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.
sfl
I think his ratings have fallen because people like me are sick and tired of him diverting off to talk about Deflate Gate or whatever football story there is and try to connect it to the topic of the day. He’ll do it at the drop of a hat. The other day, he started out talking about the day’s major events and in the first 15-20 minutes he wandered on off to football.
Frankly, it is his show and he can talk about what he wants, but I don’t have to listen to him anymore when he blathers on about football, either.
I think he’s lost his edge myself.
Yeah, these guys have a lot to celebrate as Michael Savage becomes the ratings leader.
I don’t think Rush will starve.
Libs are unable to get liberal talk radio off the ground (remember Air America?) so they try to trash talk Rush, the most successful talk radio in history.
If Rush’s rating have slid it is possibly due to his loss of anger. He used to show his own rage and talk about listener rage. He has become tame and his ratings are down as a result.
When he really burns Obama’s butt on the radio, his rating will come back... and maybe Trump will pick up on what Rush says and even become coherent and consistent for a change.
Oh dear, he might only make $20 million per year now. How will he ever survive?
I suspect “poor Rush” is crying all the way to the bank.\s
Too many commercials. When Burns and Allen would incorporate a Carnation condensed milk ad into the show, at least it was funny. LifeLock is not funny.
I suspect he is ready to retire. He certainly has the money now.
I live in Boston. WRKO is moving Jeff Kuhner to the 12-3 slot to assist him in going national. Rush will still be on in Boston.
How long have they been predicting his demise?
Not to mention podcasts from competition.
I no longer turn on the car radio. It is all saved podcasts for me, or tunes playlists.
Daryl Park, a washed-up never-was, DUmmie and Rachel Dolezal Republican...
There. Fixed it.
Rush is a juggernaut - the Left can only dream that he’s being affected in any meaningful way. I hear they are also up in arms that his “Rush Revere” books are now available in spanish ... oh the horror. /sarc
I don’t even know if I believe this stuff. How good have Rush’s ratings ever been in NYC or Boston? As long as the main media continues to be liberal, there will always be a place for conservative radio. I listen to Rush every day and when the Mets take over, I rage.
Irony of ironies, Rush is being slowly done in by, of all things, capitalism.
He is unique in that he charges a big up-front fee to carry his show. Yet revenues in radio are dropping everywhere as younger people eschew it in favor of online services (my 23 year old does not even own a radio).
The result of this is that Rush’s show is only marginally profitable to stations now after they pay his bill. They can schedule a local show or a bartered program with half the ratings that will turn out to be much more profitable. Radio has changed, and Rush seriously needs to revisit his business model.
This is part of an overall trend and has virtually nothing to do with Sandra Fluke as these articles maintain.
Rush’s other problem is that he keeps turning off his longtime audience by spending hour upon hour talking about book promotion, deflated footballs, and tea. He needs to get back to what made him great. More humorous updates and Paul Shanklin parodies wouldn’t hurt.
And don’t forget about all the air time he spends on his endless promotion of his tea and children’s books...
What is missing is simple supply an demand. When the Great Rushbo started, he was the only powerful Conservative voice in the media. His own success spawned many competitors within radio, and more importantly, Foxnews is also a formidable competitor to him.
He is still the intellectual force behind conservatism, and just as the NYT is still unfortunately relevant despite its much worse slide in its “ratings”, Rush will continue to be relevant until he decides not to.
I will always be grateful to Rush, and we will be shocked at how much we will miss him once he’s gone.
I suspect you’re on to something here. As someone who detests football I don’t even bother to listen to Rush during football season.
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