Rush's mess is radio's mess
by digby
It would appear that Rush Limbaugh's vile form of commentary is starting to have a negative impact on radio profits as a whole:
Doug Stephan, president of Stephan MultiMedia and host of the nationally syndicated “Good Day” program, had this to offer:
Let’s face it, the agencies and advertisers are how we survive. So to tell them that their clients are stupid for not staying in an atmosphere in which they don’t want to be is akin to the Republicans not reading the tea leaves about changing demographics.
I’m not here to argue the point, but rather to tell you what this ONE incident has cost me as an independent in a sea of big corporate operators, who are obviously losing tens of millions of dollars due to this one event.
So far this year, my losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cancellations, avoidance and decisions to just not buy across the whole format, no matter what the content...
I’m not looking for Limbaugh to send me a check (although that would be nice), but I do think we have to let it be known that his actions have been devastating to our survival.
—Doug Stephan: Talk Must Expand Beyond Politics to Survive, November 19, 2012
This is very interesting. Limbaugh has always been a big driver of radio profits. If that is changing because people are so disgusted they've truly begun to boycott his advertisers to protest, it's significant. Right wing hate radio is a truly ugly contributor to the public discourse and Limbaugh is its King. He has a right to say whatever he wants, but no advertiser has the obligation to pay him to say it.
I'm sure Rush will always be supported by his powerful friends. Here's Mary Matalin calling in during the worst of the fighting in the Iraq war, just to tell him she loves him:
[Y]ou inspired me this morning. There's no reason that I have to do that. I'm -- and at least I think I do, but when I listen to you, I get all the information I need, and I -- and I -- it is -- I have a confidence in the President, in the policies, in the goals. I have -- I know his conviction. I know he's right and I know he has the leadership to do it. What I don't have, and what I can only get from you, is the cheerfulness of your confidence --
That was probably the high point.
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