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In reply to the discussion: Personally, I find the regular, intense defense on DU of third-rate pundits, [View all]diva77
(7,880 posts)under Reagan, wingnuts had a strategy in place that led to the extinction of local radio hosts, wiping out a broad spectrum of perspectives...
Limbaughs Dirty Little Secret of Radio Success
By Bill Mann
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mann/limbaughs-dirty-little-se_b_185965.html
SNIP...Ever wonder why Rush Boss Limbaughs syndicated radio show is all over the place like the proverbial cheap suit?
If you do much driving in rural areas e.g. between cities Boss Limbaughs bloviations are often the only thing you can pick up on a car radio. Hey, thats what CD players are for.
Did Rush accrue hundreds of local radio affiliates across the country because his political views are mainstream? Thats obviously not it. OK, so why IS his show so popular? Why do hundreds of stations around the country carry his show, the most widely syndicated talkfest in the country?
Glad you asked.
The real story is not generally well-known. The only reason I know is through my covering the business of radio for years for several major daily newspapers and also, for industry trade magazines like Radio World.
Its because ready for this? Rushs show was, and presumably still is, given away for free to many local radio stations.
This shocker is because of a little-known practice in broadcast syndication called a barter deal. (Barter deals were briefly mentioned in Michael Wolffs first-rate recent piece on Rush in Vanity Fair).
Heres how a barter deal works: To launch the show, Limbaughs syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks the same folks who syndicate wingnut du jour Glen Beck gave Limbaughs three hours away thats right, no cash to local radio stations, mostly in medium and smaller markets, back in the early 1990s.
So, a local talk station got Rushs show for zilch. In exchange, Premiere took for itself much of the local stations available advertising time (roughly 15 minutes an hour) and packed the show with national ads it had already pre-sold.
Think Gold Bond Medicated Powder.
Its a very sweet deal for local radio station owners, explained Bill Exline a respected radio broker (he helped people buy and sell local stations). Not only does the local station get three hours of free programming, Exline explained, but thats one less local talk-show host on staff they need. It makes small- and medium-market radio properties more profitable and attractive by cutting down staff expenses.
Shocking, isnt it, that Limbaugh would allow jobs to be cut to advance his dubious career? Not to mention helping to make small radio stations far less local?
Major-market right-wing talk stations, like San Franciscos KSFO-AM (Reichstag Radio) have to pay actual money, of course, to carry Boss Limbaughs daily proclamation-a-thon. (Note: KSFO, which I referred to as Sieg Heil on Your Dial in my column when it first switched to righty talk, is the same station that gave hatemonger Michael Savage his first radio megaphone).
Radio sources say that small- and medium-market stations still get Limbaughs show for free, or pay only a token amount of cash for it. I asked Michael Harrison, editor of radio-syndicator-friendly Talkers magazine about this, and he claimed he didnt know how many Limbaugh affiliates still barter...SNIP