Rush Limbaugh Scandal Proves Contagious for Talk-Radio Advertisers
Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer
air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the
loss will rock right-wing talk radio.
by John Avlon | March 10, 2012 12:00 AM EST

Rush Limbaugh made the right-wing talk-radio industry, and he just might
break it.

Because now the fallout from the “slut” slurs against Sandra Fluke is
extending to the entire political shock-jock genre.

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.

Valerie Geller, an industry insider and author of Beyond Powerful Radio,
confirmed the trend. “I have talked with several reps who report that
they're having conversations with their clients, who are asking not to
be associated with specifically polarizing controversial hosts,
particularly if those hosts are ‘mean-spirited.’ While most products and
services offered on these shows have strong competitors, and enjoy
purchasing the exposure that many of these shows and hosts can offer,
they do not wish to be ‘tarred’ with the brush of anger, or endure
customer anger, or, worse, product boycotts.”

There are already tangible signs that the three dozen national and local
advertisers that have pulled their ads from The Rush Limbaugh Show are
having a financial impact.
Angry White Male Radio

For example, the ads that ran on Limbaugh’s WABC show in New York on
Thursday consisted primarily of public-service announcements. Among the
few actual advertisements were spots from a Newt Gingrich–associated
super PAC, Lear Capital, and the conservative Hillsdale College. Media
Matters has been monitoring national trends along the same lines. When
PSAs for nonprofit organizations like Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the
United Negro College Fund run in place of actual advertisements on
radio, it means the show starts losing money for the local station. And
make no mistake, money is the only barometer of success the industry
ultimately cares about.

Women ages 24–55 are the prize advertising demographic, and you
have a perfect storm emerging after Limbaugh’s Sandra Fluke comments.

Limbaugh helped prove that right-wing talk radio could be big
business—promoting the idea that only conscious conservative bias could
balance the unconscious liberal bias of what was termed the “mainstream
media.” In the fragmented media environment that emerged after the
heyday of the “big three” national TV networks, narrow but intense niche
audiences provided the most reliable listeners and viewers and the
highest comparative ratings. Limbaugh’s outsize talent helped spawn
scores of imitators—but none as successful, and some strikingly
unsuccessful. Attempts to create left-wing talk-radio corollaries proved
no less offensive but far less popular, like the little-lamented Air
America.

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.

As pressure grows for advertisers and radio stations to drop Rush & Co.,
there will be much talk about the dangers of censorship, with allies
talking about a left-wing “jihad” against Rush (language his brother
David Limbaugh has already used).

But the irony is that the same market forces that right-wing talk-radio
hosts champion are helping to seal their fate. Advertisers are
abandoning the shows because they no longer want to be associated with
the hyperpartisan—and occasionally hateful—rhetoric. They are finally
drawing a line because consumers are starting to take a stand.

An additional irony: just as the technology-driven fragmentation of the
landscape allowed partisan media to proliferate, a new technological
development is providing the tools to take it down. Social media is
making it possible to create a grassroots movement very quickly, voicing
grievances very quickly and getting heard at the top of corporate
headquarters.

“In the past, a letter, petition, or phone campaign took a few days to
put together and longer to execute,” says Valerie Geller. “But now
customers[listeners] can instantly rally using Facebook, Twitter, and
instant messaging to make their displeasure with a client, product, or
service known immediately. These movements can happen fast.”

It is true that these efforts can be “astroturfed”—artificially created
by activists with a specific ax to grind—but if they genuinely catch on,
it is because they tap into broad sentiment.

Will this bombshell announcement by Premiere—and the decreased revenue
from right-wing talk radio—provoke a change in the culture of
hyperpartisan talk? It’s certainly possible—after all, they will adjust
their approach to follow the money. There is no deeper political
principle at stake.

It’s been interesting to see Limbaugh’s allies try to defend him
indirectly over the past few days, pointing out (rightly) that the left
does not cry foul when liberal political entertainers use derogatory
terms about conservative women in politics.

But the left-wing talkers being condemned are actually following a model
that Rush & Co created. Complaining about the escalation on the other
side while ignoring the ugliness from your ideological allies is the
larger problem, and it goes beyond hypocrisy. The only way we are going
to stop this cycle of incitement is if we try to apply equal standards
to both sides of the aisle. It’s not a complicated concept—it’s nothing
more than the golden rule we learned in nursery school: treat others as
you would like to be treated. And as political commentators like the
radio pioneer Will Rogers once taught us, we can make serious points
using satire, humor that is not designed to divide and destroy.

When big money starts shifting, it is a sign of a deeper tide that is
difficult to undo, even if you are an industry icon like Rush Limbaugh.
It is a sign that the times are changing. Let’s hope that what emerges
is an evolution of the industry, away from stupid, predictable, and
sometimes hateful hyperpartisanship and toward something a little
smarter and more civil.