iHM Corporate's silence on the Jay Weber debacle is disturbing

[michael hagerty]

Rush Limbaugh radically changed the available sponsor pool for talk radio by calling Sandra Fluke a "slut". Many major sponsors didn't just react to him, but to talk as a format, and simply decided not to buy in a category where controversy can happen at any point.

Memo: Radio Advertisers Want To Avoid Controversy After Rush Limbaugh Incident

The environment is becoming chilly for commentators who traffic in incivility. Clear Channel’s syndication unit Premiere Networks gave its sales force a list of 98 companies — including major auto makers, insurance companies, and restaurant chains — that want to avoid “environments likely to...

deadline.com

And so we have male enhancement, survival foods, gold sellers and whatever. But Limbaugh also had 20 million listeners and iHeart could still make more money with him than without.

Another example? John and Ken at KFI survived calls for their heads after they called the recently-passed Whitney Houston a "crack ho". They got a suspension that was essentially a long weekend...off the air Thursday and Friday, back on Monday.

Radio Station Suspends Hosts Who Called Whitney Houston a ‘Crack Ho’

Los Angeles station KFI-AM 640 says the hosts of "The John and Ken Show" were "insensitive and inappropriate."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

iHeart will only fire Jay if what Jay said online about Gus Walz will cost them money. And that's going to be factored against what he brings in.

 

[TheBigA]

We should mention that 1130 WISN is the #1 station in Milwaukee.

To me, that says it all. We can all wring our hands about how horrible it is that this guy says these terrible, insensitive things. But this is what his audience wants. This is what passes for entertainment today. It's not just talk show hosts. Take a look around.

 

[gr8oldies]

The issue with political talk is that some of the pundits ran with the playbook Morton Downey Jr, Wally George and Jerry Springer used at the time they were the top talk shows of that era. Al Yankovic crew from UHF the movie was originally doing a parody of Wally George and Morton Downey Jr at the time of the film. But the parody later turned out to be true for multiple talk show hosts on radio and on TV today especially the ones trying to claim they are the "Next Limbaugh".

Before UHF, SCTV had Bill Needle! (Dave Thomas)

 

[gr8oldies]

Rush Limbaugh radically changed the available sponsor pool for talk radio by calling Sandra Fluke a "slut". Many major sponsors didn't just react to him, but to talk as a format, and simply decided not to buy in a category where controversy can happen at any point.

Memo: Radio Advertisers Want To Avoid Controversy After Rush Limbaugh Incident

The environment is becoming chilly for commentators who traffic in incivility. Clear Channel’s syndication unit Premiere Networks gave its sales force a list of 98 companies — including major auto makers, insurance companies, and restaurant chains — that want to avoid “environments likely to...

deadline.com

And so we have male enhancement, survival foods, gold sellers and whatever. But Limbaugh also had 20 million listeners and iHeart could still make more money with him than without.

Another example? John and Ken at KFI survived calls for their heads after they called the recently-passed Whitney Houston a "crack ho". They got a suspension that was essentially a long weekend...off the air Thursday and Friday, back on Monday.

Radio Station Suspends Hosts Who Called Whitney Houston a ‘Crack Ho’

Los Angeles station KFI-AM 640 says the hosts of "The John and Ken Show" were "insensitive and inappropriate."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

iHeart will only fire Jay if what Jay said online about Gus Walz will cost them money. And that's going to be factored against what he brings in.

I remember after the Fluke controversy, a small business owner bought one spot on WOKI, News-Talk 98.7 during Limbaugh's show. I'm sure it was all he could afford, to show his support for Rush and the First Amendment (which, as we know, had nothing to do with it). As far as I know, WOKI still has all of their local advertisers. Being in a red area doesn't hurt.

 

[gr8oldies]

To me, that says it all. We can all wring our hands about how horrible it is that this guy says these terrible, insensitive things. But this is what his audience wants. This is what passes for entertainment today. It's not just talk show hosts. Take a look around.

Around have the country still wants a racist, misogynistic bully who allegedly defrauded the United States as President.

 

[Ma “Contrarian” Gee]

Around have half the country still wants a racist, misogynistic bully who allegedly defrauded the United States as President.

Even though he dropped out of the race?

 

[gr8oldies]

Even though he dropped out of the race?

I'm talking about your guy. The one with 34 felony convictions.

 

[Ma “Contrarian” Gee]

I'm talking about your guy. The one with 34 felony convictions.

Geesh. Lighten up. Just joking about what they’d say in reply. Note the .

 

[gr8oldies]

Geesh. Lighten up. Just joking about what they’d say in reply. Note the .

OK, fair enough

 

[radiofan2023]

iHeart will only fire Jay if what Jay said online about Gus Walz will cost them money. And that's going to be factored against what he brings in.

If they fire him for this, would his contract still get paid out or not? Does Iheart do one year or multiyear contracts for their on air talent? Either Iheart or Premiere used to do one year contracts with some Fox Sports Radio hosts, but I think they've moved to multiyear contracts in the last few years.

 

[TheBigA]

If they fire him for this, would his contract still get paid out or not? Does Iheart do one year or multiyear contracts for their on air talent? Either Iheart or Premiere used to do one year contracts with some Fox Sports Radio hosts, but I think they've moved to multiyear contracts in the last few years.

It depends on what the contract says. Since the Imus lawsuit, most have clauses in them for that kind of thing. The problem with firing the talent, it makes the company the bad guy instead of the host.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Rush Limbaugh radically changed the available sponsor pool for talk radio by calling Sandra Fluke a "slut". Many major sponsors didn't just react to him, but to talk as a format, and simply decided not to buy in a category where controversy can happen at any point.

Memo: Radio Advertisers Want To Avoid Controversy After Rush Limbaugh Incident

The environment is becoming chilly for commentators who traffic in incivility. Clear Channel’s syndication unit Premiere Networks gave its sales force a list of 98 companies — including major auto makers, insurance companies, and restaurant chains — that want to avoid “environments likely to...

deadline.com

And so we have male enhancement, survival foods, gold sellers and whatever. But Limbaugh also had 20 million listeners and iHeart could still make more money with him than without.

Another example? John and Ken at KFI survived calls for their heads after they called the recently-passed Whitney Houston a "crack ho". They got a suspension that was essentially a long weekend...off the air Thursday and Friday, back on Monday.

Radio Station Suspends Hosts Who Called Whitney Houston a ‘Crack Ho’

Los Angeles station KFI-AM 640 says the hosts of "The John and Ken Show" were "insensitive and inappropriate."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

iHeart will only fire Jay if what Jay said online about Gus Walz will cost them money. And that's going to be factored against what he brings in.

Yes it would require a situation like a defamation lawsuit similar to Fox News + Mike Lindell got sued for defamation during the 2020 elections, Alex Jones sued by Sandy's Hook over his rants and Yes Kari Lake sued for defamation related to the 2022 Arizona Gubernatorial elections.

 

[Kelly A]

If they fire him for this, would his contract still get paid out or not? Does Iheart do one year or multiyear contracts for their on air talent? Either Iheart or Premiere used to do one year contracts with some Fox Sports Radio hosts, but I think they've moved to multiyear contracts in the last few years.

As BigA mentioned; many talent contracts contain what's known as a 'morals clause' that usually has legal verbiage giving the station/network an out should talent create an unwarranted and uncomfortable situation for the company.

 

[michael hagerty]

As BigA mentioned; many talent contracts contain what's known as a 'morals clause' that usually has legal verbiage giving the station/network an out should talent create an unwarranted and uncomfortable situation for the company.

If he's not gone by now, he's not going.

 

[Kelly A]

If he's not gone by now, he's not going.

Exactly. He's a "Conservative" talk host. That means he can say pretty much anything insensitive, racist-adjacent, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, or nasty, and his listeners either shrug, agree, or laugh at it.

 

[michael hagerty]

Exactly. He's a "Conservative" talk host. That means he can say pretty much anything insensitive, racist-adjacent, xenophobic, sexist, homophobic, or nasty, and his listeners either shrug, agree, or laugh at it.

As I said last week, iHeart will only cut him loose if he costs them money. And even that gets balanced against what money he brings in.

Big-ticket advertisers with consciences left right-wing talk after Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke. The convention was two weeks ago. Nobody's still talking about Gus Walz.