Watch for the the chuckle-and-snark set from the leftymedia to their yapping to “puree” over this:
The Rush Limbaugh Program is considering ending its affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media at the end of this year, a move that would bring about one of the biggest shakeups in talk radio history, a source close to the show tells POLITICO.
Should the move take place, 40 Cumulus-owned radio stations would lose the rights to the most popular talk radio program in the country. In addition, the show might be picked up by competing regional radio stations in Washington, New York, Chicago, Dallas and other major markets.
Now, the left’s been trying to paint this as a rejection of conservative talk radio, and specifically a result of the “boycott” of Limbaugh after the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle:
According to the source, Limbaugh is considering the move because Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has blamed the company’s advertising losses on Limbaugh’s controversial remarks about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student. In Feb. 2012, Limbaugh referred to Fluke as “a slut” because she had called on congress to mandate insurance coverage of birth control. The subsequent controversy over those remarks resulted in a significant advertising boycott.
“Significant” in terms of headlines. It was a fairly minor event, commercially – some companies regretted taking part pretty quickly.
But its greatest significance might be giving Lew Dickey an out for his incompetent management. Cumulus – whose management has always skewed left of center, politically – is one of the most rapidly-collapsing of the old big-media holding companies.
Here’s their stock value over the past ten years:
Lew Dickey and the left-leaning wastrels in management are looking for an excuse for their own dismal performance. Limbaugh and the Fluke flap provides them a handy out.
And that’s all it is.
But look for the chuckle-and-snark set – who only know what they’re told about the radio industry – to try to present this as a verdict on Limbaugh, or on conservative talk radio.
It’s not.
Yea, that’s already been happening. I saw a couple of write ups on the topic yesterday and of course, the writers did seem to be blaming it on Rush calling Sandra a slut. Of course, when she basically outed herself as being promiscuous, it’s tough to give her the benefit of the doubt. It would be interesting to hear what mommy and daddy think of their darling daughter and to know whether they are paying the freight for her education. It sure looks like they are getting short changed somewhere.
In an ideal world I would agree with Bosshoss. However I had similar hopes many years ago in the midst of the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair.
At the time, Monica’s father had not yet been publicly heard from. When it was announced that he would be interviewed shortly, I hoped to myself that Mr. Lewinsky would exercise restraint when on camera since threats against the life or well-being of a US president might result in serious legal problems for him.
I was sadly mistaken. All he did was whine about Kenneth Starr. It was at that point that I realized our country was in serious trouble; the father of a violated young woman basically offering her up to his master.
Maybe in the Fluke’s case the acorn did fall far from the tree, but I doubt it.
Ask talkshow host and senatorial hopeful Jason Lewis. He’ll tell you the same thing; conservative radio is on the decline and left-leaning media owners are dropping his program hand-over-fist.
I suspect that like Lew Dickey, Jason Lewis is using marketplace generalities to camouflage the truth and to not assign blame to an inferior product – a tedious, self-indulgent radio show.
According to today’s news, personality-oriented talk news programs still lead
in most markets. If so, I can’t believe that Limbaugh would be an exception. If Ms. Fluke were a little younger, I’d pity her for the foolishness of her self-disclosure.
Perhaps after Glee runs its course, its producers could develop a “Golden Girls” style sitcom featuring Monica Lewinsky, Sandra Fluke, and Cindy Sheehan. Episode One: Al Gore stops by for a three-way chakra alignment …