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The radio industry is FINALLY talking about the devastating impact of Rush Limbaugh's Fluke attack


The Limbaugh advertiser boycott is real,
and the radio industry is finally beginning to talk about it

Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 10:06 AM PST
by Richard Myers

The code of silence has been swept away. Throughout the radio industry this week, there is talk of the devastating impact of Limbaugh's Fluke attack. Rush supporters are, of course, in denial. But compelling personal testimonies are suddenly out in the open, and they will prove difficult to dismiss.

For example Doug Stephan, president of Stephan MultiMedia and host of the nationally syndicated “Good Day” program, had this to offer:

[excerpt] Let’s face it, the agencies and advertisers are how we survive. So to tell them that their clients are stupid for not staying in an atmosphere in which they don’t want to be is akin to the Republicans not reading the tea leaves about changing demographics.

I’m not here to argue the point, but rather to tell you what this ONE incident has cost me as an independent in a sea of big corporate operators, who are obviously losing tens of millions of dollars due to this one event.

So far this year, my losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cancellations, avoidance and decisions to just not buy across the whole format, no matter what the content...

I’m not looking for Limbaugh to send me a check (although that would be nice), but I do think we have to let it be known that his actions have been devastating to our survival. [emphasis added]

—Doug Stephan: Talk Must Expand Beyond Politics to Survive, November 19, 2012
http://www.talkers.com/2012/11/19/talk-must-expand-beyond-politics-to-survive/

I think it took Dial Global's devastating fall, [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/19/1163251/-The-spectacularly-damaging-Rush-Limbaugh-Effect-illustrated-in-two-stock-charts-and-a-video ] and subsequent fingering of Limbaugh as partly responsible, to break loose the conversation.

An analysis of Limbaugh audience numbers:

The business model for a public air waves radio station is matching advertising dollars with listeners. Advertising pays all the bills. It becomes obvious, then, that advertisers are the real power behind any publicly broadcast program. Advertising funds program content, and all else.

An advertiser boycott does not directly influence audience. Rather, it focuses on the funding that makes listenership possible. Thus, the best measure of the impact of an advertiser boycott (in the short term) is, what's happening to the radio conglomerates?
Three of the biggest, — Dial Global, Cumulus, and Clear Channel — all appear to be in trouble.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/19/1163251/-The-spectacularly-damaging-Rush-Limbaugh-Effect-illustrated-in-two-stock-charts-and-a-video

Until the radio networks or groups of stations actually capitulate by cutting Limbaugh programming, however, any measure of decreased audience share is merely gratuitous. If Limbaugh is on the radio in a given market, he is likely to find an audience. Thus, while we may find any decrease in listenership or audience share tantalizing, it isn't likely to prove decisive in any sense.

There are multiple reasons for this. Listener data in radio is open to interpretation, and may vary from one market area to another, and from one market segment to another.

[...]

Let us take another look at the streaming audio measurements that show a nearly fifty percent drop:

Based upon data from Talk Stream Live
[ http://talkstreamlive.wordpress.com/ ]

[...]



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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/20/1163345/-The-radio-industry-is-FINALLY-talking-about-the-devastating-impact-of-Rush-Limbaugh-s-Fluke-attack