by Ed Ryan
Yesterday there were several reports stating The Rush Limbaugh program had lost up to 3 dozen advertisers. While several well known advertisers such as Carbonite, AOL, ProFlowers and others did make it clear they were canceling their advertising, Rush told his audience he has not lost 28 advertisers. In fact, he says, he has three brand-new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks. He did not say who they were, perhaps to save them from social media protests. The reporting got so bad, according to Rush, that he addressed the issue on his program Wednesday. "Two of the sponsors who have canceled have asked to return. Not gonna give you any names here. One of them is practically begging to come back."
Rush said everything is fine on the business side. "Everything's cool. There is not a thing to worry about. What you're seeing on television about this program and sponsors and advertisers is just incorrect. And let me try to explain how this works. Let's take the claim that we've lost 28 sponsors. Sponsors on this program are both local and national. We deal with the national sponsors on this program. We have 600-plus stations. They sell their own commercials. We don't have anything to do with those sponsors. We don't get paid by those sponsors. We have no idea who those sponsors are."
Rush went on to detail how local stations and advertising agencies place advertisers in the show and that could be where the media is coming up with their 3 dozen number. "Let's say that ABC Widget Company says, "We are no longer going to appear on the Rush Limbaugh Show." Well, ABC Widget Company isn't on the Rush Limbaugh Show. What happens is, advertising agencies order advertising buys on a series of local stations from market to market to market. A controversy like this erupts. They put out a notice to the stations, "By the way, for the time being we don't want our commercials run when Limbaugh is on." But they are not canceling their advertising on the station. They're just saying they don't want it running on my program during the local affiliate's commercial time, not ours. And let me tell you, this happens every day. It's been happening for 23-plus years. And it's not just to me. There are clients, advertisers, that tell stations, "I don't want this to run in Beck's show. I don't want it to run in Hannity's. I don't want it to run in Howard Stern's." It's all part of the business."
"As I say, we're going to be debuting three (and maybe more) new sponsors in the coming days and weeks. And I'm sure that our affiliate stations are going to be replacing advertisers with new ones. It's the cycle. Nothing stays the same. It's all dynamic; nothing is static. All you need to know is there are no losses. There is only growth. There are only gains; we're moving forward. There is good in everything that happens. You look for it, you find it, you build on it, and you expand it. They have not taken this program out. They have not taken me out. They're the ones who are frustrated. They're the ones who are angry. They're the ones who are gonna be blowing gaskets in the next couple of weeks. I hope I've made this clear."
Ed Ryan is Editor-in-Chief of Radio Ink magazine and can be reached HERE.
You can also leave your comments below.
(3/9/2012 4:13:12 PM)
This blowhard has been "stirring up" trouble for years. It's not entertainment it's fanning a flame that contributes to the partisan noncooperation we've seen.
Limbaugh is not a "all knowing pumba" of political science. He's a former top 40 jock that couldn't make it to the major markets...so after a brief hiatus...he returned to the air waves just as the Talk Radio movement began to jell. It was all timing...not talent that got him where is is today.
(3/8/2012 9:17:53 PM)
@Jack Murphy "Now, thanks to the media, more folks are tuning into Rush than were on the day his slip of the tongue occured."
"Slip of the tongue?" Really?
This was no slip of the tongue.
A slip of the tongue is when you make an unintentional mistake.
Mr Limbaugh's words were highly intentional and I suspect premeditated.
Sadly, you're right in one thing. . . the complicity of the media in this circus has given Mr Limbaugh precisely what he craves: attention.
Slip of the tongue?
That is as vile a characterization as
was Limbaugh's characterization!
Too bad that some people believe what they hear with no checking. Too bad that in order to sell ad space, and make money, some people will say anything. Too bad that its OK to call a young woman a Slut on a national stage, without her having 'equal time'. Too bad NAB members think first about corporate profits and very rarely about the community's that are destroyed by violent programming, by hate spewing ignorant or deliberately lying fear mongers. Yes I do blame 'the media'
(3/8/2012 1:01:30 PM)
Shameless a good word to describe Rush Limbaugh..
Professional Broadcasters don't do thinks like he does.
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