Rush Limbaugh has told his audience he has lung cancer

[davideduardo]

That will be the day when that will happen, I mean was he the first person to have a national syndicated talk show, or would Howard Stern count? I

Rush had nowhere near the first national syndicated talk show. What made it harder in the past was the cost of telephone line distribution, but there were narrowly distributed independent talk shows in the days when station owners could only have 7 AM and 7 FM shows.

In the 60's, Joe Pyne was syndicated to around 250 other stations. From that point on, regional, single-company and national talk shows proliferated, enhanced a lot by satellite distribution in the 90's.

Heck, Rush Limbaugh began in the late 80's, and he was not alone... there were even all-talk networks soon after. Stern began as a "syndicated" show very slowly, starting when Andy Bloom added him in Philadelphia and then, later, in LA. Remember, stern had very few stations, albeit big ones. Some national talk shows had 400 to 600 stations in that era.

 

[TheBigA]

I mean was he the first person to have a national syndicated talk show, or would Howard Stern count?

There were many nationally syndicated talk shows before Rush, but they were all very different. One of the biggest was the Larry King Show:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King_Show

He started the national show in 1978, and built it to over 500 stations. His was the first distributed by satellite. But of course there was NBC TalkNet with Sally Jessie Raphael and Bruce Williams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Talknet

 

[PTBoardOp94]

For a lot of stations that carry Limbaugh's program, he's the biggest cume draw and he's often the only host (or maybe 1 of 2 hosts) who attracts OK money demo numbers.

I think once Limbaugh stops doing live shows, a lot of news/talk stations will experience big time ratings plunges.

I'm not so sure about that. The only case study that comes to mind is WIBC in Indianapolis, who dropped Limbaugh in favor of Dana Loesch almost 5 years ago. WIBC is doing well in the 12+ ratings, and OK in the key demos. I haven't heard anything about its daypart ratings though.

Limbaugh's new home (Fox Sports 97.5 WNDE) was doing so poorly that iHeart sold the translator and Limbaugh now only airs on a directional AM in Indy that barely earns a 1.0 share most books -- Oh, and did I mention it's a directional AM that airs an all-sports format?

 

[davideduardo]

I'm not so sure about that. The only case study that comes to mind is WIBC in Indianapolis, who dropped Limbaugh in favor of Dana Loesch almost 5 years ago. WIBC is doing well in the 12+ ratings, and OK in the key demos. I haven't heard anything about its daypart ratings though.

Limbaugh's new home (Fox Sports 97.5 WNDE) was doing so poorly that iHeart sold the translator and Limbaugh now only airs on a directional AM in Indy that barely earns a 1.0 share most books -- Oh, and did I mention it's a directional AM that airs an all-sports format?

Remember, this is 27 years after the show started. And the biggest issue is not as much a decline in specific show audience as a decline in salable AM radio demographics.

Republicans who are in their 20's and 30's don't listen to AM talk radio, no matter how much they might agree with his party preference.

 

[gr8oldies]

Before sattelite, King was carried down the Mutual Network line, as was Herb Jepko before him. ABC's Talkradio was a daytime talk network. ABC eventually wanted out of that expensive boondoggle and their former employee, Ed McLaughlin, helped them ease out, first taking over the Dr. Dean Edell show (who, by the way, was politically liberal) and then discovering Rush Limbaugh in Sacramento. When Owen Spann retired, McLaughlin leased the satellite time he had and put Limbaugh there...and had him do the 10-12noon slot on WABC as payment for facilities.

There were many nationally syndicated talk shows before Rush, but they were all very different. One of the biggest was the Larry King Show:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King_Show

He started the national show in 1978, and built it to over 500 stations. His was the first distributed by satellite. But of course there was NBC TalkNet with Sally Jessie Raphael and Bruce Williams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Talknet

 

[TheBigA]

Before sattelite, King was carried down the Mutual Network line,

Actually the King show began the same year that Mutual switched to satellite distribution: 1978. Of course the satellite changeover wasn't national instantly, so there was some conversion time.

 

[rfburns]

Was working overnight maintenance at the AM transmitter site in 1988-89. We carried Larry King during that time, so I usually got to listen to his show for the first few hours. Larry puts a caller on the air and he asked if Larry has heard of this new guy, Rush Limbaugh. Larry's response? "Nahhhh... never heard of him. Next caller... what's ya question?"

 

[TheBigA]

Larry's response? "Nahhhh... never heard of him. Next caller... what's ya question?"

I'm pretty sure Larry didn't like him. Didn't like his style, his politics, or anything else. He was a fan of Tom Leykis, and often said so on the air.

 

[MarkW]

I'm not so sure about that. The only case study that comes to mind is WIBC in Indianapolis, who dropped Limbaugh in favor of Dana Loesch almost 5 years ago. WIBC is doing well in the 12+ ratings, and OK in the key demos. I haven't heard anything about its daypart ratings though.

WIBC has a strong news image and is on FM to boot.

Limbaugh's new home (Fox Sports 97.5 WNDE) was doing so poorly that iHeart sold the translator and Limbaugh now only airs on a directional AM in Indy that barely earns a 1.0 share most books -- Oh, and did I mention it's a directional AM that airs an all-sports format?

I bet a disproportionately high portion of those ratings come from Limbaugh's program. Minus Limbaugh, that is probably a 0.3 or 0.4 share station at best.

 

[umfan]

For a lot of stations that carry Limbaugh's program, he's the biggest cume draw and he's often the only host (or maybe 1 of 2 hosts) who attracts OK money demo numbers.

I think once Limbaugh stops doing live shows, a lot of news/talk stations will experience big time ratings plunges.

Cumulus may deeply regret not unloading stations such as KSFO, WJR, WLS, and others. WJR in Detroit is already suffering the worst ratings in the history of the station. That issue will only worsen once Rush departs. iHeart's 760/93.7 in Denver will see its ratings tank, and so will WOR in New York, WRKO in Boston, WFLA in Florida and others.

As syndicator, Premiere / iHeart stands to lose a LOT of money.

Without a doubt this is true and there will be a period of adjustment, but it was going to happen at some point anyway. Rush will be 70 this year and, even without this cancer diagnosis, was not going to live forever. I could see Dobbs or O'Reilly returning, both of whom gave up on radio because they couldn't gain traction in the 12-3 slot. This, of course, presents the same issue as both of them are no spring chickens themselves. There's unlikely ever to be a radio personality again with the level of influence Rush has. There were several throughout history, Paul Harvey and Walter Winchell come to mind, but the medium no longer has the primacy to make a star. Rush was even unique is that he gained his influence after radio had been surpassed by television. Yes, changes to the AM band are coming when, for whatever reason, Rush is no longer on the air.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Remember, this is 27 years after the show started. And the biggest issue is not as much a decline in specific show audience as a decline in salable AM radio demographics.

Republicans who are in their 20's and 30's don't listen to AM talk radio, no matter how much they might agree with his party preference.

Yes and if you are a Republican that's 20's and 30's most likely they are not listening to AM Radio they are most likely getting their content from podcasts, youtube, and various political outlets on apps.

I don't see AM or FM commercial News/talk radio staying for long though after Rush is gone.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't see AM or FM commercial News/talk radio staying for long though after Rush is gone.

There are a lot of healthy AM news/talk stations that don't carry Rush, such as KFI in LA.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Even when someone substitutes for him, I'm not interested. Although I even found myself listening to Glenn Beck so I'd be on the right station when I got back in the car. He was such a wacko I would never have bothered with him. But he doesn't seem so bad now.

 

[staggmovie]

There are a lot of healthy AM news/talk stations that don't carry Rush, such as KFI in LA.

I didn't think that was quite possible, with his show seeming to air in every market

 

[staggmovie]

Rush had nowhere near the first national syndicated talk show. What made it harder in the past was the cost of telephone line distribution, but there were narrowly distributed independent talk shows in the days when station owners could only have 7 AM and 7 FM shows.

In the 60's, Joe Pyne was syndicated to around 250 other stations. From that point on, regional, single-company and national talk shows proliferated, enhanced a lot by satellite distribution in the 90's.

Heck, Rush Limbaugh began in the late 80's, and he was not alone... there were even all-talk networks soon after. Stern began as a "syndicated" show very slowly, starting when Andy Bloom added him in Philadelphia and then, later, in LA. Remember, stern had very few stations, albeit big ones. Some national talk shows had 400 to 600 stations in that era.

I head no idea and interesting but one thing for sure that I bet syndicated radio has not been the same since he started his show

 

[staggmovie]

There were many nationally syndicated talk shows before Rush, but they were all very different. One of the biggest was the Larry King Show:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_King_Show

He started the national show in 1978, and built it to over 500 stations. His was the first distributed by satellite. But of course there was NBC TalkNet with Sally Jessie Raphael and Bruce Williams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Talknet

And he had over over to tv, but would it be interesting really to found out who was the first national syndicated talk show host was for radio, somebody had to be first.

 

[davideduardo]

And he had over over to tv, but would it be interesting really to found out who was the first national syndicated talk show host was for radio, somebody had to be first.

You could go back to some of the talk shows that were networked over nearly 90 years ago.

They were like today's after-the-evening-news talk and interview shows on TV today.

Don McNeil's Breakfast Club talk show starting in 1932 is a good example.

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Breakfast_Club.htm

 

[davideduardo]

I head no idea and interesting but one thing for sure that I bet syndicated radio has not been the same since he started his show

There is a lot of syndicated radio that is not political.

You can go back to 1970 with American Top 40, the show that invented bartered syndicated shows. It was (and is) a music show. There were state networks that did the distribution, live, of news, some sports and agriculture. They go back even further. There were medical shows, countdowns, sports, finance shows.

"Syndication" and "network" are overlapping terms. A network affiliation generally meant you took only shows from one network, and you got the shows free (unless you were in a huge market and could demand compensation) but ran their spots in exchange. Syndication generally runs at the show level, and you could take a number of syndicated shows from different distributors, each in exchange for running their spots; that model started working in the 70's... over 50 years ago.

Network shows go back to the later part of the 20's, so what you are calling syndication goes back over 90 year.

 

[TheBigA]

Don McNeil's Breakfast Club talk show starting in 1932 is a good example.

That was more of a morning variety show, wasn't it? Complete with live band. "First call to breakfast." Wasn't there also a march to breakfast?

 

[davideduardo]

That was more of a morning variety show, wasn't it? Complete with live band. "First call to breakfast." Wasn't there also a march to breakfast?

Yes, and it was the 30's. Just as distribution has changed from equalized telephone lines to fiber optics, the content of a talk morning show has moved from the Breakfast Club to The Morning Zoo (wherever that name was copied) to Stern and then Ryan Seacrest. Yes, there may have been some music, but that was secondary... they were talk shows appropriate for a big audience group in a specific era.

The same comparison can be made in the Tonight Show hosting. Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon have huge differences, but they are as much due to the era as to the individual character of the hosts.

My point is that there have been different kinds of talk shows going back nearly 90 years. The first came from the wired networks, and then we had additional shows that were "syndicated" to contrast with "networked" and now the original networks are pretty much gone and we have de facto networks made up of stations that take single shows.