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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Limbaugh Loses 90 Percent of His Advertisers on New York's WABC

Posted by on Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 5:14 PM

There were 86 ads that aired on New York City's WABC during Rush Limbaugh's show today: Two spots from one advertiser sticking with Limbaugh, seven spots from three advertisers who have already asked for their spots to be pulled (Netflix, O'Reilly Auto Parts, and Constant Contact), 77 unpaid public service announcements, and three minutes of dead air.

And to think, I had a nearly full spot load when KIRO canceled my radio show. Go figure.

 

Comments (35) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
Sargon Bighorn 1
As in all things, his time will pass. It's just a matter of time before he is replaced with some one/thing else.
Posted by Sargon Bighorn on March 8, 2012 at 5:18 PM
tainte 2
i agree with number one, but i also think rush won't be going anywhere soon. all the people getting giddy thinking this will bring him down...it won't.
Posted by tainte on March 8, 2012 at 5:30 PM
3
Nobody ever went broke in this country by being a dick.
Posted by maddogm13 on March 8, 2012 at 5:38 PM
4
I would never listen to his show, but I assume he is like the rest of the right-wingers and has been complaining about his "freedom of speech" during this whole issue unironically not recognizing that the government isn't curbing his speech, and that the free-market they love so much is responsible for his impending downfall.
Posted by Bored@School on March 8, 2012 at 5:53 PM
sirkowski 5
Rush Limbaugh has the right to express his opinions, be heard and force us to listen.

Or not.
Posted by sirkowski http://www.missdynamite.com on March 8, 2012 at 5:56 PM
6
@2
It won't "bring him down".
But it will continue to remind people of what he has done.
Imagine the story of the first new advertiser he gets.
Lots of interviews with the PR department of the first company to sign on with Limbaugh after everyone else has abandoned him.

Lots of questions like "Did the 'slut' and 'prostitute' comments have any effect on your decision to advertise on his show"? And "are you worried that by choosing to advertise on Limbaugh's show you will be opening yourself for a boycott"?
Posted by fairly.unbalanced on March 8, 2012 at 5:56 PM
7
Dead air sounds like the best part of the Rush Limbaugh show!
Posted by WestSeven on March 8, 2012 at 6:13 PM
Supreme Ruler Of The Universe 8

I didn't know you were on Air America.
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe http://www.you-read-it-here-first.com on March 8, 2012 at 6:15 PM
The Max 9
It would sure be nice to see Rush stupid himself into the stupid ranks of Dr. Laura, Imus, and Glenn Beck. It will be even sweeter to see him squander his fortune and crop up twenty years from now on one of those Where Are They Now? human interest segments. He'll be forgotten and powerless, living comfortably in the genteel poverty that will be the bottom rung of the Better America he fought against his whole career. Hideous, bitter, crazy, and stupid, his twilight years will be a delightful punchline to the bad joke that was his life.
Posted by The Max on March 8, 2012 at 6:35 PM
Matt Hickey 10
Wonder how much an ad is? If a single run of an ad isn't too much, I'm sure the power of the Internets would be able to get enough together to run one meaningful "fuck you, buddy" ad, right?
Posted by Matt Hickey http://www.matthickey.com on March 8, 2012 at 6:35 PM
bleedingheartlibertarian 11
I don't think this will sink him. But I bet ads on his show are about to get a LOT cheaper.
Posted by bleedingheartlibertarian on March 8, 2012 at 6:37 PM
12
Getting the ads "suspended" is one thing, keeping them off Rush is another.

Which this petition addresses:
http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/acti…
Posted by judybrowni on March 8, 2012 at 6:42 PM
13
@2: I think it's safe to say his best days are behind him.
Posted by suddenlyorcas on March 8, 2012 at 6:50 PM
TVDinner 14
Could someone make a gif of Limbaugh being fucked by Michael Savage? Please?
Posted by TVDinner http:// on March 8, 2012 at 7:19 PM
15
Real world here boys and girls. Rush has made a lot of people think seriously about the blind hyprocrisy of the left, where it is quite acceptabele to say the most vile, sickest things about women with conservative leanings, but any radical left wing woman is completely off limits.
Posted by cruz12 on March 8, 2012 at 7:20 PM
16
You had a radio show, Goldpussy? Oh, I guess that's why you don't have one now.
Posted by BetarayBilly2 on March 8, 2012 at 7:21 PM
DOUG. 17
20 years too late. The damage Rush Limbaugh has done to this country may be irreversible.
Posted by DOUG. http://www.dougsvotersguide.com on March 8, 2012 at 7:27 PM
18
If a Republican wins the presidency, what would Rush talk about?
Posted by AsherCapHill on March 8, 2012 at 7:37 PM
19
@18 Nancy Pelosi, don't you know. That and Obama's gas prices, deficit, obesity epidemic, and alien anal probes. Don't forget who we're dealing with here. The truth has never been an obstacle to Rushbo.
Posted by Prettybetsy on March 8, 2012 at 7:49 PM
20
@8 He had a weekend show on KIRO. I remember. (It was good! It was good!) 710 KIRO used to be so awesome. They had the news in the morning (blah), then they had Dave Ross (centrist but always pleasant), followed by Dori Monson and The Big Show (very talented and not yet a predictable right wing shill), followed by the news (maybe? I lost it here), followed by Mike Webb (my all-time favorite; so sad he's not around anymore), followed by The Professor, a.k.a. The Voice of Reason (forgot his name), who was really sharp and unpredictable on his views (a former teacher at Seattle U, I think he had a Stump the Professor segment), and there was Erin Harte on weekends, and they also had New York Vinnie, who played the role of arch Seattle sports fan, as well as emergency radio host when the current host failed to come back from the convenience store across the street during his break. (Ahem.) Oh! And there was this weird syndicated overnight guy whose name I don't remember, but his ad promised that he was "no chopped liver." And a bunch of these hosts spoused liberal views, so refreshing.

Then what the hell happened? It seems they never recovered once Mike Webb got fired. Then they got rid of nearly all their local hosts, including all their liberal hosts. I just lost interest. It's become a shadow of what it was.
Posted by floater on March 8, 2012 at 7:53 PM
21
Okay, before somebody corrects me - Mike Webb was the late show after The Professor (before John Clayton.). Ah, those were the nights.
Posted by floater on March 8, 2012 at 7:57 PM
Kinison 22
And in other markets, they're filling up dead air with Public Service Announcements.
Posted by Kinison http://www.holgatehawks.com on March 8, 2012 at 7:57 PM
Goldy 23
@20, Thanks for the kind words. I miss doing radio. Somebody paid me to talk for three straight hours, two nights a week. It was fun. And it was an honor getting to fill in for Dave Ross and Ron Reagan.

FYI, when I started at 710-KIRO, it was live and local 24/7, excepted for a few hours of Bob Brinker syndicated not the weekends. And like I said, I had a fairly full spot load, but I guess it was cheaper to replace the night and weekend hosts with reruns and syndication.

Ah well.
Posted by Goldy on March 8, 2012 at 8:31 PM
Goldy 24
@16: How many years did you manage to keep your radio show on the number one news/talk station in the market? Don't tell me you never had one...?
Posted by Goldy on March 8, 2012 at 8:33 PM
25
I think the campaign to get advertisers to boycott Limbaugh's brand of vitriol is all well and good, but it's not enough.

If you go back and look at the licensing of commercial broadcast stations by the FCC, there's a huge problem here. These airwaves are licensed free of charge with the understanding that the airwaves belong to the public and the broadcaster is best situated to provide a service to that public. Broadcasting lies, invective, and implorations for a private citizen to produce porn, could not arguably be presented as meeting that requirement.

Those airwaves are ours. It's time to start challenging the licenses of stations that are devoted to this hate-spewing disinformation campaign that right-wing talk radio has turned into.

Limbaugh is a big, fat example of this disservice to the public, but his is not the only one. It's time we stop accepting this nonsense. Broadcasters don't own those airwaves. We do.
Posted by Brooklyn Reader on March 8, 2012 at 8:59 PM
26
This is a real tragedy. Rush was doing so much good work toward getting Obama reelected.
Posted by madcap on March 8, 2012 at 11:21 PM
Supreme Ruler Of The Universe 27

He's what I don't see.

All these people are claiming "emperor's clothes" when it comes to Limbaugh's reach and ratings.

Yet, the thing that is "bringing him down" was that he made one remark, about one person -- an unknown 30 year old female, during an average show.

How can he both be masking a decline, yet set the whole country ablaze with a single word?!
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe http://www.you-read-it-here-first.com on March 9, 2012 at 2:00 AM
28
KIRO hasn't completely gone to crap. Ross and Burbank are great Aand don't tell me the late night, syndicated "Coast to Coast" isn't THE place for science-y conspiracy theories.
Posted by abomb on March 9, 2012 at 5:28 AM
29
@27 I call bullshit! (And lying, but that goes without saying, when dealing with a rightwing troll.)

That "one word" was three days of lies and smears -- and sexual harassment-- of a private citizen who testified for women's health.

Women have had enough of that, thank you.
Posted by judybrowni on March 9, 2012 at 7:52 AM
Theodore Gorath 30
@24 - It's called a Troll, Goldy, and the only way to beat it is to ignore it. Easily identified by the lack of relevancy, tact, and constructive impulse. While I appreciate a writer taking his time to defend/engage with his work and his readers, there is little point is going all the way down into the muck, personal sensitivities be damned.
Posted by Theodore Gorath on March 9, 2012 at 8:16 AM
31
Rush is running, alright....straight to the Bank! Anytime he needs press, he just loosens the faucet a little and out comes --whatever. The man may seem irrelevant, but he's not going away anytime soon.
Posted by Up all night on March 9, 2012 at 9:35 AM
merry 32
@15 - Is this your first attempt at trolling? Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it!
Posted by merry on March 9, 2012 at 12:42 PM
33
@25 (Brooklyn Reader): If my tenuous recollection of my limited knowledge of history is correct, it took FDR's FCC, and later the National Association of Broadcasters, to get Father Coughlin off the air. I wouldn't count on the National Association of Broadcasters to oppose right-wing hate speech and propaganda nowadays, but I have to wonder where Rush and his ilk would be today if we still had a Fairness Doctrine.
Posted by PCM on March 9, 2012 at 1:02 PM
34
@33 I don't want to try to directly get Rush off the air. I want to threaten the license renewals of any station that carries a steady stream of programs that spread misinformation, hate and stupidity, on the grounds that it's not fulfilling their charter from the FCC to serve the public well with their free license to use our public airwaves.
Posted by Brooklyn Reader on March 9, 2012 at 1:49 PM
35
The source says "three occurrences of dead air", not "three minutes of dead air."
Posted by dianasquiver on March 9, 2012 at 10:52 PM

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