Rush Limbaugh's Ratings Drop in Several Big Markets.

[Stuart G]

Source: Huffington Post, Politico

The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson Posted: 05/21/2012 9:33 am Updated: 05/21/2012 10:39 am

Rush Limbaugh's ratings have dropped sharply in several major markets following the firestorm over his comments about Sandra Fluke, Politico reports.

Limbaugh called Fluke a ;slut ;prostitute ; for her birth control advocacy, sparking condemnation from President Obama on down and causing many advertisers to flee his show. (One major radio CEO recently admitted that the controversy had cost him millions of dollars.)......................................
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On Monday, though, Politico's Dylan Byers got an early look at the latest ratings report from Arbitron:

The conservative radio host's ratings fell 27 percent in the key 25-54 demo in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, according to a selection of the March 29-April 25 Arbitron ratings provided by an industry source.

Politico:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/05/limbaugh-takes-postfluke-ratings-hit-124058.html

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/21/rush-limbaugh-ratings-drop_n_1532807.html

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The story from Politico does say that there are large fluctuations in monthly ratings. So it is the over the long term that counts the most.
This is just the beginning, and we will know more in six months to a year.

[Iliyah]

1. I guess they can't keep the

inflated numbers up anymore. His ratings were never high in the first place.

[goclark]

6. K and R

How he can remain on is a mystery to me --- druged up, wild and crazy and mean and he still stays on the air.

[movonne]

22. Because the corporations are

holding him up...he probably was #1 propagator in rural areas...when I moved here to Or. small coastal town...all you could get on the radio was country music, religion and rush..today it is a little better...many liberals came in from other states..but still a lot of good old boys...

[KansDem]

2. Call me "old fashioned"...

But I remember a time when if a radio personality got on the air nationally and referred to a specific woman as a "slut" and "prostitute" and suggested she post videos of her having sex on the air (pre-Internet), he would be gone...overnight.

No waiting to see if his ratings drop; no waiting to see the advertisers' response; no waiting for public opinion polls.

He would be gone...period.

[Cary]

4. Indeed n/t

[Auntie Bush]

7. That was before ignorant ReThugs hac so much power and control. Everyone's afraid

to criticize Rush for fear he'll lie, smear and criticize them.

[Cary]

3. Good news but it is odd that anyone listens in the first place

I mean it's not like anyone doesn't know exactly who or what this guy really is, and exactly what he is doing. Their whole ideology is a glorification of some of the worst aspects of humankind and plain old every day fear mongering. Yes, his comments about Sandra Fluke were atrocious but what else is new?

Now if people are seeing the light here, and seeing that this whole "conservative" ideology is a pernicious thought virus that's undermining the general welfare in favor of obscene wealth of the top 1%, then this is indeed a cause célèbre. If this trend continues and we win big in November ...

[freshwest]

5. +1 yo all of that.. And we need to stay aware of the IFs, too.

[Blue Owl]

8. Droppin' like a heavy, rotten sack of shit

Look out below!

[MADem]

9. The harder they fall! Couldn't happen to a "nicer" guy~! nt

[johnnyrocket]

10. What else can you say about this guy except he's evil and engages in hate speech?

[itsrobert]

11. radio-info is a good place to discuss ratings and Rush

Here is a current thread

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=212616.0

Many posters work in the industry. Beware: Some will defend Rush to the death. Play nice.

[Iliyah]

16. Rushie poo like a great many of the RWs

have their own PAID audience. But I'll try and be nice tho.

[Doctor_J]

12. Yippee

is this supposed to help in some way?

[snacker]

13. What a pity!

[Diclotican]

15. bupkus

bupkus

In a Civilized society men like Limbaugh (or as I say it Humbug) would never be able to be a personality like he is in the US.. Mostly he would be kept under lock and key, pending what to do with him in a mental ward - high on medicines to keep him under control - and maybe give him some comfort...

Diclotican

[Diclotican]

27. bupkus

bupkus

It is a difference between given medication to get better - and drug use for the use of mis-use... That is the problems today, a lot of the medication who is available today, are misused by people who doesn't need them - but who use them because they want to get high, or for other reasons...

If you have enough money - and have the right connections, you can in many cases beat almost every charges given you by the law.. And I do believe that mr "Humbug" do have the right connections - or have the money to fend off charges that should have given him many,many years behind bars...

Mr Humbug is a dangerous man, mostly because many do seem to sympathize with him - In some other forums I frequent quiet a few like what the shit he is talking - I have never managed to stand him for more than 5 minutes - on internet-radio.. And I can not for my life understand why anyone could be able to stand him for a hour, or a day.. He is a sewer of hate and anger - and nothing more...

Diclotican

[SpartanDem]

23. Repression is civilized?

the fact is Rush is a pig, but he has every right to say what he wants. Some of us value that whole free speech in thing in the Consitution, hate speech laws are antithetical to what this country is about.

[maxrandb]

17. He's too big to fail

for the Repukes. They know that if it wasn't for Rush and all the little local "rush-bots", the policies of the Repuke party would be smashed and sent to the ash-heep of historically bad ideas...like the Edsel.

If it weren't for Rush, you couldn't find two Repukes left in Congress to rub together in a public Men's Room. Lose Rush and they lose the guy who dumbs down the debate enough for them to win.

Getting rid of Rush, is going to be like trying to get Hitler to fire Goebbels. Some fat-cat bastard who wants to scam his tax-rate down to 11% will find a way to bankroll Rush.

The only way to get rid of Rush is to get the power back into the hands of the people, and out of the hands of billionaires and corporations. It's not going to be easy, but if you make enough of them pay for affiliating and supporting this asshat...we won't have to get rid of him, they'll do it for us.

The wealthy and the corporations that bankroll his hate are the problem. As long as there's a market for hate, they'll find a hater.

[Hubert Flottz]

21. LOL!

Too Big to Fail, to small to fit all. That giant gasbag should fit nicely, between Jupiter and Saturn, in a two dollar space suit.

[Zen Democrat]

19. You know why he's dropped so much in Houston?

Because Houston has a new, local, all-news FM station that is straight news, sports and weather. They use ABC News for the national news on the hour, not FOX. All their on-air newscasters have backgrounds in journalism. They aren't discernibly left or right. People are going there in mass numbers.

[goclark]

28. Great News! nt

[Hubert Flottz]

20. Poor Old Bastid!

I hope his @$$ boils come back, X 123456678900988789098766551212344543221.9 and then his luck really turns bad.

[Marie Marie]

26. Just curious... did you use algebra or just simple math to come up with that multiplier?

That is too funny and I agree wholeheartedly.

[Hubert Flottz]

38. I used the same thing the republicans use...

Fudgy Math!

[certainot]

24. we need to make it 4-5 months, and shame US universities that broadcast sports on his and other RW

stations to pull what is basically an endorsement of those stations and the partisan lying, global warming denial, sexism and racism- shit that is totally antithetical to the mission statements of those unis. it needs to start before the elections. a few unis pulling out will start a landslide and draw many local sponsors along with them.

https://sites.google.com/site/universitiesforrushlimbaugh/ is a list of 76 unis that endorse limbaugh and their 24/7 crap on 170+ radio stations.

why the fuck does U WIS stick with 2 limbaugh stations and other RW stations that defend walker all day?

[Amster Dan]

25. K&R

Both to the thread AND the news!

[abrightbart]

29. Leave Rush alone...DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again, the Liberal Media is behind all of this!!!!

[hootinholler]

31. Um why would we leave that oxy addicted child toucher alone?

Oh, you're being sarcastic, right?

[progressoid]

30. I wonder why his numbers dropped?

It's not like his fans/listeners didn't already know this was the real Rush. Were they shocked to hear such things from him? I would think they would appreciate hearing exactly what they expected from him.

[Rozlee]

34. If Armed Forces Radio got rid of him, his numbers would fall quicker.

I never even heard many people listening to him on AFN Iraq when I was in. We'd groove to the music, but when he came on, we'd go for our iPods if we wanted to keep listening to tunes. I was cruising through Wikipedia's entry on Limbaugh once and hooked up to a link to the April 26, 2006 copy of Stars and Stripes titled, "Future Military Radio Menu Could Be More Pop, Less Talk." A majority of young soldiers griped about talk radio and preferred to have music instead.

[cstanleytech]

32. Lets just hope his ratings dont recover and that his show is canceled sooner rather than later. nt

[technotwit]

33. Rush ratings

One thing about Rush's ratings. Typically he would have something between a 6% and 10% share of those 12+ listening to radio. While most markets have dozens of stations, and the market has become so fractionalized that anything above a 3% share looks really good. But what this means is typically between 90 and 94% of the radio listeners in a market are NOT listening to him. And of those listening his demographics skew older.
In one market, conservative, Fall 2010 ratings show Rush with about the following share:
Age Share
12+ 11%
18-24 .7%
25-34 1%
35-44 8%
45-54 7%
55-64 12%
65-74 36%
75+ 41%

So the closer you are to being dead or senile, the more likely you listen to Rush.

[MrMickeysMom]

35. Hey, does that 25-34 year old set buy a lot from radio advertising?

I'm guessing they are an important demographic. They at least don't have shit for brains...

OTOH, The Pat Booners and geezers who have nothing to do but sit and complain might keep buying Gold Foot anus wart powder...

[cosmicone]

36. Stick an apple in that pig's mouth

and get a large oven ready.

[LiberalFighter]

37. It's a big drop in NY for him but bigger outside NY it looks like.

Where are the audiences going? Satellite radio to get away from him? Their IPods to get away from him? FM stations to get away from him? Just turning off the radio to get away from him?

[tularetom]

39. AM radio as a medium is going down the crapper for a lot of reasons

There are many other sources for entertainment, music, news sports etc.

Plus Limbaugh's demographic has one foot in the grave and it isn't being replaced by younger listeners (many of them have deserted AM radio in droves).

Finally, his claims of bazillions of listeners were dubious in the first place and people are just now catching onto that.

Sooner or later republican politicians will realize that the fatass druggie has no audience and stop kissing his ass.

He'll always be around but his show will eventually be like the tree that fell in the forest.