Not really.
Rush's deal is with Clear Channel.If they sell off a bunch of stations and acquire others it's only natural that he goes to the new one's even if they have no signal or no audience. That's radio.It doesn't happen very often but it can and did happen to Rush on a handful of the 600 stations he is on.
Clear Channel(cheap channel) has always been the asshole/armpitt of companies to work for. Once you have been clearchanneled as I was you never forget it.
It probably cost some ad money and some numbers but with that many affiliates he still has 13 million listeners and hes still #1 right there with Hannity.
Politico has a habit of coming down on conservative pretty hard and this article was anything but unbiased.
Recently, Limbaugh has had a problem in that he was always expected to be above the fray of other talk show hosts and remain fair,balanced and objective.
He stopped being fair and objective in early March shilling for Ted Cruz and has only come around over the past few weeks as Trump has become the clear winner.
Even now he told a caller the other day he would still not openly state his support for Trump even though he has stopped blasting him on the air for the most part.
Reasons vary.
And remain the big question. Why did he break listener confidences?
Was it Mark Levin and his brother who were openly riding the cruz SUV? Was it jealousy knowing that he could do what Trump was attempting and do it much better or is it something much more sinister? We may never know.
If you follow the money you ask yourself who or whom is he beholden to(that we may or may not know about) and is he following their lead or even orders?
Hard to tell why he changed being the leader he had been for 25 years.Will his wishy washy effort for Trump result in lost revenue and fewer listeners? Hard to tell.Some here on FR claim they will never listen to him or some have already stopped.
Others like myself listen to him in a much more questionable manner studying every word for bias. It's a new day on the EIB net.
Yet he 100% endorsed GWB, Dole, McCain and not the Donald.... I wonder when you mentioned money, how much of this is the old Bush Rolodex and the power it still wields and how it is related to his income stream....
One thing not mentioned in the article was the change of ownership of WABC from Clear Channel to Cumulus Media. They swapped a lot of major market stations (including WJR in Detroit) and the Dickey’s didn’t want to pay Premiere (Rush’s syndicator and a division of Clear Channel). So as contracts ended they replaced Premiere talent with their own.
Anyone remember the big splash when they announced Mike Huckabee as the alternative to Rush? Didn’t last too long. Same with Savage. They peddled Savage as an alternative to Hannity so they could keep the money in-house and make some advertising money as well.
Clear Channel and Cumulus have both gone through some serious financial issues the past few years since Sirrus/XM got placed in most new cars and their senior notes came due.
Both Clear Channel and Cumulus went hog wild snapping up station after the FCC changed the ownership rules back in 1996. They paid outrageous sums of money for small/medium market stations and the bill came due. As a result...Clear Channel reorganized and the Dickey brothers were ousted from senior management from Cumulus.
Radio is a business. People’s taste change, it’s one of the reasons FM went from Classical radio stations to a more mainstream content.
Rush will lose some stations, may have to take a reduction in pay or retire, but I doubt he’ll be shopping at a Dollar General in Palm Beach anytime soon.