Rush Limbaugh gets $400M contract

That he's getting such a fat payout is a clear sign he and Clear Channel think Obama is going to win. Eight years? A coincidence? I think not.

Look what happened to his show when Clinton was elected in 1992. It absolutely blew up. That explains why he was wearing pom-poms for Hillary. A Clinton in contention = mega ratings for Rush = a bathtub full of pills.

 

Bill Cunningham was complaining about how the Fairness Doctrine would not apply to the New York Times, completely ignoring the fact that one needs a license from the FCC to own and operate a radio station, but no license is needed to publish a newspaper.

 

I think Rush has shown over the years he pulls in ratings no matter who's in office.

He's not exactly my cup of tea; the only time I hear his show is when I'm at my parents' place (they listen every day). But he must be doing something right, very right, and must have been for a long time.

If an Al Franken (yes, I know he's running for office, so not him specifically), a Michael Moore or another entertaining liberal can get such a deal, more power to him.

 

No, but when there is only a group of stations that play the same 10 songs on the radio (in my area), sometimes I'd like to hear an alternative voice. I rarely listen to Hannity for more than a few minutes, mostly for my own amusement.

 

I tune in sometimes when something's happened that I think will make his head explode. He is entertaining. But taking any talk-radio host's shtick as fact-based is just silly.

 

Fixed.

Good for him. He has the audience so he's getting the cash. But let's not call him anything more than he is. I really tried to like him. Hell, he is even a fellow Steelers fan. I'm just not far enough to the right to enjoy listening to the guy.

 

Isn't Air America on the air anymore? If not, I know XM or Sirius has left-leaning talk.

That leads to this question: Why does conservative talk radio seem to be profitable while liberal talk radio isn't?

 

I'll say this for Limbaugh: He did indeed earn those affiliates in the late 80s/early 90s with a conservative, yet lively program that could be very funny.

Not anymore. Today, it's 50% media criticism and 20% raging against the dying of the light, 20% percent commercials and 10% that weird musical outtro of his. It feels like the Cowboys postgame show or something, where 20 commercials and sandwiched around two interviews. I don't care for O'Reilly's "radio factor" much, either, but his show is at least issue-relevant and taking 20-25 callers per day.

However, the radio factor plays on a lot of affiliates at night, because Rush gets his three-hour slot and conglomerate-owned affiliates are simply told when to schedule what, based on a national marketing strategy. Rush has the audience he does in part because media corps lock him in at a certain time, regardless of the ratings at hand. Ditto, FWIW, for the Jim Rome show. Cowherd, for example, runs an early hour on west coast, pre-empting ESPN's own Mike and Mike, because ESPN knows Rome has the West Coast locked up 12-3 EST.

 

An eight year deal?

Sounds like he and the folks at Clear Channel foresee a Barack Obama victory this coming fall giving Rush eight years of divisive and rancid fodder to chew on.

 

Actually, Lyman raises an excellent point about liberal radio.
My own pet theories are:
• Liberals are more likely to get their news from papers, NPR and like-minded blogs.
• No tent pole figure has emerged amongst the liberals.
• The conservative nature of radio, i.e. ClearChannel, puts liberal talk at a minimum.
• Smooth-talking liberals tend to land on TV.
• KO could challenge Limbaugh, but he hasn't and why should he? He's got the TV audience.
And good for Limbaugh. Yeah, I said it. He got what he was worth.

 

Because Clear Channel wants it to be?

That seems like a jerky answer, but it's 75% true. That's how the radio industry works. Same with music. If Miley Cyrus went to a 1000-person cattle call for albums, she'd be out in round two, and you've never hear of her. Because Disney owns stations, though, and Disney owns Miley Cyrus...she sells out stadiums.

Like Lowell Bergman said in "The Insider:" "It's not me they're saying yes to, it's '60 Minutes.'"

It's the brand. Not the person.

It's Clear Channel. Not Rush Limbaugh. Believe it.

 

The reason that Rush/Hannity hate the Fairness Doctrine is that stations will cancel them. It will be much easier to put a milquetoast, Mitch Albom radio show on the air then it will be to go through the hassle of finding a government-approved opposing viewpoint to avoid the hassle of litigation.

There are roughly eleventy billion communication outlets out there. A guy like Glenn Greenwald didn't need the Fairness Doctrine to make the points that he does -- he started a blog, did a good job attracting readers and now his viewpoints are out there and taken seriously. Why do you need to have the government using the Fairness Doctrine as a political tool when the answer is to let the marketplace of ideas take root.

The Fairness Doctrine is a political tool used at the whims of whatever political party is in power to silence opposing viewpoints. It is used precisely for the opposite of its intended purpose.