes in the ratings game of partisan talk radio are being highlighted by his left-wing enemies, Media Matters is gleefully reporting that the radio talk show host is on a downward slide.
Salon puts this headline on the piece, "Rush Limbaugh’s downward spiral continues: Another demotion, another step toward irrelevancy."
The piece highlights a recent move down the radio dial Limbaugh was forced to make after being dumped by his host station in Boston, Mass.
Limbaugh is still on the air in Boston but the conservative radio talk show has a new AM home in the city and it "currently boasts a 0.6 rating, trails four non-commercial stations in the market, and becomes yet another big-city, cellar-dwelling outpost that Limbaugh is forced to call home," Salon reports.
The have a lot more Rush bashing here.
Earlier, the New York Daily News revealed that sagging ratings might mean less money for Limbaugh in his next contract noting that "the ratings for syndicated conservative talk have flattened or dropped for several years, despite the gift of a Democratic President to hammer, and some think the format is wearing down."
Daryl Parks, a former talk host, media blogger and self-described Republican is quoted by NYDN and has the opinion that the schtick is wearing thin,
“Today’s talk radio is fast fading into the sunset because of a format stuck with 1990s rhetoric,” he says.
“A constant right-wing political drumbeat no longer resonates.”
The article notes that Rush "lost many advertisers after the Sandra Fluke birth control controversy in 2012, and that could affect what his syndicator, Premiere, will offer when his eight-year, $50 million a year deal expires in 2016."
Despite the ratings woes and aging demographics for the show he is still the "face of syndicated conservative talk radio," according to the NYDN.
What irritates me are the issues he ignores.
For example:
Have you ever heard Rush talk about the latest “Polar Bear” attack or flash mob attack on a innocent white person?
How about giving K-12 school outrages the coverage they deserve?
How much time has Rush spent on Common Core?
NSA spying?
And....Obama’s eligibility or his Obama’s outrageous **forgeries**!!!! ( I will never forgive him for that one!)
Yep!
Rush’s typical “nibble at the edges” response.
“Probably like me he can read the handwriting on the wall. The nation turned hard to the Left in 2008, and there is no indication that we are about to correct course. The 47% will very likely be 51% after they promise to forgive student loans.”
He’s been at it since ‘88 or so and how much difference has he made?
Aside from educating and entertaining the choir (me included), ZIP, ZERO, NADA.
As Bob Grant used to say, “It’s sick out there and getting sicker.”
Yes, lack of coverage of the eligibility issue has me tuned out as well.
I think he wanted to talk about it immediately following the first AZ day, but he backed off.
Still praying for AZ Day lll.
I’m still a Rush fan, but I do think he’s lost his edge a bit...his anger, as it was stated upthread. For that reason, I’m more likely to want to tune in when Mark Steyn subs.
But the Paul Shanklin parodies...please, no more. IMO they are so corny.
As much as I dislike self-impressed blowhards, Rush’s schtick has never bothered me...in fact, it tickles me. Because that’s all it is-—schtick. He brags because he knows it drives the left crazy.
Rush is always a day behind - or more - the web stories. Then he and his producers go on and on about one topic as if they the audience is unable to get the point. Even Mark Styen and others how filed in would go over and over the idea until I had to change the station.
That's the truth.
Occasionally I'll catch the beginning of Sean's show. It's painfully obvious that he isn't having a conversation with his audience; he's reading from a script. And he does so haltingly, often stumbling over the words.
He does.
Predictably, the left selectively chooses information to paint a picture of Rush’s supposed woes.
Here’s the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say. WRKO has been a train wreck for years. At one point, they had a former Democratic state representative (and convicted felon) hosting their morning show, and they even dropped Howie Carr for a brief period, which was followed by a near-collapse in their ratings. Dropping Rush will not improve their numbers and it will probably result in a further erosion of their audience. Just another mindless move by Entercom, which owns WRKO.
As for some of Rush’s other affiliation changes...in New York, WOR-AM (his new flagship) is now ahead of WABC, not just in the city but in the suburbs as well. Wonder if Lew Dickey (CEO of Cumulus), which owns WABC, still thinks he made the right decision to dump Rush.
In LA, KEIB has gone from hash marks to a 0.9 rating over the past year. That may not sound impressive, but it’s pretty darn good for a lower-powered AM in a market with more than 40 signals. Meanwhile, his former LA affiliate (KFI) is down about a point since the switch (KFI and KEIB are both owned by iHeart). The local Cumulus-owned talker (KABC) is at a 0.5 and slowly falling.
One host does not make or break a station. And more than a few outlets who have dropped Rush have lived to regret that decision.
What is AZ day?
Even MahaRushie gets his list from TPTB that he can’t touch. DON’T DOUBT ME.
Your last paragraph sums it up for me as well.
Whether he would like to hear it or not, he is part of the elite.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good analysis!
Pretty much the same here with me.
The sports chatter gets turned off.
Used to listen to him all the time starting the summer of 1990.
I think three things took the wind out of his sails: (1) the utter duplicity of the GOP after the 1994 congressional victories (during the past 20 years they've made it clear they're part of the Uniparty); (2) his marriage to Marta and related divorce; and (3) the prosecutorial witchhunt over his misuse of prescription drugs.
He's smart enough to know the tipping point has been reached.
Dennis Prager is the best talk show host nobody listens to. Primarily because he is on opposite Rush.
“And don’t forget about all the air time he spends on his endless promotion of his tea and children’s books...”
Exactly!
So, 13.25 million listeners !!
That beats most of the top television shows even on a good night.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.