Limbaugh's 'Slut' Comments Are Crippling Talk Radio

'Flush Rush' campaign sees advertisers pull funding

Some conservative talk radio stations are in deep financial trouble, and they're blaming Rush Limbaugh.

Dial Global lost millions of dollars this year, and last week had to remove itself from the NASDAQ stock exchange. Dial gave various reasons for its troubles, but emphasized "advertisers' response to controversial statements by a certain nationally syndicated talk radio personality" - in other words, Rush Limbaugh's "slut" comments.

Cumulus Radio likewise claims that Limbaugh's anti-Fluke rants cost it millions of dollars. CEO Lew Dickey said that the Rush Limbaugh advertiser boycott cost the company around $4 million, and reported disappointing political ad sales during election season.

The Limbaugh Effect isn't just the result of spontaneous decisions by advertisers. Instead, thousands of volunteers for the "Flush Rush" campaign are working to ensure that advertisers avoid channels broadcasting Rush's show. Each time an advertiser's spot is featured on the Rush Limbaugh Show, they're deluged by emails, calls, tweets, and letters, and they often end up pulling the ads.

Most advertisers are unaware that their ads are featured on Limbaugh's show, having merely contracted to have their ads broadcast any time there's a slot. Once they're made aware, many withdraw their sponsorship of the station entirely.

Via Talkers, Radio World, and All Access.

Are you pleased or dismayed by the success of the "flush Rush" campaign?

[MRMacrum]

Pleased. This is the free market in action. The Right should be thrilled also.

[mudzangandoro]

yep! Even idiots have rights.

[harold]

Hopefully, the age of Limbaugh and Coulter is coming to a close. Thanks to these folks for helping.

[PNWest]

I certainly hope so. Although these neanderthals are dying out and their party of choice will soon be inconsequential, the hatred spewed by their supporters coarsens the discourse here. Call the local advertisers of these types of shows and tell them why you won't shop in their stores. It's obviously working and if we keep it up this kind of crap will get pulled off of the air.

[harold]

@PNWest It's always nice when people agree with me, but I have to point out the if you're using terms like 'neanderthals', 'spewed', and 'crap', then you've been sucked into the irrational discourse trap. Please resist.

[PNWest]

@harold I believe in calling a spade a spade so I'll respectfully disagree with you about "spewed" and "crap". I'll stand by the usage. Calling the supporters of Limbaugh et al "neanderthals" comes close to the line but to tell the truth I don't think I crossed it. Had I used some of the terms that I've been called in these forums it would have gone over the line.

[harold]

@PNWest The more irrational and offensive the rhetoric from the other side, the more important that reasoned, thoughtful arguments be used to counter them. Don't get dragged into the mud pit, that's what they need to maintain their notoriety.
And their incomes.

[PNWest]

@harold I don't mind having a civil discussion with you or anyone who wants to debate that way. Your are wrong to think that you are going to counter the right with reasoned, thoughtful arguments. That will not work. Ask Mondale, Gore or Kerry. Look at what happen to Obama in the first debate. The dems won all of the other debates and the election by hitting back hard and getting in Ryan and Romney's faces. You will be more successful in belittling stupid ideas with snappy one liners than with 20 page policy papers.

[Dan_Tien]

Rush Limbaugh is... there are no words to describe my contempt for the man. I listened to his radio broadcast once back in the '90s at the urging of an acquaintance. Once was enough for me. He and Howard Stern could both disappear from the air for all I care.

[Dan_Tien]

@IraqWarVeteran If you want to get banned from the site, you are on the right track. You know what? I have heard worse.

[Dan_Tien]

@IraqWarVeteran You probably got lots of that with the other REMs.

[harold]

@IraqWarVeteran Obviously listening to Rush has cost this poor soul way too many brain cells. I'd suggest PTS but I doubt he's really a vet.

[Thunderchicken]

I don't know about crippling the entire talk radio industry. I do know that in St. Louis Glen Beck runs opposite of Rush. Beck's show is touted as number one in it's time slot. And the station it runs on is also doing very well.

[DogLady_1]

Beck lost his show on Fox because advertisers were leaving... Beck is losing sponsors as much as Rush.

[Thunderchicken]

@DogLady_1

The way I heard it is he left to start his own independent show and network. And that his departure was his decision. I know he has his own satellite channel now. We'll just have to wait and see if it lasts.

[Tralee]

@Thunderchicken You are correct, MediaMatters tried like mad to get him banned and to get his advertisers to quit, but in the end he just walked away from a very popular show to start his own channel and he's still on the radio. To think otherwise is just wishful thinking and DogLady was just repeating the propaganda put out by the left wing press, it's not true, but that's not important to those guys.

[DogLady_1]

@Tralee - No, Glenn Beck lost advertisers. I didn't get that from Media Matters. I would make some citations, but I get the feeling you would believe they ALL are lying... Most of the advertisers, however, issued their own statements explaining why they wanted their ads pulled from the Beck show. Have you heard any ads on Beck lately that Media Matters says have left the Beck show??

[Tralee]

@DogLady_1 Give us the links. This is old propaganda, if you want to believe it, fine, I don't really care. LOL, Beck is still rich and still has his own programs, what do the left have?

[freebirdie]

what makes me truly laugh are two things: we don't seem to be upset that Bill Mahr can make comments about conservative women and noone seems to be upset, yet Limbaugh makes a comment about Sandra Fluch who can afford to go to an Ivy League school, but claims to have hardship buying birth control? If she can afford an Ivy League school, she can afford to pay 9.00 a month for birth control! I am waiting to see mainstream media cover both sides of the story. As people boycott Rush, there is a movement to boycott mainstream news, which means there are a lot of shows that are not being watched. Movements can work in both ways....I am on the bandwagon to boycott local stations that refused to cover both sides fairly! Goodbye ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN....hello library, Fox News, Rush, Mark, Glenn, and the Constitution!

[woodtick57]

You think Fox covers both sides fairly? why do you think that? because Rush, Mark, and Glen told you so?

[wild_turkey6]

Maher (personally I can't stand him either) isn't on any of those networks. His show is on HBO, which isn't basic cable, but a monthly subscription. I will gladly give my $16/month to HBO for quality shows like Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, even if it means subsidizing Mahr's whiney ass.
Full disclosure: I can't stand Rush or Beck either.

[DARSB]

A couple of things.

If you Google "Bill Maher Sarah Palin conservative reaction” you'll get tens of thousands of hits most of which are correctly outraged at his language (for the record, I objected to it as well. Name-calling is childish, pointless and does nothing to further the discussion). In my judgement neither Maher nor Limbaugh look like adults here.

But Maher does his shtick on pay per view, not over public airwaves. You have to make a deliberate effort to find his show and pay to watch it. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is ubiquitous' and while I have no evidence to support it, I can easily imagine a child riding in the car with Grandpa asking, "What's a slut?"

And let's not forget the distance Rush flogged this particular horse. He went to far as to encourage Ms. Fluke to make a porn movie and post it on the Internet.(One shudders are the visual of Viagra-chomping Rush in that scenario.)

There is a distressing lack of civility in much political discussion. I think people like Limbaugh and Maher have exacerbated that, and both should re-examine their styles and vocabularies.

And by the way, Ms Fluke's Georgetown law school is definitely not Ivy League.

[erbmrb]

@DARSB I want to add another point. Bill Maher is a comedic political satirist while Rush Limbaugh is considered one of if not THE political leader on the Right. The hatred and vitriol Limbaugh spews should be banned from the airwaves. If he wants to be on HBO then let him have at it but on public airwaves he should be banned.

[DARSB]

@erbmrb I don't tend to favor suppression of anyone's speech. I manage my disdain for Limbaugh by not tuning in. But if the free market (as if there really is one) wants to silence him I won't weep much.

[FFX_VA]

It's the Free market at work, Rush's prob is his ego overshadows his message. A lot of these so called "personalities" left & right have the same issue, their egos have ruined cable news to the point I stopped watching. MSNBC is a joke.

[woodtick57]

What is hhis ''message"?

[FFX_VA]

@woodtick57 It's the same as all the other knucklehead commentators' messages, I'm right, the other side is wrong, here's why.. Blah, blah, blah. Now pay me.

[dances-weebles]

@woodtick57 rush and his type are entertainers, first and foremost. rush, when once asked why he pushes such heavy conservative garbage, responded, 'if i could make as much money talking about how great it is to be a liberal, then i'd be a liberal... the problem, however is that they are too intelligent to listen to what i'm saying on the radio. they just laugh at me.'

[woodtick57]

@jamie91 pregnancy is a punishment? You do realize most US women use birt control, dont you?

[BlueGoose]

Very pleased. Although this turd has the right to say what he wants, it's a free country you know, he is facing the natural consequences of ' ignorance before speaking,' syndorm which he suffers greatly from, not to mention 'hot gas that comes out of his mouth instead of his rectal cavity.'

[hypocracy]

Have any of you heard the stuff that comes out of Ed Schultz's or Bill Mayer's mouth? Hypocracy is when you can't see your own filth. Clean up your house first.

[jamie91]

This is not something being done by any one party. It is the advertising bailing because the adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity turned out not to be true. Radio stations can not live by Chick-fil-a alone.

[dances-weebles]

yeah... i watched a documentary by bill maher because my brother asked me to do so. i found it quite boring, actually, but at least it didn't insult anybody, or anyone's intelligence. he just kept ranting about things that everyone already knows.

[jamie91]

@dances-weebles I'm not a big fan of Mayer either, but he is on HBO, so technically I support his presence, but that is only because I love a couple HBO series, I don't watch him.

[dances-weebles]

@jamie91 there are a whole lot of things on cable that i don't watch... including almost everything that comes over the tv. normally when it's turned on i leave the room. we have it for the children's programming mostly, and my wife likes to watch the 'law' shows and some of the cooking shows because she thinks that the guys and women on them are sexy looking, not because she plans on cooking anything right away.

[jamie91]

@dances-weebles I view the tv mostly as background noise, I usually don't even know what is on it. But then I became addicted to True Blood and Spartacus. Sadly the boyfriend is into storage wars and lately have found myself mumbling "I hate that Dave guy".

[freaky6smurf]

So .. I see there are a few anti Limbaugh's out there...
So what would you say about a girl that's wants free BC so she won't get pregnant .. I thought people had responsibility 4 there own actions

[jamie91]

Not free, covered by her insurance.

[dances-weebles]

um... who said anything about 'free birth control'? what she was asking for was that the insurance programme which she was paying for through her tuition, and which covered all prescription drugs, cover birth control also. it was nothing more than an argument with the over bloated, archaic notions of the catholic church... not asking for a 'freebee'.

oh yeah... and takign birth control pills is accepting responsiblity for her actions.

[freaky6smurf]

@dances-weebles in her choice of schools its not apart of there Beliefs. Its not like she can't find other insurance companies 4 her choice in Activities.
I never had insurance offered by my college set in my tuition ..
What's with this cry, cry, cry Mentality.

[dances-weebles]

@freaky6smurf two of my universities provided my insurance through my tuition. why do you seem to have a problem with this? the university's 'beliefs' have nothing to do with medications. tell me, what if she needed bc pills for a recurring illness such as ovarian cysts caused by ovulation?

[dances-weebles]

@freaky6smurf oh, and why should she be forced to carry a second policy when she has paid for a good one already? universities don't discount the cost of the insurance if you opt out, you know.

[DARSB]

Rush is also falling victim to another tend - his white male audience is aging out of existence. A political party can adapt to demographic shifts; a one-trick ideological pony won't be as nimble.

[Laradian]

Thank God for that. America has no future as long as there are people who think like Rush Limbaugh. With him it's either his way or no way at all. No compromising on anything. He wants nothing less than the complete obliteration of the other side. He has said it.

What kind of world would it be if there was only his point of view and everyone else's view is rejected. At least liberal-minded people are willing to accept that other don't think like them and it's okay. But not Rush and his kind.

[drpeeper]

You are joking right? Of course they aren't. He's more popular than ever. Why not ask HBO is Bill Maher's "c***" comments about Sarah Palin are killing cable TV.

Ask comedians if comedy is being killed because Sandra Bernhard warned Palin she would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" if she tried coming to New York.

Ask the Village Voice if newspapers are crippled because of Michale Feingold writing "Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don't give a hoot about human beings, either can't or won't. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm."

How about this man on radio- hate speech? of course: "Do you not understand that Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly are as complicit of the September 11, 2001 terror attack as any one of the dumbass 14 who came from Saudi Arabia?" (Mike Malloy)

Maybe radio is being ruined here too? "[Dick] Cheney, by the way, looks very ruddy. I couldn't get over that. Like, he must have feast on a Jewish baby, or a Muslim baby. He must have sent his people out to get one and bring it back so he could drink its blood." (Mike Malloy)

But, Rush says 'slut' and the world is ending? Drama queens need not apply for real life. Sometimes the truth needs to be plopped right in people's faces. And today's sissified population can't take it.

Freedom of speech on ALL sides.

[Keyjo]

Maybe it's just that Rush is so repulsive. I don't know, but you have to admit that he is the epitome of "nasty," not to mention hypocritical.

[drpeeper]

@Keyjo Ah Yes. Bill Maher is the epitome of a stud? No, it's a double standard. Hate is hate. And they vitriol from the left is far more vicious, violent and far less magnified.

[Hireman]

I'm pleased that the free market works.

[AnObserver]

Rush provides us with commentary the left leaning news networks will not provide. He is a major hurdle for their cause and that's why they want rid of him..but it's not going to happen, he can survive off of his listeners.

[woodtick57]

Sounds like he may have to. I can't wait for the Rush pledge week...

[2b1ask1]

All he did was told the truth...I guess it hurts to hear it sometimes!

[woodtick57]

when was that? You'd the news would have covered such a momentous event...

[DogLady_1]

No. All he did was comment on the truth. Rush is not a news reporter... he is a news commentator... big difference...

[DogLady_1]

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he” -Karl Kraus

[Laradian]

See what I mean? The right-wingers desire nothing less than complete U.S. and world domination. They want to wipe the earth clear of anyone who doesn't think exactly like Rush Limbaugh and his little minions.

The future existence of America and even planet earth lies in peril as long as there are self-serving humans who think, speak and act like them.

[Bobolinsky]

NOW Organizes ‘Flush Rush’ Campaign To Protest Limbaugh Statue

"They will be sending hundreds of rolls of toilet paper to House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, as part of a rebirth of the “Flush Rush” campaign.

Missouri NOW Vice President Claire Major said that the organization had orchestrated a “Flush Rush” campaign of its own on a nationwide level in the 1990s."

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/03/19/now-or...

This is "thousands of volunteers" from the kook fringe Left harassing small businesses. This is no different than the Christophobes that harass Christian campus groups... The Christophobes often being members of the faculty...

Christian groups differ on compliance with Vanderbilt Policy
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education...

Or Union members taking hostages, sabotaging trains and vandalizing...

Union Dispute, Turning Violent, Spreads and Idles Ports

About 500 longshoremen stormed the new $200 million terminal in Longview before sunrise Thursday, carrying baseball bats, smashing windows, damaging rail cars and dumping tons of grain from the cars, police and company officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/business/un...

The NYT didn;t mention that they also held the security guards hostage for over 2 hours...
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/08/in-labor-...

[RedFloppyShoes]

What load of crap that story is. I run 6 radio stations, one being a Conservative talk, and we are making money hand over fist...BECAUSE of Rush creating controversy.

Cumulus said they are losing money because of Rush, as they were launching Mike Huckabee's show against Rush. They just used that as Sales tool for their new show.

Dial Global is having issues as they don't have any quality talk programming to garner higher dollars.

Nice BS article. Just goes to show that the Left only uses talking points with no research.

[PoliticalSpice]

Using talking points without research? I thought that was policy at fox news. In any case I suspect you are correct about Rush remaing on air, although I am very pleased to read this it seems if keeping him on were so bad for profits he would have been gone long ago. Still, I hope the article is correct, every bit as much as the right hoped Obama would not serve a second term...

[Romney2012]

Dismayed, why do all of these whinny babies care so much about that stupid overblown slut comment?! Why don't we get the same reaction from Big Mouth Bill Maher? He says way worse things than Rush's slut comment, yet you see him on HBO again and again! It is pretty stupid that these people put such an effort into the destruction of one of America's last big conservative media outlets! I think that if all of these people were real American's, they wouldn't harass advertisers for supporting Rush!

[Ashstop]

Dismayed
Just shows how many people there are that don't care what's going on, if anyone from the White House says it then its chizzled in stone, we get attacked so they blame some old man in California for making a film they can't even watch over there, are more interested in who's having an affair than protecting ourselfs, sees defense spending as money that could be spent on more entitlements, the reason the radio talk shows are shrinking is because 47% could care less, in 4 more years the number will be closer to 60% as entitlement grows