Can Limbaugh’s Empire Survive?
STAR IS IN TREATMENT, DISSENSION SURFACES AMONG STATIONS
By JOSH GERSTEIN Special to the NY Sun
How long can a “one-man empire” survive without that one man?
As Rush Limbaugh begins a second week absent from the most-listened-to radio show in America, some in the industry are beginning to ask whether Mr. Limbaugh’s program can continue indefinitely without its feisty, liberalskewering host.
On October 10, with tabloid stories swirling around him, Mr. Limbaugh told his listeners that he was addicted to pain pills and that he was checking into a treatment center “to once and for all break the hold this highly addictive medication has on me.” The 52-year-old radio star said he planned to spend 30 days at the treatment facility and that he looked forward to resuming the broadcast.
While Mr. Limbaugh struggles with his personal demons at an undisclosed location, the company that syndicates his program is fighting to keep the franchise intact, or at least to limit the damage. Beyond Mr. Limbaugh’s political power in energizing his conservative listeners, there’s a lot of money at stake. In 2001, Mr. Limbaugh signed a contract that reportedly paid him $285 million to host the program through 2009.
Premiere Radio Networks, a division of radio behemoth Clear Channel Worldwide, has kept the show on the air, enlisting guest hosts to fill in while Mr. Limbaugh is away.
There is no sign a significant part of Mr. Limbaugh’s audience of 20 million has defected, but industry insiders say such a move would take months to detect because of quirks in they way radio programs are rated.
But there are early indications of dissension in the ranks of the nearly 600 stations that carry Mr. Limbaugh’s program.
Soon after Mr. Limbaugh announced his hiatus, WBAL-AM of Baltimore shifted the three-hour show from the afternoon to an overnight time slot.The station extended two locally-produced programs to fill the void.
Thursday, WPRO-AM of Providence, R.I., announced it was hiring comedian Joan Rivers to fill Mr. Limbaugh’s slot beginning this week.
Both moves clearly rankled Premiere, which acted aggressively to reverse the decisions. By Friday, both stations had agreed to return Mr. Limbaugh’s program to its original time, though for the next week WPRO plans to cut away from the show an hour early to go to Ms. Rivers.
“It’s our expectation that all affiliates will continue to clear and carry The Rush Limbaugh Show… according to the terms of their contracts with us,” Premiere’s chief operating officer, Kraig Kitchin, said in a written statement. Mr. Kitchin did not say whether any stations had been offered a financial incentive to keep Mr. Limbaugh’s show on the air.
The two stations at the center of last week’s jockeying did not spell out their concerns in detail, but one factor seemed to be a perception that the fillin hosts were not adequate.
Last week, Premiere tapped Roger Hedgecock, Tom Sullivan, and Walter Williams to fill in for Mr. Limbaugh last week. Mr. Hedgecock and Mr. Sullivan host talk shows on California radio stations owned by Clear Channel. Mr. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Virginia
Mr. Limbaugh is to be replaced today and tomorrow by Mark Belling, who has a talk show at a Clear Channel station in Milwaukee. Syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel host Tony Snow and internet gossip Matt Drudge are set to fill in later in the week.
“After discussions with people from Premiere, we believe Premiere is working hard to add marquee names as guests and hosts while Rush is out,” Jeffrey Beauchamp, the station manager at WBAL, said in a statement distributed by Premiere. Mr. Beauchamp initially agreed to be interviewed for this story, but later failed to return numerous phone calls from a reporter.
A spokesman for Premiere, Michael Sitrick, told The New York Sun that a handful advertisers on Mr. Limbaugh’s show have “asked to be put on hold” until Mr. Limbaugh returns. Mr. Sitrick stressed that all of those were ads that Mr. Limbaugh read personally.“Nobody has cancelled,” Mr. Sitrick said.
While Premiere is publicly projecting an air of confidence about the program, it is also working to head off further trouble.
An message on the show’s Web site tells fans,“There is a way you can help.”
“While Rush is away, stay tuned to your local affiliate radio station, listen, and participate as always.....Tell them you’re listening,” the Web site says. Listeners are also encouraged to send an email to advertisers urging them to stay on board.
On Thursday’s program, David Limbaugh said his brother was eager to have his fans stick with the show.
“It means a lot to him that they will continue to listen during his absence,” David Limbaugh said.“We want to keep this family together.”
Radio industry analysts say that if Mr. Limbaugh returns in early November as he suggested, the damage to his program will be minimal.
“It’ll come out even at worst,” said Michael Harrison, editor of the Springfield, Mass.-based Talkers Magazine, which covers the talk radio business. “You will not see millions of people abandon the show,” he predicted.
Liberal critics of Mr. Limbaugh have painted him as a hypocrite, noting various unsympathetic comments he has made about drug users over the years. But Mr. Harrison said those arguments won’t sway many of the show’s fans.
“I don’t think he’s going to lose his audience because people think he’s a hypocrite. I don’t think his audience is buying into that,” Mr. Harrison said.
A longtime radio industry analyst and consultant based in Nashville, Tenn., Robert Unmacht, had a similar view.
“He has a cult who will follow him whether he does good things or bad things,”Mr.Unmacht said.“Chances are good it won’t hurt him at all.”
Mr. Unmacht said that Mr. Limbaugh also stands to benefit from the fact that his program faces different competitors in each market and that it rarely goes head-to-head against another conservative talk show.
“There’s nothing really for you to switch to,” he said. “There’s no heir apparent.”
Mr.Unmacht said that during past absences Mr. Limbaugh deliberately selected “good but not supergood substitute hosts” in order to prevent such a challenger from emerging.
Mr. Harrison said he’s been counseling those who could benefit from Mr. Limbaugh’s professional demise to keep a low profile. “A lot of people are calling saying we don’t want to appear to be a vulture,” he said.
However, the experts cautioned that if Mr. Limbaugh’s hiatus begins to stretch beyond a month, the program’s future will be in jeopardy.Even if he can overcome his addiction, he could still face legal charges in Florida, where his former maid alleges she helped him procure thousands of pain pills illegally.
“We don’t know what legal problems he faces,” Mr. Harrison said. “That’s a whole issue that’s under the surface.”
Mr.Limbaugh has acknowledged that an investigation is underway. Miamibased criminal defense attorney Roy Black has said he has been in contact with prosecutors on Mr. Limbaugh’s behalf. Friends say the show is produced with a small staff.
Mr. Unmacht said those who would like to lay claim to Mr. Limbaugh’s listeners cannot be held at bay indefinitely.
“If this were to go to six months or a year, I’d say there’s a definite threat others would move in on it,” Mr. Unmacht said.
If Mr. Limbaugh does return on time, all the publicity could actually be a boon to the show.“When he comes back, it will be huge. Everyone will want to hear what he’ll say about his adventure,” Mr. Harrison said.“He has the opportunity to come back stronger than ever.”
In recent years, Mr. Limbaugh has usually hosted his program from Palm Beach, Fla., where he lives, though he still maintains a studio in New York.
In a press release last summer marking the 15th anniversary of Mr. Limbaugh's program, Premiere touted his show as "radio's most lucrative three hours." The network also referred to him as a "colossus" atop a "one-man empire" than spans broadcasting, publishing and the Internet.
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