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'Flush Rush' Activists Targeting Rush Limbaugh's Sponsors
Some conservative radio stations that have seen their incomes drop are blaming right wing talker Rush Limbaugh.
In May, Cumulus Media CEO Lew Dickey said that Limbaugh had cost the company a couple million in each of the two previous quarters.
In August and November, Dickey suggested that ten "underperforming" stations in large markets were responsible for the losses.
He didn't name them, but Radio Ink has speculated that they might be New York's WABC-AM, Los Angeles' KABC-AM, Chicago's WLS-AM, Dallas's KGO-AM, San Francisco's WBAP-AM, Washington, D.C. WMAL-AM and Atlanta's WYAY.
DailyKos.com says these drops happened after Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, whom he called a "slut" among other insults.
Approximately 142 national advertisers jumped ship from Rush's broadcast within the first ten days after Limbaugh attacked Fluke
DailyKos.com states that a group of volunteers called Flush Rush on Facebook, and similar groups, use the StopRush Database to inform advertisers about where their ads are appearing.
DailyKos.com reports:
Every time WABC contracts with a new advertiser and then puts their ad in the Rush Limbaugh Show, that advertiser is flooded with emails, tweets, phone calls, private messages, Facebook posts, letters, and maybe even faxes about Rush Limbaugh. The volunteers know that new sponsors are likely unaware of their own advertising schedule, so the messages will be friendly and (hopefully) helpful: "hi, I wonder if you are aware...?"
The database is so sophisticated, consumer-activists can report to a sponsor how many times their ad has been heard on the Limbaugh Show, and each date it has been run.
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Comments
We have already seen this
We have already seen this trend on Fox News:
Glen Beck - booted for low ratings and sponsorship issues.
Laura Ingram - booted for low ratings and sponsorship issues.
It is time that people make concerted efforts to get the whack jobs off the air. Rush is a whack job. He is an entertainer who has adopted a sexist racist white right wing agenda. It is time that the silent majority go after him.
I applaud the actions of activists who make it expensive to do business with Rush. This is free speech in action - using your right to free expression to expose villains and bigots.
I hope Ann Coulter is next in the queue to be flushed.
This is one of those stories
This is one of those stories that only gets the dates changed every year. This story is now nearing it's 20th year.
Just when I thought that Rush was becoming whiny and ineffective. These fearful leftists go and prove that their propaganda is so weak that they have to attack any opposing view. They have yet to produce a single talk radio program that survives without government assistance.
Actually, 20 years ago this
Actually, 20 years ago this might have been wishful thinking. The Flush Rush quarterly was just a left wing wish list of things to hang rush for.
In the last few years, Rush's market share has declined, but this is part of an overall decline in right wing media figures.
The impact of Sandra Fluke was just a bump in the road. The overall trend is consistent. Conservative radio has been a cash cow. However, it has been overdone and no position like this could ever be permanent. The numbers are undeniable.
Look at what has happened to Laura Ingraham and Glen Beck on Fox. Both were booted for low ratings and negative feedback by sponsors. Fox News has seen its growth flat-line and begin to decline after peaking in 2009. This is because people are getting tired of right wing distortions. Fox took a big hit to its credibility after the election. It will be very interesting to see what Fox morphs into in 2013. People like Karl Rove, Dick Morris, and Sean Hannity have lost every ounce of credibility they ever possessed. Fox has no effective competitor, while for the liberal and moderate perspective, the audience is split across multiple outlets. However, Fox has certainly grown weaker in the last few years.
The country pivots between liberalism and conservatism. This affects who is popular in the media. The internet has also led to the decline of traditional media sources as well. We need more balance and centrism. Hopefully, we can bring the pendulum closer to the middle where reality tends to live.
20 yrs ago Sanda Fluke was 5
20 yrs ago Sanda Fluke was 5 years old & there was no Facebook, so your claim that this article has been reprinted for 20 years is a lie, just like your claim that the government sponsors all liberal radio programs.(The Fluke attacks took place in Feb, 2012). I'm glad consumers are having an impact on radio stations that air Rush Limbaugh's hate rants. The danger in allowing Limbaugh to spew lies & hate across our air-waves is that his racist, sexist, anti-American rants promote violence in poorly educated areas of this country. His followers take his hysterical rhetoric seriously, instead of as the "performance art" it is. He appeals to the worst elements of human nature, and adults are not the only one's exposed to his propaganda. Limbaugh has every right to express his opinions or those opinions he is paid to express, but so do his opponents. The radio stations that air his show should be required to fact check his program.
Consumers have every right stop doing business with advertisers who sponsor Limbaugh or support radio stations who air his program. Hopefully the financial damage will convince radio stations that it's too expensive to be affiliated with Limbaugh. 80% of Limbaugh's audience is over age 59 and are dying daily, so Limbaugh, O'Reilly and others like him will soon be forced into retirement anyway.