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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRush Limbaugh DUMPED By Chicago Radio Station WLS
Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2015, 07:30 PM - Edit history (1)
Rush Limbaugh, whos been a fixture on WLS AM 890 for more than 25 years, is about to get the bums rush from the Cumulus Media news/talk station, sources said Wednesday.
If all goes as planned, Limbaughs syndicated talk show, which airs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, will be dropped by the end of March, according to insiders at WLS.
http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/03/05/wls-plans-to-drop-rush-limbaugh/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/05/1368703/-Rush-Limbaugh-Dumped-By-Chicago-Radio-Station-WLS
UPDATE:
Reports are flying that the large Chicago Cumulus radio station WLS 890 am is about to drop Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Cumulus is denying the leak, however today's industry rumor closely follows a very out-of-character post by Limbaugh on his official Facebook page.
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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/05/1368747/--Rush-Limbaugh-Admits-Defeat-On-Facebook-Reports-Of-Being-Dropped-In-Chicago-Begin-To-Fly
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)Rush should have never had a career in radio. Not as a conservative shock jock anyway. His history should have been a disqualifier among the "family values" crowd.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Rush's picture is next to the definition of that acronym.
samsingh
(17,602 posts)chervilant
(8,267 posts)with justifications for their delusional, fear-based beliefs. He will always have an audience, no matter where he jumps after this ignominious dump.
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I just can't just the fact that he is so frequently divorced should be enough for the family values crowd. But, he dropped out of college and he has that drug problem (which I don't blame him for too much, it did start with real pain), and he would cut their moms and grandmums off of social security if it was up to him. It just makes no sense to me. If he wasn't on the radio he would be lucky to land a job as a janitor.
PS I like janitors and people that take care of stuff, I'm just sayin.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)as the racist, aging loser crowd who want to blame their failures on liberals, foreigners, gays --- anybody but themselves.
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Rush is a pig.
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Thom Hartmann tells the truth, is a genius, and is worth one one hundredth of that.
calimary
(81,565 posts)afternoon and found something she said MOST illuminating. I was surprised to hear my suspicions confirmed. I was retired from all that, and it was just a guess on my part, regarding how broadcasting (and information brokering i.e.: news) had deteriorated and how there was a deliberate bias applied forcefully and directly to what was presented on talk shows. But she said it. She was making that same point, but from the view of an active front-line practitioner. She recounted a meeting she had with some syndicator that offered to pay her a freakin' fortune - if she'd switch up her schtick and do CON talk instead of liberal talk. She refused. And admitted to kissing goodbye a king's ransom of money, fame, multiple side platforms and endorsement deals, and a long, successful and glittering career at hundreds of stations from coast to coast, including the biggest stations in the biggest cities. None of that was offered to a liberal.
The whole construct, the whole industry, is set up to favor CONservative talk. And just as - when TV programmers luck into a hit, whether it's a Western, a crime drama, a doctor show, a romantic comedy, a variety show, or whatever, suddenly overnight you notice that the damn thing has been cloned and all of a sudden you have a dozen of them to choose from - on all the major networks and more. Radio is the same. The same mentality prevails. limbaugh lucked into being the first big voice to do it. And suddenly you had all the pretenders cropping up all over the dial. And by the time liberal talk radio was instituted, the CONS had already run the table. They'd bought up all the stations, gobbled up the Mom & Pop shops, and merged and acquired their way to a huge broadcasting monopoly. Used to be there were 600-and-some owners of radio stations across the country. Now, there are six. SIX. Conglomerates that overtook, over-ate - over gorged is more like it - and the non-music programming became mostly hate radio.
It sold, too. All that hate tapped into the most base parts of the human lizard brain. It just occurred to me as I've been writing this - I can't remember the last time I heard anybody say "...but you can't say that on the radio!" Because now, you can say ANYTHING. There used to be more of an adherence to truth in advertising. I remember when commercials dared not mention the name of a competitor. It just wasn't done. You might describe what the competitor did or offered, or otherwise allude to it, but it was anonymous. And then, something changed. Advertisers did indeed compare products by name. Dish soap, razor blades, you name it. And it doesn't matter what you name it. You can go ahead and say it. Sometimes you get hit back, and sometimes you have to pay for it as Brian Williams has. But it just amazes me how Pox Noise can get away with calling themselves a news network, and trumpeting on the air that they're "fair and balanced." Nobody questions it anymore. Only some fact-checking and not a lot. Lazy coverage and ignorant young correspondents who photograph well but have no life experience to leaven their observations and their witness-bearing, and they work cheap.
It's just really frustrating to have seen this devolution. REALLY frustrating. We used to have the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time provisions - that's all gone. No station really has to prove that they hold their broadcast license in the public interest and scrupulously serve the public interest anymore. License challenges are more often than not unsuccessful. There used to be restrictions and regulations concerning ownership - nobody could own more than three properties in any one market. And it usually worked out to owners having an AM, an FM, and a TV station. Any combination of the three. THAT'S all gone. That started in the waning days of reagan. And the owners or corporations had making money as their only interest. How you can thrive financially on that kind of mindset though - the CONservative mindset - how you can even think that way, much less push it on the radio all the time - man, I do not get that. Glad I was never active in the talk-radio arena. Only did it occasionally.
It's a shame that that CON mentality has been so lucrative. Its very success underlines the cliche - "if you're so smart why aren't you rich?" Heard that one? I suppose it dovetails beautifully with the whole misbegotten idea that God wants you to be rich, and if you are, that automatically testifies to your righteousness in the Eyes of God. You are blessed. I'm getting into the weeds here, I suppose, but it just hurts me that THAT kind of radio is what has gotten rich and influential. That there's been enough of a customer base to sustain it, and so handsomely, for so long. This asshole has been able to thrive and be a veritable king for 25 years. AND he's as rich as Midas. I'm a liberal. I think my liberal view is a lot better than the CON view. It's about helping people, using government as a force for good, about accomplishing things for the general welfare, the common, so that ALL can benefit, not just the privileged; and doing for those who cannot do for themselves. And I don't know why that hasn't been the Message-That-Sells commercially for the last 25 years. WHY does that not succeed? Are people really that easily manipulated? Are we really THAT greedy? THAT mercenary? That heartless, mean-spirited, and un-compassionate?
limbaugh has certainly given voice to all the ugly stuff. And made it sound entertaining and funny. And probably fortified the extreme CONS out there who are full of resentment but know deep-down that they're wrong and what they feel is anti-social or racist or un-Christian or selfish, but still wish those views were okay. Still wish it wasn't frowned upon and laughed at, but honored and taken seriously and reinforced. Saying it on the record - with such widespread exposure, from such a huge pulpit - in effect makes it okay. Makes it true. "You can't say that on TV if it isn't true." "They couldn't say that on the radio if it weren't true." "They couldn't print that if it wasn't true - they'd get sued." "Well, this guy and soon enough legions more like him WERE saying that shit on radio and TV and in print, so I guess maybe it's true." And more importantly, I think, "this guy's saying what I believe! So I guess I'M right, after all! And it's okay to say out loud in public!" So it becomes more respectable to have this shit out there on the public record, and I guess the audience that laps it up feels as though they can finally "come out of the closet" as it were. And besides, too few people actually do sue for libel or slander anymore. Just a guess, but this is what I suspect, anyway.
And you can beat that drum for only so long. Pretty soon it's like an observation my dad used to joke about: "Mercedes are like assholes. Everybody has one." Pretty soon it becomes overkill. And things change. If that limbaugh post is correct, he's actually noticing it. And the trend is veering away from him. Seems as though we're now in an era where he's becoming too problematic to carry on with much longer. Whether he really is out at WLS or not, he undoubtedly will be soon enough. His star is falling. The boycotts have not stopped - they've only grown and become more of a hassle for management and ownership to deal with. And they're drawing blood. AND as ol' rushie seems to be admitting in that post - times are changing. He's becoming passé. The new generations coming up and taking over DON'T THINK LIKE HE DOES. They don't see the world the way he does. They don't want the same things. Their priorities and concerns are way different from his. They don't agree with him as his panting crowds of now-aging ditto-heads have done - for 25 YEARS. SHEESH.
I couldn't be happier. I want him off the air. And even if WLS is denying it, as Nancy Reagan once warned then-White House Chief of Staff don regan (whom she did not like and was scheming, soon successfully, to oust him) "people are talking!" There's a drumbeat of this stuff happening to him now. For example, he got taken off AM talker powerhouse KFI in Los Angeles (has a HUGE signal, a clear channel station frequency-wise, and it blasts everywhere in the region, and at night sometimes you can hear it in other countries. He and a few other nauseating clones wound up on the station that used to be KTLK here in L.A., where Air America had started, and various permutations later, still had Stephanie Miller, and Randi Rhodes. Format and call letter change and all of a sudden it calls itself "The Patriot" and it's wall-to-wall hate radio and their numbers stay in the toilet. And it has a shitty signal and lousy coverage, very spotty all over the L.A. basin. Stuff like that is happening to him now. There's a drumbeat that's started. If there's a buzz about it, you just watch. Where there's smoke, there's very often fire.
OH CRAP! Sorry this is so long. Shit...
merrily
(45,251 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)I am constantly shocked by this. There is a poster on the board that shall not be named who is on disability and she rants a lot about liberal social programs.
spanone
(135,921 posts)this is a good sign
underpants
(182,992 posts)I happened to talk to a weekend guy on the local RW talk station (Beck, Rush, Hannity). They are iHeart radio. They dumped a good morning sports talk show on one of the sister stations moving the afternoon guy to AM. Cost cutting is everything now - mostly because of the aging of the audience and the s#|t storm that Rush started.
S_B_Jackson
(906 posts)a quick refresher: link
The ol gasbag and his smarmy copycat are likely heading to a Clear Channel station in the same market.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)But it won't be a powerful station like WLS. I doubt WGN would take him at this point. WBBM-AM is all news so he won't go there. Maybe WIND? Dennis Miller is leaving and they could stick Rush on there I guess.
ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)They are far more focused on local content than WLS and always have been.
WIND seems a likely choice. That station has been the flagship of the clown parade for several years now.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)I've been out of radio now for about 6 years. I just looked at the Chicago PPMs and holy shit WLS-AM is in the toilet in ratings. Had a 1.1 share 12+ in January. No wonder they are dumping.
Cumulus, for all of their faults, is doing something in Atlanta that is a great idea in my opinion. They have an FM News/Talk station. For the most part it is live and local. They run promos mocking right wing conservative network radio. I listened last week while in Atlanta and although you may have heard some tinges of right wing stuff, overwhelmingly it was more light hearted talk...comedy...light stories...pretty good talk radio.
ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)Making Limbaugh their flagship show was a mistake in a market served by so many other options. That's especially true when a 50kW clear channel (not the company) station is focused on local content.
Even the drive time guy (name escapes me right now) has toned down his act. He's far more into talking entertainment and movies and social phenomena than politics or political motivations. So, one of the local guys who followed the drug addict learned his lesson, but the management didn't until now.
Either way, a good sign.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)When ABC owned WLS they wanted it cheapo network right wing radio. Period. Plus, back then, it worked. But the audience has gotten tired of it. It was 24 hour a day of the exact same show...just different voices. Like you said, they alienated the local audience.
The right wing bloviating talk radio model is no longer working. I applaud Cumulus for making these changes. Let's hope they continue the trend.
Dustlawyer
(10,499 posts)He would have been dumped long ago.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)Let WLS keep getting a 1.1 share. Fuck them.
father founding
(619 posts)Seems like a match made somewhere for Rush.
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,847 posts)...plus local idiots like Steve Cochrane (whoring at WIND between his WGN stints).
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)Dennis Prager
Hugh Hewitt
Michael Medved
Dennis Miller
Bill Bennet
All pasty white old conservatives.
alp227
(32,073 posts)Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)Is that a very warm wind? That would be appropriate.
madamvlb
(495 posts)Mira
(22,380 posts)Duval
(4,280 posts)Initech
(100,129 posts)Roland99
(53,342 posts)The biggest wound to him would be when AFR dumps his bigoted, drug-addicted ass from their programming!
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)That is the real reason why he is getting dropped. These are the good news, that people are not listening to this pig anymore. Given that only elderly folks listen, it is just a matter of time until this happens everywhere.
mopinko
(70,306 posts)a source familiar with the decision said it was based on the shows diminished ratings and failure to generate advertising revenue for the station, adding: Its impossible to sell.
i love living here.
ND-Dem
(4,571 posts)with & tired of it, nothing trendsetting about your area
mopinko
(70,306 posts)all 3 times he was on the ballot here.
and we vote in the same percentages for jan schakowsky every 2 years until she turns to dust.
most of those listeners are actually in the burbs. i am very glad i do NOT live in the burbs. gn is one of the few chicago stations you can get out there. and they carry the cubs. unfortunately people just looking for local news get sucked into rushbo toxic orbit.
raised there, had enough.
they did, however, elect tammy duckworth out there.
so even the burbs are not all disgusting.
Response to mopinko (Reply #39)
ND-Dem This message was self-deleted by its author.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Hope they ask for a refund.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)earthside
(6,960 posts)... probably effective at the end of January 2017.
He'll want to be on the air to see the next Repuglican president inaugurated.
He will be very disappointed.
But his run is done.
And ... he might not even last that long.
Beach Rat
(273 posts)there's always some doomsday economic newsletter or gold buying service that will be willing to sponsor him.
ELI BOY 1950
(173 posts)derogatory comments a few years back...we had him on the ropes and let him off
rdking647
(5,113 posts)HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)SCVDem
(5,103 posts)Since Limpbutt took to Chi Towns airwaves.
Now you know the rest, of the story.
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)Cascading effect!
srican69
(1,426 posts)HISS!
Too bad.
karynnj
(59,508 posts)I spend hours listening to Ron Riley, Dick Biondi, Larry Lujack .... etc I remember a younger sister, who more often than not heard (even though I was using the ear phones, had the sound low, and even put a pillow over my ear!) the radio after it was supposed to be off, because I wanted to hear the three most requested. I actually won the transistor radio I was using by answering a trivia question asked by Ron Riley when he came to my Indiana town.
It is hard to imagine the summers, that seemed endless, without the fun of those stations. I tried hear every one of the short reports on the Beatles' tours of America. I was way too young to understand that they were not special "just for Chicago" interviews - but likely packaged and used by radio stations throughout the country labeled as being done by a local DJ.
I left the area after college, moving to NJ for a job, but my family is still there. It was so sad to hear that most of the AM dial became hate radio. Instead of spreading joy to millions - spreading a shared culture and music that was the soundtrack of those years for my generation, these same stations are encouraging people to be proud of their rage, anger, and bigotry. They led the way to the acceptance of extreme ideas that were well on their way to disappearing. In the 1980s, saying (truthfully) that an opponent had belonged to the John Birch Society, was such a damning comment that it was considered almost unfair. Now, the Koch Brothers' JBS roots are no problem at all -- as they buy American politicians.
It is good to hear that Limbaugh is being rejected, but he is likely to be replaced by a young person may well have been influenced by Limbaugh many years ago. It has amazed me over the years that Limbaugh has been so incorrect on so many issues of basic fact - and that he still has a following. I guess hate does not care if the reasons given for it are completely made up.
Me, writing this --- wish we could move back to a time when the biggest fight on AM radio in Chicago was the silly marketing fight between WLS and WCFL, which entered the top 40 format later (I think) and tried to be seen as more innovative. I remember WCFL giving out bright yellow (gold, orange) Styrofoam balls - sunballs - for car antennas. ( No my parents would NOT put one on the car - even as WCFL suggested it would make your car easier to find in the parking lot. )
This is, of course, colored by nostalgia, I remember the anger of the turbulent 60s - but it seemed less pervasive, not a daily harangue leading to frothing anger.
LiberalArkie
(15,733 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)though I was able to get WWL in New Orleans, which was my favorite radio station from about 1966 until my transistor radio conked out in 1969.
secondvariety
(1,245 posts)WLS in the Tampa area, also. But only on Sunday nights for some reason.
CincyDem
(6,416 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)Only listened for Chicken man skits in the afternoon..,
did enjoy the WLS evening line up Stay outta trees, Dickeybird!
karynnj
(59,508 posts)Strange how all this stuff stays in the back of your mind.
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)GusBob
(7,286 posts)alp227
(32,073 posts)He is the 11 pm to 2 am host on 94.7 WLS oldies.
Oktober
(1,488 posts)Gothmog
(145,802 posts)Limbaugh's contract with clear channel is up in 2016. I wonder if they will renew and on what terms
Response to kpete (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
dawn frenzy adams
(429 posts)They are getting rid of Hannity too!
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)WIND 560 (Salem/Hannity, and former Rep. Joe Walsh), WLS 890 (Rush/Levin/Savage), and WCGO 1590 (Glenn Beck) count. Are you counting the Milwaukee hate stations that can be heard in the windy city (WTMJ 620 and WISN 1130)?
WGN 720 is an all local station. Given the political demographics of Chicagoland I doubt it is as right wing as 560 or 890.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)tritsofme
(17,422 posts)over the last 30 years. Things are looking up for the Big 89!
GoCubsGo
(32,100 posts)I grew up listening to WLS, back when it played rock and roll Top 40. I moved away, and was saddened to learn that they had turned into a talk radio station.
I always enjoyed Steve Dahl, and followed him around to each new station after he got fired for offending somebody. Looking back now, most of his "offensive" stuff is pretty tame compared to what we see and hear today.
kpete
(72,040 posts)jimlup
(7,968 posts)I mean really ... I remember listing to WLS as a kid well before the era of Rush Stupidball.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)along with Ski and Skinner. .
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Fuck off Rush, I hope you end up dumpster diving.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,795 posts)They expected the show to do well during what they were gambling would be a 2-term Obama administration. After all, his ratings were mediocre during Bush 1, and then went sky-high during the Clinton administration.
Rush is older; FAUX news and FAUX syndicated talk is becoming the preferred choice for conservatives, and righty-talk now has to compete with three nationally syndicated sports/talk networks for the prized "Men 25-54" demographic.
My guess is that his semi-retirement is on the event horizon. He will probably go the Paul Harvey route and do a syndicated daily rant.
Historic NY
(37,458 posts)johnnyreb
(915 posts)AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)nt
Dirty Socialist
(3,252 posts)Sick right wing propaganda is as bad as Radio Moscow.
Snarkoleptic
(6,002 posts)Also, the return of local radio treasure, Steve Dahl, has been a big plus for WLS.
As a kid, the 'WLS Magic Bus' (which was an intern-piloted van full of free t-shirts) was something we'd always look forward to spotting.
John Cusack sported one in Sixteen Candles.