Not sure what that complaint is about. People are completely free to post positive comments if they wish about Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. It’s clear that they are not choosing to do so. That doesn’t mean they don’t have freedom of speech. It means they are exercising it in a manner that pat ange doesn’t agree with.

BTW Limbaugh’s desperate announcement last week about his new deal with Cumulus is revealing in a way he did not intend. Limbaugh was trying to spin his situation as yet another victory lap for himself, in that his agent has negotiated a new 3 year deal for himself with almost all of his stations. Although he admitted he’s being taken off the air on his key New York station and is being forced to retreat to WOR. Here’s the thing. Back in his heyday, Limbaugh would not have needed this extra time to negotiate what would have been a slam-dunk deal. They simply would have re-upped him and given him his usual raises, etc. This time, Cumulus dumped Hannity and played a lot harder against Limbaugh’s agent. So our point here stands – the bloom is off the rose for Limbaugh. He’s not going away this year or next, but he’s slowly spinning downward.

From Lakeview Greg’s comment:

“If they get booted from their outlet in Chicago, WLS-AM, the 50,000 watt blowtorch as they used to describe themselves, they might end up on the other con radio WIND. Now whether their fans can actually find that station or not is an open question.”

Actually Lakeview Greg, their fans will produce and pass WIND by eating more beans!

;^)

On the outside, radio talk show hosts will say everything is fine. On the inside, they are panicking.

Radio is a business that is dependent on ad revenue. When ad revenue decreases, stations and carriers of shows must cut costs to stay afloat.

Clear Channel is no stranger to cutting staff at varies stations across the country. They even cut sales staff to reduce costs.

Talkers have no control over ad sales. Advertisers decide which show to place their products. If a show is too controversial they have the right to pull their product off the air. Rusty the Radio Clown and Hannocchio the RINO are powerless to stop the ad bleeding.

Advertisers are targeting the internet. It’s less expensive and they can target a larger audience.

Two things that kill a radio show. (1) No advertisers (2) low ratings

NOTE TO ALAN

We never said these two were going away. You and I both know radio is changing especially with the popularity of digital media. Social media is wooing advertisers for less money. Talk radio today has more competition with social media and websites offering low cost or free ads. Money talks

Yikes, didn’t realize Beckie had a radio show on the WIND…those two would be a perfect fit at the station that seems to want to marginalize themselves. Take a gander at their schedule…

http://www.560wind.com/page.php?page_id=171

If they get booted from their outlet in Chicago, WLS-AM, the 50,000 watt blowtorch as they used to describe themselves, they might end up on the other con radio WIND. Now whether their fans can actually find that station or not is an open question.

During his years with Sean I always felt that Alan did great job against Sean considering that Sean and his producers had control of the show where each issue was framed where Sean always got to play offense while Alan had to play defense each day.

There were those days were I was unhappy with his performance, but overall he made lemonade with the lemon that Fox gave him. I rarely watch the show now that Sean has gone solo and instead enjoy watching Rachel on MSNBC when I’m not watching a sporting event.

I do think, however, that Rush Limbaugh has definitely lost some of his luster, as has Sean Hannity. Ten years ago, these guys were enjoying the peak of their influence, with a president like Bush and the Dems on the run. Nowadays, it seems like both of these guys are struggling to find any relevance. Limbaugh can’t seem to go very long without saying something so outrageous that he alienates more and more of his own sponsors and listeners. It used to be that events like his vicious attacks on Michael J. Fox or on Iraq veterans who protested were here and there ideas. Nowadays, he seems to be getting more desperate and more frantic. The Sandra Fluke situation was a disaster for him, whether he wishes to publicly admit that or not. He lost a large number of his sponsors, including key players, and this was specifically due to the hatefulness of his comments. That wasn’t a boycott, that was the sponsors finding Rush too repellent to continue to back. And lately we just had his shockingly racist comments about how we haven’t had a good riot in a while. I see comments like that as symptomatic of a man who has lost ground and is frantically trying to say the most outrageous things he can to get it back. Is he out of the game entirely? No, but this isn’t 1993 or 2001. He’ll just continue a slow descent and the country will spin on, with or without him.

I really do hope that Ellen puts up some kind of analysis of Limbaugh’s shocking appearance on Greta van Susteren’s show. I didn’t notice any point where she challenged him on his racist and sexist comments, in the manner she would normally do with anyone else. I didn’t notice her challenging him on his brazen attempts to rewrite history about the 1995 government shutdowns. If anything, I suppose it could be argued that she just gave him enough room to make a fool of himself, but it seemed to me that she was either agreeing with him or holding his tongue.

I also have to wonder with Alan Colmes, who definitely became a bit more assertive after he got out of the Hannity box, why he never challenged Hannity on his outrageous comments. Many of us on the left arrived at the conclusion that he simply wasn’t a very strong personality and he didn’t have much of a command over the facts and the issues – which is of course why Fox News put him there. I would have loved to see Sean Hannity forced to debate an Amy Goodman or a Larry Bensky or a Jeff Cohen. But sadly, we’ll never get that opportunity.

I agree that trying to boycott someone off the air is a bad idea whether it’s coming from the left or the right. That’s why I disagreed when Bill O’Reilly encouraged boycotts in the past. (That is, before he denied he had done so…)

I think Alan makes a valid point. As long as there are ignorant racist hatemongers out there in Teabagger Land, there will be a radio market for OxyRush Limpballs, KKKlannity and other AM hate radio jocks who pander to prejudice and stupidity.

I never thought it meant the end for Rush and Sean’s radio careers. I understood what the reality was to this deal.

Many of my liberal friends disagree with me and my conservative friends think I’m bluffing and play a game of reverse psychology with them when I tell them that Rush, Sean and the exposure that is provided to the Rush wantabes across the country while Fox News endless programming of demonizing the left has been a great help to the Democratic Party. It has unified us, shows the differences of what each party represents, and reminded us the importance of voting. Not to mention how cartoonish the right has become.

Colmes makes a persuasive case.