Rush Limbaugh on his radio future: ‘Nothing is going to change’
Rush Limbaugh took to the radio airwaves on Monday morning to address a report on the website Politico that said he and fellow conservative talker Sean Hannity were about to be dropped from the country’s second-largest radio network, Cumulus.
While he said he couldn’t address the particulars of what was going on with Cumulus, Limbaugh did his best to reassure listeners, saying, “Someday I am looking so forward to being able to detail all of this for you, but suffice to say nothing is gonna happen that you will notice. Nothing is going to change.”
He continued, “You are gonna be able to get this radio program on as many, if not more, radio stations down the road than it’s on now, and what you’re being treated to is just a public business negotiation.”
According to the report, talks between Cumulus and Premiere Networks, the division of Clear Channel that distributes Limbaugh and Hannity, have broken down over the costs charged by Premiere for the rights to the two top-rated shows.
If Cumulus were to drop the shows, many insiders expect they would immediately be picked up by Clear Channel stations to be carried in the same markets.
Relations between Limbaugh and Cumulus, which carries the host on 40 stations across the country, reportedly began to sour in the wake of the host’s controversial comments about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke last year in which he called her a “slut.” After a dozen advertisers pulled their support from the show, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey stated that the show had been partially responsible for the company’s overall 3.5% decline in revenue over the first half of 2012. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Limbaugh was unhappy with those comments and was making plans to leave the network anyway.
However, on Monday, Limbaugh told his audience, “But I just want to assure you, everything’s cool, and as always, what’s on the table for this program is growth.”
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