News Of Rush Limbaugh & Sean Hannity Demise Seems Premature

Politico had progressives positively jazzed yesterday with news that Cumulus Media, the second-biggest operator of radio stations in America is planning to drop Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, too. Cumulus carries Limbaugh, who famously inflamed large numbers of American women with his sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke, on over 40 stations, including WABC in New York.

Entertainment Weekly says not so fast!

In August 2012 Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey attributed Limbaugh’s calling Sandra Fluke a slut for wanting access to birth control a major reason why Cumulus’s top three stations lost $5.5 million in a boycott of Laimbaugh’s advertisers. AOC played a significant role in organizing that boycott.

Cumulus has another earnings call scheduled for today. See June 2013 results. The company was founded as a platform for social conservative talk. Limbaugh and Hannity’s reps argue that the problem with (not) falling revenues is company management.

We never understood why a company like PRO Flowers was advertising on Rush Limbaugh in the first place. Do these guys really send flowers frequently?

In 2009 Pew Research profiled Rush Limbaugh as the most conservative, male-dominated audience in media. Fully 72% of those who said they regularly listen to Limbaugh were men while just 28% were women.

As expected, there’s strong support for the National Rifle Association - 76% - among Limbaugh’s listeners vs. 13% for New York Times readers.

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Is Limbaugh really helping the Republican party?

Gallup tracks political affiliation monthly by Republicans, Independents and Democrats. Gallup also asks Independents — about 40% of survey — which way they are leaning. The numbers are not good for Republicans. View larger.