With Rush Limbaugh facing an advertiser exodus, the Republican radio host didn't need another round of bad news. Last night, Judd Legum presented some anyway.
Radio-Info.com reports that Premiere Networks, which syndicates the Rush Limbaugh show, told its affiliate radio stations that they are suspending national advertising for two weeks. Rush Limbaugh is normally provided to affiliates in exchange for running several minutes of national advertisements provided by Premiere each hour. These ads are called "barter spots." These spots are how Premiere makes its money off of Rush Limbaugh and other shows it syndicates.
But without explanation, Premiere has suspended these national advertisements for two weeks. Radio-Info.com calls the move "unusual."
In the Radio-Info.com report, there's some ambiguity about what prompted the two-week suspension -- the article noted that Premier "does not offer a reason, and does not mention a possible connection to Rush Limbaugh" -- but it's certainly not what the scandal-plagued host wanted to hear under the circumstances.
Associated Press
David Frum, meanwhile, notes that Limbaugh's precarious standing will face a new challenge on April 2, which is just three weeks away. "That's when the new Mike Huckabee show launches on 100 stations in Limbaugh's very own noon-to-3 time slot," Frum noted. "Huckabee's competition threatens Limbaugh not only because Huckabee has already proven himself an attractive and popular TV broadcaster, but also because Huckabee is arriving on the scene at a time when Limbaugh's business model is crashing around him."
The head of Cumulus Media Networks, which will carry Huckabee's show, added yesterday that Limbaugh's difficulties have created a "real opportunity" for the former Arkansas governor.
Keep in mind, Huckabee isn't exactly a host who'll steer clear of controversy. A year ago, Huckabee falsely claimed President Obama “grew up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather.” Soon after, he endorsed “death panel” garbage. By the early summer, Huckabee was equating the national debt with the Nazi Holocaust. In August 2009, Huckabee argued that President Obama’s health care reform package would have forced Ted Kennedy to commit suicide.
In time, advertisers may find the former Republican presidential hopeful too extreme, too.
But in the short run, Limbaugh probably won't benefit from the new competition.
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The picture of Rush up to his neck in his own manure is heartening even if it is temporary.
Huckabee is likeable. Sociopaths often are. Could be the right-wing propaganda machine is taking a gamble that honey will work better than vinegar.
I like the analogy of Huckleberry as the kinder, gentler version of socialpath than Rush.
Exactly!
My heart breaks for Rushbo - not! I do not like Reverend Huckleberry, but he is not as totally obnoxious as Limpballs.
Huckabee is getting his own show. On a hundred stations just to start. Because there just aren't enough right wingers on talk radio. WOWO in Fort Wayne was a storied radio station with well known local personalities, an interesting variety of shows and a fairly interesting history before The Borg assimilated it into an all Republican hysteria format back in the 90's.
Will the day ever come when we see these endless modern-day variations of "Lonesome Rhodes" permanently relegated to the very fringe, where they belong? Right-wing hate radio is like placing a miror in front of a mirror - it just goes on and on and on as far as the eye can see. How long can this country keep on absorbing this toxicity before something erupts.
I think it already has erupted. Truth will out.
They reject anything remotely smelling of compromise, and deny that anyone not (mostly) like them are Real Americans. Therefore any government that isn't true-blue totally Like Them is illegitimate (Cigargate, anyone? Maybe an nice Kenyan?)
They've already gone from soap box to ballot box, and the only thing that's kept them from taking the next step is that they've been winning. Up until six years ago, anyway -- and look at how they reacted to that. If this November turns out like most of us would like it to, that's not going to be true any more.
Then? All bets are off.
I agree it already has. No longer can we have a civil discussion with neighbors who listen to this garbage because they are to angry and do nothing but throw schoolyard names at those they don't immediately agree with. Even in trivial matters the listeners are rabid in defending their positions since they have been conditioned to not think about anything anymore. It's very sad. Emotionally these folks have been "broken".
Instead of standing on a corner with a sandwich board saying "The end is near", they put on suits and spew on the radio. While the medium has changed, the message has not. Grab your Bible and your AK47, the liberals are here.
And these gigantic corporations start pinheads like Huckabee on a hundred stations right out of the box. Did Air America ever have a hundred? They had to fight like hell for every one they did have and Clear Channel or whoever starts Huck at the top by giving him so much of the airwaves that he can make money even if almost nobody listens to him. This isn't about the political attitude of the nation, it's about economies of scale. The driving influence of right wing talk radio isn't the founding fathers; it's Wal-Mart.
Neither of these limited personalities are good for the country. the hate and lies they propose all the time sure convinces me that they are not Christian people. I guess that makes them CINO's. Like the Muslim said " I wish I would have met Jesus before I met a Christian".
Mike Huckabee is supposed to be a Baptist minister. You would think he would be dedicated to the truth. How many times a day does he do things and say things that Jesus told his followers NOT to do.
You cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
Take all that you have and give it to the poor.
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.
How many more?
Rush will come out of this with some advertisers still with him and the rest will wait until the uproar is forgotten before they return with ads. He has a faithful audience and they are not going away. By September this will all be forgotten unless the elections get into the contraception issue. I doubt Romney will want to make it an issue and he would prefer it go away. But he will have to talk to some of the conservative radio people, just not Rush.
These creeps have fans? This is interesting to watch. We read about Hitler getting the Germans to back him, we read about the crusades and Inquisition but we can now witness just how some people can be herded into a stampede that ends with them running off a cliff.
Rush should thank a liberal that his comments about Sandra Fluke did not get his license yanked immediately by the FCC since "c**t" is one of the "seven dirty words" that were originally banned on broadcast media. It was primarily through the opposition by civil liberties groups like the ACLU that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) (or at least key provisions) was overturned and thanks to ("activist liberal") judges on the Supreme Court that other challenges to limit First Amendment Free Speech rights were prevented (Reno vs ACLU and FCC v. Pacifica).
So, Rush...THANK A LIBERAL that you still have a radio show at all !!
Rush and Huck really appeal to different audiences. If you live in a big urban area you may not be aware of the Xstain radio and TV megalopolis that provides an alternative to Rush, Savage and that ilk.
The folks who listen to Xstain programming 24/7 are a different cult than the Rushbots. They are just as brainwashed but they don't even like Rushbo and friends.
It's really time we in the general public hear more about the Religious Rightwing movement taking over the GOP. When you talk to these people it is not hate but real fear for their religion that is driving them. They also are expecting the 2nd coming soon to deliver us all from all the "evil" they see surrounding them. They are hyped on all the babies being murdered everyday by that evil man in the White House. (I'm not kidding, I was told that by one at a dog park)
Huck will appeal to the alternative universe that the Xstain live in.
Speaking form personal experience, I have to agree. And from my perspective most are not happy unless they are afraid or spreading that fear.
At this point, anyone would be better ... ehh -- well for now. The issue isn't who will replace him. The issue is, now, the tone and tenor of the national conversation. The line that Limbaugh kept moving, was finally crossed.
The movement to remove him from the airways won't stop w/a two week national sponsor vacation. The effort now involves local advertisers and local affiliates. And the movement won't stop boycotting those sponsors who claimed they will stand by their man limbaugh. check out our page - and the links to local stations and local advertisers. Time to shut this guy down and make an example out of him.
http://boycottrushlimbaughssponsors.com/