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WABC starts petition to save AM radio

Meanwhile, they provide the type of programming that's led to AM's decline and eventual death. Ironic.
The programming did not cause AM's decline... news/talk actually revitalized dying AM stations back in the 90's and gave the band another three decades or so of life.

Were it not for the "Limbaugh phenomenon" as well as Smulyan & Cummings' sports format back in that era, AM would have been gone long before today.
 
The programming did not cause AM's decline... news/talk actually revitalized dying AM stations back in the 90's and gave the band another three decades or so of life.

Were it not for the "Limbaugh phenomenon" as well as Smulyan & Cummings' sports format back in that era, AM would have been gone long before today.
We started with Randy Michaels at WKRC and then "teaching the Grand Old Lady to dance" at WLW with at-times outrageous (though not all political) talk, and more talk stations at least trying for a general audience. Even Limbaugh affiliates wanted both the "We love Limbaugh" and "We hate Limbaugh" listeners. In recent years it's become "Republicans are pure and holy, Democrats are evil Socialist pedophile groomers" as a constant mantra
 
Maybe it should have gone. They just prolonged the inevitable at what cost to the nation? Limbaugh's vitriol was not constructive and only served to incite, not invite.
One of the stations I supervised was WDSR in Lake City, FL. We carried Limbaugh from the very beginning of his independent network days, and even had several local restaurants that had a "Rush Room" at lunch time where locals would eat with friends and listen to Limbaugh.

We found that his show was, if anything, unifying. A lot of people, mostly business owners, lawyers, doctors, CPA's and such, found a common thread in his topics and commentaries.

While those who disagreed obviously found Limbaugh revolting, the majority of folks in Lake City found him unifying; he gave words to their feelings. And, like Stern to a different constituency, he was a fun listen.
 
One of the stations I supervised was WDSR in Lake City, FL. We carried Limbaugh from the very beginning of his independent network days, and even had several local restaurants that had a "Rush Room" at lunch time where locals would eat with friends and listen to Limbaugh.

We found that his show was, if anything, unifying. A lot of people, mostly business owners, lawyers, doctors, CPA's and such, found a common thread in his topics and commentaries.

While those who disagreed obviously found Limbaugh revolting, the majority of folks in Lake City found him unifying; he gave words to their feelings. And, like Stern to a different constituency, he was a fun listen.
It might have started out well enough but Rush kept pushing it further and further. It was an entertainment show, not an information show designed ONLY to make money.
 
One of the stations I supervised was WDSR in Lake City, FL. We carried Limbaugh from the very beginning of his independent network days, and even had several local restaurants that had a "Rush Room" at lunch time where locals would eat with friends and listen to Limbaugh.

We found that his show was, if anything, unifying. A lot of people, mostly business owners, lawyers, doctors, CPA's and such, found a common thread in his topics and commentaries.

While those who disagreed obviously found Limbaugh revolting, the majority of folks in Lake City found him unifying; he gave words to their feelings. And, like Stern to a different constituency, he was a fun listen.
I think that was true until he started believing his own press, and Newt convinced him he was a kingmaker.
 
I think that was true until he started believing his own press, and Newt convinced him he was a kingmaker.

...And it got to the point were Limbaugh would make crappy comments about the GOP or republican politicians, and if those politicians went on the defense, it was not Limbaugh who'd be forced to apologize, but the politicians would be forced to apologize to Rush. How bass ackwards is that?

Here are 2 examples - 1 where republican representative Phil Gingrey was forced to apologize to Rush when he was just defending his GOP colleagues, and another where Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steel had to apologize for calling Limbaugh an "entertainer" with an "incendiary" show. During his apology and groveling session, he later acknowleged Rush as a "national conservative leader". Seems to me that Steele's initial comments about Rush were pretty spot on, and perhaps Steele was one of the last republican leaders with a conscience and he was an independent thinker. The fact that he was forced to apologize to Rush for speaking the truth perhaps shows the beginning of the downard slope for the GOP, which culminated in the election of folks like DJT, MTG, Matt Gaetz and Ted Cruz, and the rise in popularity of folks like Mike Lindell, Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson.
 
We started with Randy Michaels at WKRC and then "teaching the Grand Old Lady to dance" at WLW with at-times outrageous (though not all political) talk, and more talk stations at least trying for a general audience. Even Limbaugh affiliates wanted both the "We love Limbaugh" and "We hate Limbaugh" listeners. In recent years it's become "Republicans are pure and holy, Democrats are evil Socialist pedophile groomers" as a constant mantra
And the blame for that largely rests on stations like WABC in the late-90s/2000s; they stopped trying to get as many listeners as possible and only focused on the political die-hards. Then-PD Phil Boyce even took pride in that strategy! Only… it worked until it didn’t.

Stations like WLW and WSB are more successful that the rest because they largely didn’t go in that direction and have hosts that can be distinguishable (plus WLW has the Reds and WSB pushes traffic reports much more than any talk station around, WSB markets itself as a dependable utility to the point an attempt at all-news in the market failed badly).

Talk radio couldn’t find “the next Rush” despite his show being on the air for 35 years+ and having talk stations sound like a continuous Xerox of him didn’t help.
 
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