Rumor: Rush Limbaugh To WEMP?

[jhguthlac]

What was Rick talking about yesterday? He was thanking dead people for working on his campaign! Dead people! At least in Chicago, the dead actually vote. In Rick's case, they did not.

It was not "must hear" radio.

 

[BiggieFats]

What WABC did to Rush yesterday was uncalled for. They take ten minutes of his show to air Santorum.

Santorum's exit from the presidential primary was of much greater interest, and certainly far greater importance than anything Rush had to say for those ten minutes. Santorum's comments were especially important to a Conservative Republican audience for whom it was BIG NEWS that most wouldn't want to miss, and in NYC Santorum's comments would have been covered live on competing stations. Don't forget it meant the party candidate, essentially, had been chosen, after a long drawn out primary fight.

Carrying it was a surprisingly classy call on the part of Cumulus. It sounded like a real in-touch with what's happening radio station, and not just a satellite fed drone.

Rush's Philly affiliate did not interrupt the show even though that's Santorum's home state.

 

[uncamark]

I agree with you. I think Rush will be ok. I hate these terrorist organizations like "Color of Change", "Media Matters" and "moveon" and hope they fail in their attempts to stifle free speech.

Oh. does Limbaugh own the radio stations that carry his program? As I've found out the hard way on this board, it's the people who own the property that have the free speech rights, not the employees or the people who use that property. If a radio station decides that they don't want the headache of carrying a program--or, more importantly, the program is not bringing in the revenue that it used to for various reasons--it is within the STATION's free speech rights to carry or not carry the program. The station is the gatekeeper and is fully within First Amendment rights, not the employees or users.

And, aside from anything Limbaugh says, on a non-political point his audience and the talk radio audience in general is aging and there's not enough new listeners coming in to replace them. This is going to become harder for stations to avoid as the years roll on and if Premiere demands more money and ad space from stations for Limbaugh--or Beck or Hannity or Randi Rhodes, for that matter--that make the programs unprofitable to air, the stations will go to something else.

 

[LLL]

Whether or not Rush owns the stations is not the point.

It's the terrorist tactics of moveon and color of change that is downright scary.

Yes, conservative commentary is for an older audience. That in itself will keep certain advertisers away. But there are still some who would like to be on Rush/Beck/Hannity but won't simply because they fear the terrorist tactics of the groups I mentioned. And that's a shame.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Show me a TV program that is three hours long, five days a week.

Morning Joe, SportsCenter (daytime)?

 

[badjef]

Show me a TV program that is three hours long, five days a week.

Morning Joe, SportsCenter (daytime)?

Your small town talk show host probably has a larger audience than the MSNBC channel.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[Nate Wesley]

Show me a TV program that is three hours long, five days a week.

Morning Joe, SportsCenter (daytime)?

Your small town talk show host probably has a larger audience than the MSNBC channel.

1. That's demonstrably false
2. My reply wasn't a 'pro-MSNBC' post so much as it was an answer to 'show me a TV program that is three hours long, five days a week'
3. The Today Show? Imus in the Morning on Fox Business? CNN Newsroom?

 

[John Waywoods]

If he's sold out, it'll be at fire sale prices.

No way. Rush may have done something really stupid and there might be a bunch of advertisers who ditched him, but you don't think that there was a line behind those folks just dying to get their ads on his radio show? Hell, I haven't listened to Rush in years and, after seeing all the controversy, put him on a few times just to see what he was saying about it. He (and his affiliates) are doing just fine.

There are a lot of people who don't listen to Rush, take what someone else says about him who doesn't like him, and then that person runs with what they think that Rush said. It happens in sports reporting as well.

You are correct that there are, and always have been, advertisers trying to get on Rush's program. In syndicating him to the smallers stations at first, allowed those stations to have audiences in some places, they didn't even know they had.

We, who listen to Rush, know what he said, and what he meant. Those predisposed to an emotional dislike for the program, heard what they wanted to hear.

Rush will survive and retire when he feels like it. Whenever that is.

This is not the same as Imus. Imus was not getting traction with his program in syndication. Imus has lost credibility because of the staleness of the program.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

Boy, do you have a man crush or what?

 

[badjef]

If he's sold out, it'll be at fire sale prices.

No way. Rush may have done something really stupid and there might be a bunch of advertisers who ditched him, but you don't think that there was a line behind those folks just dying to get their ads on his radio show? Hell, I haven't listened to Rush in years and, after seeing all the controversy, put him on a few times just to see what he was saying about it. He (and his affiliates) are doing just fine

There are a lot of people who don't listen to Rush, take what someone else says about him who doesn't like him, and then that person runs with what they think that Rush said. It happens in sports reporting as well.

You are correct that there are, and always have been, advertisers trying to get on Rush's program. In syndicating him to the smallers stations at first, allowed those stations to have audiences in some places, they didn't even know they had.

We, who listen to Rush, know what he said, and what he meant. Those predisposed to an emotional dislike for the program, heard what they wanted to hear.

Rush will survive and retire when he feels like it. Whenever that is.

This is not the same as Imus. Imus was not getting traction with his program in syndication. Imus has lost credibility because of the staleness of the program.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

Boy, do you have a man crush or what?

Just telling it as it is. I listen and most of the posters here, don't.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[WNTIRadio]

Back to the topic at hand, and away from the left/right debate and towards a simple programming discussion again...

Regardless of what you think of Rush politically, it would give "FM News" or whatever the heck they're doing over there a huge shot in the arm. Merlin is putting Rush on their station in Philly. Burying WOR and WABC with an FM signal seems a lot more realistic than unseating two heritage all news stations that are the best at what they do.

 

[badjef]

Back to the topic at hand, and away from the left/right debate and towards a simple programming discussion again...

Regardless of what you think of Rush politically, it would give "FM News" or whatever the heck they're doing over there a huge shot in the arm. Merlin is putting Rush on their station in Philly. Burying WOR and WABC with an FM signal seems a lot more realistic than unseating two heritage all news stations that are the best at what they do.

Since neither WEMP nor WKDN have the type of blanket coverage that WPHT and WABC have in New Jersey, if both pick up Rush, don't be surprised to see an Ocean/Monmouth station get added to the mix of stations carrying Rush. As long as he is carried by 50kw blasters, those signals negate anyone else because there would be a competition of overlap coverage. But, as soon as you get out of the range of an Empire FM signal, the game changes.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[LLL]

Back to the topic at hand, and away from the left/right debate and towards a simple programming discussion again...

Regardless of what you think of Rush politically, it would give "FM News" or whatever the heck they're doing over there a huge shot in the arm. Merlin is putting Rush on their station in Philly. Burying WOR and WABC with an FM signal seems a lot more realistic than unseating two heritage all news stations that are the best at what they do.

Since neither WEMP nor WKDN have the type of blanket coverage that WPHT and WABC have in New Jersey, if both pick up Rush, don't be surprised to see an Ocean/Monmouth station get added to the mix of stations carrying Rush. As long as he is carried by 50kw blasters, those signals negate anyone else because there would be a competition of overlap coverage. But, as soon as you get out of the range of an Empire FM signal, the game changes.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

I love your insight.

A station in Ocean/Monmouth would be great because it would allow local advertisers to reach Rush/Beck/Sean listeners at truly local rates, instead of paying for market-wide coverage.

Rush already has the Poughkeepsie "upstate" area covered and Fairfield Connecticut(WLAD).

 

[badjef]

Back to the topic at hand, and away from the left/right debate and towards a simple programming discussion again...

Regardless of what you think of Rush politically, it would give "FM News" or whatever the heck they're doing over there a huge shot in the arm. Merlin is putting Rush on their station in Philly. Burying WOR and WABC with an FM signal seems a lot more realistic than unseating two heritage all news stations that are the best at what they do.

Since neither WEMP nor WKDN have the type of blanket coverage that WPHT and WABC have in New Jersey, if both pick up Rush, don't be surprised to see an Ocean/Monmouth station get added to the mix of stations carrying Rush. As long as he is carried by 50kw blasters, those signals negate anyone else because there would be a competition of overlap coverage. But, as soon as you get out of the range of an Empire FM signal, the game changes.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

I love your insight.

A station in Ocean/Monmouth would be great because it would allow local advertisers to reach Rush/Beck/Sean listeners at truly local rates, instead of paying for market-wide coverage.

Rush already has the Poughkeepsie "upstate" area covered and Fairfield Connecticut(WLAD).

Exactly!

It was what made Rush to begin with. When they syndicated him in the middays, there was a feeling that it would not work. It was why Larry King and Jim Bohannon were syndicated at night. Rush made daytime work and on AM stations with a quality program at reasonable rates.

WABC was the exception because that was where he originated the syndication.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[Radaioman]

As long as Huckabee spews the same biased nonsense that RWNJ's eat up, he'll be fine. As long as facts never get in the way of his signal he will be fine

It's ridiculous that these non-radio people start with 300 stations, but Bob Grant is on one.

First of all... Bob Grant??? The dude's like a hundred!! (Okay, 83.)

As for Huckabee, I'd hardly call him a non-radio person. Moreover, he's no stranger to the media business. His first ever job was at a radio station. He's worked as an advisor to television evangelists. he's been in management of television stations. Then you've got his Fox News work. He's been around.

Oh, he's also got a three-times-a-day radio commentary on over 500 stations.

No, he's never hosted a long-form talk show on the radio, but everybody has to start somewhere. It's not like he was plucked out of the blue, he's got a past in broadcasting, and a successful one at that.

First of all... Bob Grant??? The dude's like a hundred!! (Okay, 83.)

But I could have said that ten years ago about him being on only one station. He's a radio person.

No, he's never hosted a long-form talk show on the radio, but everybody has to start somewhere. It's not like he was plucked out of the blue, he's got a past in broadcasting, and a successful one at that.

How is it successful? I'm talking about the fact that he's never hosted a regular radio show. He's going to fail.

 

[DToTheJ]

@Radaioman: "RWNJ's," huh?

 

[wpb1999]

@Radaioman: "RWNJ's," huh?

That's one of those apparent-Commie phrases..... that no REAL people get.

 

[badjef]

@Radaioman: "RWNJ's," huh?

That's one of those apparent-Commie phrases..... that no REAL people get.

I'm pretty sure, by the rest of the post, "NJ" is "nut jobs" and not "New Jersey" (although...).

That told me all I cared to know.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[mcradiofree]

Back to the topic at hand, and away from the left/right debate and towards a simple programming discussion again...

Regardless of what you think of Rush politically, it would give "FM News" or whatever the heck they're doing over there a huge shot in the arm. Merlin is putting Rush on their station in Philly. Burying WOR and WABC with an FM signal seems a lot more realistic than unseating two heritage all news stations that are the best at what they do.

Not only Rush going to WKDn or as it will aparently soon be known (WWIQ) the entire Premiere package seems headed there. It might do well in parts of Montgomery and Bucks county, but the city and alot of the burbs are very much democrats.

 

[TimeIsTight]

Not only Rush going to WKDn or as it will aparently soon be known (WWIQ) the entire Premiere package seems headed there. It might do well in parts of Montgomery and Bucks county, but the city and alot of the burbs are very much democrats.

The political geography in the New York Market is similar to Philly, with the urban core mostly Democrats, by a wide margin. Look at the ratings for WPHT, syndicated political talk hasn't done all that well in Philly recently. And the station wants to try live, local, and more moderate talk.

Premier found itself in a bind in Philly, CBS owns the only major AM talk station, and it had dumped Beck and Hannity last year, and Premier couldn't find another station in the market to run them. And now, CBS was planning to dump Rush, and they didn't want him shut out of one of the major markets too. Merlin just happened to have a brand new station going on the air soon, and Premier probably made them a good offer. From Merlin's perspective it will be a much easier success, running well known hosts instead of building from scratch with news. And Premier will probably help with the promotion.

Also, Merlin won't have to hire a big news staff, instead it will just have to plug a computer into a satellite receiver for most of its programming, with far fewer salaries, medical benefits, overtime etc. to pay for. Premier might have made them a deal that will make the new Philly station almost instantly profitable. You probably couldn't say that for any other format choice.

However, if Merlin was started to produce long-term growth in a younger demo high-billing format, it's no longer going in that direction in Philly. But as Philly's Ben Franklin said "A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush." And running syndicated talk is a bird in the hand for Merlin. Whether, it will take the same path in New York or Chicago remains to be seen. Rush's contract still has a while to run at WABC, and the potential Cumulus replacement Mike Huckabee has yet to prove himself. If Huckabee doesn't click, Cumulus will likely want to keep Rush. And in New York, WOR is also a potential Rush station, while there isn't a WOR equivalent in Philly.

 

[hubcity]

But as Philly's Ben Franklin said "A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush."

I bet he could have done three hours of talk in the Philly market.

(In fact, he did - we just don't have any airchecks.)