Limbaugh's Dirty Little Secret of Radio "Success"

[deminks]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mann/limbaughs-dirty-little-se_b_185965.html

Ever wonder why Rush "Boss" Limbaugh's syndicated radio show is all over the place like the proverbial cheap suit?

If you do much driving in rural areas -- e.g. between cities -- "Boss" Limbaugh's bloviations are often the only thing you can pick up on a car radio. Hey, that's what CD players are for.

Did Rush accrue hundreds of local radio affiliates across the country because his political views are mainstream? That's obviously not it. OK, so why IS his show so "popular?" Why do hundreds of stations around the country carry his show, the most widely syndicated talkfest in the country?

(snip)

It's because -- ready for this? -- Rush's show was, and presumably still is, given away for free to many local radio stations.

(end snips)

Hmmm. Wonder if Rushbo runs the thug party for free as well.

[vadawg]

1. seems like the business model is working for rush, dude is making lots of money

personally if people want to listen to him, not my problem, i have listened on occasion when on a long haul and my partner is radio choice, and hes amusing if you take a pinch of salt, and i got to say the dude has a voice for the radio, reminds me of the old BBC radio voices. If hes willing to give it away free, then have at it.

[mitchum]

10. Fuck that noise; he doesn't even have a good radio voice...

it's a very forced basso profundo that is ready to break at any moment.
Also, it would take a lot more than just a pinch of salt to effectively deal with a slug like Limbaugh.

[vadawg]

12. sorry i disagree, i think he has a good radio voice, i guess different opinions.

[theoldman]

2. Limbaugh's radio success is easy define.

He has millions of idiots available with nothing better to do. If they spent some time reading books they would be too educated to listen to Rush.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. Tweety made the observation that Rush is Oprah for angry bigoted white men

It's a support group.

[vadawg]

7. good observation... n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. What I find very interesting is that

he isn't on any of the local radio stations in my area--and it is a place with an active Klan and neo-Nazis and other hate groups. You'd think they'd want someone like Rush on the air, but apparently not. I learned this during our ice storm when we were without power for two weeks--listened to the radio and heard only music and local "swap" shows.

[RBInMaine]

5. Rush "Oxy-Inhaler" LimpBalls is a BIG FAT IDIOT, A BIG FAT LIAR, and A BIG FAT ENTERTAINER for STU-

PID people. Nothing more. He gets all the play time because he has a loyal band of STUPID DittoDUMMIES who listen to his BIG FAT STUPIDITY and are so DUMB AND STUPID that some actually send him money, and the show makes advertising dollars for the stations. LIMPballs is laughing at his own STUPID DittoDUMMIES all the way to the bank. What a sad bunch of STUPID SUCKERS. So don't even blame Oxy-HeadRush entirely. Blame that small (when you consider the entire American population) but loyal band of STUPID IDIOTS who actually think the BIG FAT IDIOT BLOWHARD LIMPBALLS has any political authority at all. (And yes, thanks so much Al Franken for calling out the "BIG FAT IDIOT" long ago in your AWESOME satire on LIMPBALLS. And also too, to whomever coined "LIMPballs." I'll take personal credit for "DittoDUMMIES" although I'm sure someone else has said that before. I just haven't seen it before. :-)

[Missy Vixen]

9. I don't think you used the word FAT enough

After all, "fat" is the ultimate insult, isn't it? :woohoo:

[RBInMaine]

20. It's an homage to Franken, not a put-down to over-weight people. My point, and really, Franken's, is

that his IDIOCY is what is FAT. His lack of intellect is what is FAT. The IDIOCY of his followers is what is FAT. So yes, FAT FAT FAT. FAT STUPIDITY and FAT IDIOCY. There is nothing wrong with the descriptor "FAT." Do you have a problem with "skinny" ?

[undergroundpanther]

23. do you have an issue with fat people?

Seems people (calling themselves liberal no less) Also still cling to socially sanctioned bigotries..Like FAT,Crazy,Psycho..Why do you say these "insults" that dehumanize people who have a mental illness or are fat.

Really, is being fat or suffering psychologically,ever worse than choosing to be mean and cruel or abusive?

Rush is mean, abusive,cruel and disgusting.

He also is an addict,and is fat.

Which is the real character flaw?

Being Abusive and cruel..and mean,a bully.That is the real reason why I hate rush and those like him.

Just thought I'd point this double standard out.

[RBInMaine]

31. I have explained myself once. You are stuck on a word without considering context. So I'll try

once more. First, I very obviously attacked Rush's MANY flaws. Next, as I clearly said, "fat" is both an homage to Franken's (is he "biased" too?) satire where he is really talking about Rush's "FATNESS" of stupidity, arrogance, distortion, ... My meaning is the same. Third, "fat" in and of itself is NOT a bad word. There are, fat trees, fat books, fat rocks, ... just as there are "skinny" versions of each of those as well. (We also like to call the greedy rich "fat cats." Are you going to complain about that too?) You are missing the real point with your "fat" term hang-up, so I suggest you relax about it. We agree entirely that the "real flaws" in Rush are those I have clearly accentuated and not his actual body mass index stats.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Then Who Pays Him? The RNC?

Who is funding Limpballs if the stations that run his crap are getting it for free?

[Old and In the Way]

11. He's working on a quarter billion dollar contract.

So, they give the product away for free? Only if the actual purpose is to get a significant block of listeners to vote against their best interests. While a 1/4 Billion is a lot of money, trillions of taxpayer dollars can be looted if enough people buy the baloney Rush, Beck, Hannity, et al sell. For sure, the truth is cheap, but telling well crafted lies that rubes will believe...that's worth big money to the class of people who use government to gain huge financial windfalls, if it gets them close enough to steal elections.

[harun]

29. For the top 1% it is a good return on their 1/4 billion to keep this country thinking

oppressing the middle and lower classes is good for the middle and lower classes.

[libodem]

13. Good question

Who pays Ratshit? I was just thinkin' the other day I'll bet the same money that goes from a lobbyist's hand to a politician's pocket has a lot of new regulations on it. I'll bet the same regulations don't apply to media I think they there has been a decided effort to gain complete control of the 4th estate, from the right for about the last 10 years. I have the strongest intuition that Faux is able to obtain pre-made, pre-produced, pre-recorded, pre-everything hit pieces of film, script, video, audio,and speakers, that push GOP, talking points. You know the Pentagon did it, and the WH from the last administration. I think they just took the marketing firm and money with them. Plus this is my suspicion that the highest bidder and lobby-type dollars are buying air-time and propagating ideas o AM and Faux. The sick thing is is that crap filters back into the mainstream media, eventually.

[AndyTiedye]

14. I Agree With All of That Except the "for about the past 10 years" part

It has been going on since the late 70s. It enabled them to install Reagan in the White House.
He killed the Fairness Doctrine and it has been moving towards "all wingnuts all the time" ever since.

I had these bumper stickers made up a while ago:

[libodem]

17. point well taken

you are oh, so correctomundo, my friend....as they say...ding, ding, ding. From at least the 70's! Hardly seems very sportsman-like, to cheat so blatantly.

[Brother Buzz]

19. Limpball's programing is embedded with national sponsors paying big bucks

Local stations sell local advertising and insert them at designated spots in the broadcast. The local ads pays the power bill and puts the jingle in the station owners pockets.

[DCKit]

8. I thought I had this right:

"A loss leader or leader<1> is a product sold at a low price (at cost or below cost)<2> to stimulate other, profitable sales. It is a kind of sales promotion, in other words marketing concentrating on a pricing strategy. The price can even be so low that the product is sold at a loss. A loss leader is often a popular article. Sometimes leader is now used as a synonym for loss leader and means any popular article, in other words one sold at a normal price.<3>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

In this case, the "profitable sale" was NeoCon control for as long as it took to plunder the Treasury, commit to two wars and nearly destroy the social and economic fabric of the country.

[bridgit]

15. And they've known their demographic from the very beginning as just that...

'ditto heads', or more to the point a specific type of Wally George-consumer bent on yelling/shouting down and ignorance more likely to respond to commercial leaf inserts that fall out on the floor...so when callers call in wishing "Mega Ditto's Rush!" they're confirming Limbaugh's ultimate value as the commercial leaf insert that falls out onto the floor. Which is very much a part of why Limbaugh's main shtick isn't even really republicanism it's opulent, wasteful consumerism framed in his gibberish about freedom, liberty & individualism in the model of a true prairie snake oil salesman. A walking/talking website full of pay-by-click links that have left Limbaugh with the impression that his thoughts are what have made him possible at all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUQT6Dm2C_8&feature=related

[Warpy]

16. I am delighted to report

that an FM radio will go from NPR station to NPR station all the way from NM to the east coast of Florida now. That wasn't the case when I came out here 20 years ago.

However, the AM stations are still all Limbag, C&W and pompadoured preachers. AM radio in most of the country is dismal.

I've been pointing out Limbag's business model, that of centralizing the advertising revenue and giving the show to local stations for free, for years. It's a way for stations to fill hours of airtime at no cost and without the need to sell advertising locally.

That was the only genius his handlers demonstrated.

[libodem]

18. Makes me feel like I need a shower

just seems like 'dirty' business. I remember as a little kid, seeing pictures of the Soviets, standing around a power pole outside, with one of those blowhorn speakers attached to it. That was to show us how the Russians were propagandized by their government into absorbing the 'Partyline'. That was the message. We were free as Americans to formulate our own opinions and to choose our own Party beliefs. I've never seen anything so similar to sheeple standing around a loud-speaker to be brainwashed as seeing 5 minutes of Guano Bleck, crying for Dick Cheney to come back to torture Muslims into false confessions. God, forget Soviet-era, propaganda this is Medieval Inquisition, backward.

[UTUSN]

21. K&R #3 n/t

[Fire1]

22. Oh NO!! This could not happen in western civilization!

:sarcasm:

[Libby2]

24. WTH??

[Fire1]

25. That was for the benefit of those living an illusion called

democracy in America. That's why the 'sarcasm.' Limbaugh is but a pittance in the larger scheme of things.

[bemildred]

26. So we have all these local stations that do not give a shit about local issues.

Which means they are being subsidized by non-local players, who don't care a a fig about local issues either.

[lib2DaBone]

27. Isn't Limbaugh the Property of Clear Channel Radio?

Primere Radio (Clear Channel) owns almost every radio station in the U.S. They run Limbaugh on Clear Channel stations. No local content or concern for "public interest, convience and necessity".

What ever happend to the Federal Communications Act of 1934?

[onenote]

33. Here are some facts instead of hyperbole and misinformation

Is Clear too big? Yes. Does it own "almost every radio station in the U.S."? Not even remotely. Clear owns around 900 stations. There are over 11,000 commercial stations in the US (over 4700 AM and over 6400 FM). Plus another 3000 FM non-commercial stations.

If we're going to be successful in obtaining ownership reform, exaggerating the current situation is not the way to do it.

[Blue_Tires]

28. that's not unheard of

back in the 50s and 60s, before there was full expansion in the south and west, the St. Louis Cardinals gave their radio broadcast rights out very cheaply, if not free in a lot of rural southern areas...to this day there are still some strong pockets of fans in the deep south...

[tomreedtoon]

30. Not a secret. Barter's been around for decades.

TV stations have been actively running barter programs for a long time. To repeat what the Huffington article said, a barter show is given to the station in exchange for advertising time. The station pays little or no cash, and gets to keep some of the advertising time for its local sponsors.

Ever hear of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Oprah? They operate the same way.

Of course, the amount of barter spots varies by quality. The aforementioned half hour game shows, Wheel and Jeopardy, take up three 30 second spots, plus a few product plugs within the show. (The latter are called 317 spots, after the FCC regulation that allows them, and they are allowed for "production expenses" like closed captioning, prizes and the like.)

Oh, another thing. Advertisers pay a lot for good shows because they like being associated with popular and positive people. Rush's advertisers, like Sham-Wow! and Gold Bond Powder, aren't paying anywhere near what Tampax and Stauffer's are paying for Oprah.

I'd wonder how many commercial positions local stations have to surrender to get Limbaugh's show. I'll bet they're getting the Somalian pirate treatment.

[onenote]

32. thanks for pointing that out

I was just about to post the same thing.