rush limbaugh

There is no mistake that the number one listened to talk radio show is Rush Limbaugh. In 2012 he enjoyed reaching 15 million pairs of ears per week. Being such a big name also comes with a big price. In 2006 Limbaugh signed a 10 year contract worth $400 million with Clear Channel. But at what cost to Clear Channel?

Over at DailyKos, ProgLegs notices a little piece of news that was well hidden about Rush's employer:

Buried on the business page of mysanantonio.com today, so brief you could easily have missed it, was the news that Clear Channel Media Holdings just reported losses for the last quarter of 2012 of $191 million, and $424 million for all of 2012.

Clear Channel has been in trouble for a long time for a variety of reasons, but one factor that contributed to their losses in 2012 was the death spiral of their golden boy radio host Rush Limbaugh.

So the nation's biggest radio giant lost almost half a billion last year. And let's consider what Rush's impact is on this. Remember Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student Rush went after for speaking out about the need for contraceptives? His little tirade against this woman ended up costing Clear Channel tons of advertisers. It was to the point Rush's show would have dead space during commercial breaks because no one wanted to be associated with him. Despite that, Clear Channel continues to carry such a toxic name.

That means the only motivation for Clear Channel has to be propaganda. If they are willing to take such big losses in order to keep the word of Rush alive, the typical motivation in a capitalistic system of profit is now null and void. This is really troubling considering that Clear Channel's sole existence depends upon the use of our public airwaves.

Mitt Romney was looking for a reason to attack Barack Obama on the grounds of foreign policy. He knew that after the killing of Osama bin Laden and the ending of the war in Iraq that he needed a silver bullet, and he now got it.

It turns out that Mitt Romney was behind the anti-Islam movie that has sparked the uprising in the Middle East. He played his cards and did so with great prestige. The film sparked the outrage that Romney was looking for and the results couldn't be better. He even showed that during his press conference yesterday:

That was Mitt smirking yesterday after blaming Obama for the problems in the Middle East.

So how credible is this information?

Well it isn't. See I have decided to play the conspiracy theory game that the right loves engaging in. Take Republican leader, Rush Limbaugh, yesterday, when he said this:

What if Ayman al-Zawahiri gave up Osama bin Laden for the express purpose of making Obama look good? Giving Obama stature, political capital?”

The justification would be so that Obama can help further the cause of al Qaeda. Media Matters has the audio available to hear for yourself.

But I'm just a little blog. I don't get much traffic or have much influence, unlike Limbaugh. Limbaugh has a cult like following that would take this conspiracy and turn it into fact. Within days we can expect to see those pictures on Facebook making this claim as fact. The minions on the right will repeat it as gospel, believing it is fact. The problem is that it isn't, just like the story I posted above.

Clear Channel is doing some big layoffs here in the Cincinnati market:

Tony Bender, Program Director for 55KRC and ESPN 1530, is gone. He writes "23 years. It was a good run. Tomorrow will be a good day."

Also gone is traffic man Brian Pitts. Another casualty was 700 WLW Promotions Director Sherry Rowland. She tells Local 12 News she was "laid off due to budget cuts." She posted on her Facebook page "ended work at Clear Channel Communications, Inc yesterday as a promotion director for 700WLW, Cincinnati ESPN 1530 and Fox Sports 1360."

Also gone, Mark Bianchi Digital Sales Manager

.

But after some Googling it doesn't appear to be limited to Cincinnati:

Word is filtering in from a growing number of CLEAR CHANNEL MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT radio markets of a lot of downsizing taking place.

ALL ACCESS contacted CLEAR CHANNEL, and VP/Marketing & Entertainment ANGEL ARISTONE confirmed the layoffs: "We are constantly evaluating our organization and structure to make sure we are as well positioned as possible to continue to lead in the evolving marketplace.

I just wonder how much of this could be from Rush Limbaugh and the advertisers pulling out from his show? Of course it could also be the fact that Bain Capital owns Clear Channel and we know that Mitt Romney likes firing people.

Rush Limbaugh looks to no longer be immune from his misogynistic name calling that has polluted our public airwaves for 20 years:

Premiere Networks, which distributes Limbaugh as well as a host of other right-wing talkers, sent an email out to its affiliates early Friday listing 98 large corporations that have requested their ads appear only on “programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).”

This is big. According to the radio-industry website Radio-Info.com, which first posted excerpts of the Premiere memo, among the 98 companies that have decided to no longer sponsor these programs are “carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm), and restaurants (McDonald’s, Subway).” Together, these talk-radio advertising staples represent millions of dollars in revenue.

While they aren't singling out Limbaugh, he is in the hit list along with pretty much the rest of right-wing talk radio.

But what Limbaugh did was attack one of his most important demographics:

But this latest controversy comes at a particularly difficult time for right-wing talk radio. They are playing to a (sometimes literally) dying demographic. Rush & Co. rate best among old, white males. They have been steadily losing women and young listeners, who are alienated by the angry, negative, obsessive approach to political conservations. Add to that the fact that women ages 24–55 are the prize advertising demographic, and you have a perfect storm emerging after Limbaugh’s Sandra Fluke comments.

Considering the big money these talkers are paid and the need for advertisers, this could very well be right-wing talk radio heading towards its death bed. Not only that, but the social media age has helped hasten their trip:

Rush Limbaugh may have really stepped in it this time. On his show yesterday he called Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student and contraceptive advocate, a "slut". He also said that any woman who advocates for contraceptives should post their online sex videos:

Yesterday Sandra Flake responded to Rush on the Ed Schultz show:

I guess my reaction is the reaction a lot of women have when they’ve been called these names. Initially you’re stunned but then, very quickly, you’re outraged because this is, historically, the kind of language that is used to silence women, especially women who stand up and say that these are their reproductive health care needs and this is what they need. And what’s been amazing to me today is the outpouring of support. Everyone from members of Congress to Georgetown faculty to so many women who’ve contacted me, and I think it’s clear from what they’ve said that they’re not going to be silenced by this.

This fat, sexist pig that the Republican Party has anointed their messiah has really opened up can here. It's bad enough that the GOP is fighting back against their image of being a sexist party, but when you got their hero making these kind of derogatory remarks towards women, it just undoes everything they have been trying to repair. Now we have some Republicans responding:

Carly Fiorina, National Republican Senatorial Committee Vice-Chairman, on Friday condemned Rush Limbaugh for calling law student Sandra Fluke a “slut.”

Ever wonder why we call them "right wing nut jobs"? It's because they are nuts! They are little conspiracy theory, Dale Gribble, paranoid nuts!

The latest chapter into the mind of these tinfoil hat wearing lunatics comes from John Hinderaker of Powerline:

BAMA ADMINISTRATION COORDINATING WITH LEFT-WING GROUPS ON VOTER FRAUD?

I wrote yesterday about the lightly-attended march in New York, ostensibly on behalf of voting rights, which was sponsored by a broad coalition of left-wing groups and was addressed by several Democratic politicians. While the number of participants was small, the affair had all the signs of a semi-official Democratic Party initiative. Sure enough: Nation magazine notes that Eric Holder will deliver a “major speech on voting rights” tomorrow, and links Holder’s speech to yesterday’s march:

He goes onto quote this article from The Nation talking about a speech Eric Holder gave on voting rights and then concludes with this:

So you can see how this will all come together. The Democrats will use their constituent organizations to whip up a frenzy of opposition to “voter suppression,” while DOJ launches, or threatens to launch, legal challenges to selected state statutes. This will energize the Democrats’ base by pretending that Republicans are trying to disenfranchise voters. It also may succeed in increasing the illegal votes that Democrats rely on at the margins of close elections.

Want to know what the outrage is about? Look no further than this:

Fifty percent of U.S. workers earned less than $26,364 last year, and those earning less than $200,000 per year - roughly 99 percent of Americans - saw their earnings fall a collective $4.5 billion.

There were fewer jobs, and overall pay was trending down -- except for the nation's wealthiest, who saw a boost.

While the incomes of the top 1percent of the country rose slightly in 2010 (from $1,909,874 in 2009 to $2,196,124 last year), their collective wage earnings rose dramatically, by about $120 billion.

Those earning at least $1 million a year (93,725 of Americans) reported payroll income totaling $224 billion - a rise of 22 percent above 2009.

And during this time American corporations have seen record profits and not been putting that money back into the economy. And how does the right (and some on the left) respond to this? They want to further decrease the tax burden of this 1% and shift that burden to the 99% who are struggling and watching their wages go down.

Class warfare? Hell yeah there’s a class warfare going on, but it’s not the one Eric Cantor wants you to think – it’s the exact opposite! The top 1% of this country is bilking the middle class for everything they got and the people are finally fed up with it. I just wish the rest of the country would wake up and stop listening to people like Rush Limbaugh (sitting comfortably in that 1%) and instead look at the facts. Limbaugh isn’t looking out for your interests or the interests of the country, he’s looking out for his own!