An important thing to remember as we continue to use our free speech rights to speak out against hate radio and its sponsors:
The only ads that matter are the ads that are heard over the air. What airs on a radio station's stream is irrelevant.
Why this matters, and why we're still winning, and how you can help, over the squiggle...
A few years ago, a new national contract with AFTRA, the union that represents most top radio talent, included huge additional fees for commercials that are played over station streams in addition to over the air.
Because of that fee, most radio stations block out their ad content from their streams, replacing it with public service announcements (PSAs), filler music and dead air.
That's what Media Matters was hearing today on WABC, but they were hearing it because they were listening to the stream. Unfortunately, that's not what listeners to WABC over the radio were hearing, and it doesn't mean that Rush has lost all his advertisers...at least not yet.
I have confirmed (it's nice to know people who know people) that the ad breaks on 770 AM were filled with a full complement of local and national advertising, and I really wish I weren't the bearer of that particular bad news. (It did seem almost too good to be true, didn't it?)
But so be it. We have work to do here.
We-are-making-local-station-owners-nervous. Here is one of the industry's best-respected trade newsletters yesterday, quoting an unidentified programmer at a Rush affiliate owned by Clear Channel:
TRI hears that one Clear Channel PD is suggesting Limbaugh go play some golf on a three- or four-day weekend, and let the air clear a little. Rush isn't backing down, and Premiere Networks is of course standing by its man. But this PD says it would be a good thing for Limbaugh to present less of a target, just for a few days. Another talk radio veteran has this thought for TRI – “Local personalities should just drop the whole topic, and quit trying to defend Rush. I heard one show devote a whole hour to the Limbaugh thing, and it’s really not helping.”
This was after Tuesday's show, and Rush has spent two more days digging even deeper holes for himself at the start of each day's show.
The longer we keep the pressure up, the more nervous Rush is getting and the more unforced errors he's making. The more Rush keeps talking about how he's not worried about losing advertisers and affiliates, the more you can tell he's worried about losing advertisers and affiliates.
A lot of station programmers haven't really been paying attention to Rush for a while. Now they're listening, and they're concerned.
Just for instance: KNCO in Grass Valley, California pulled Rush off the air for a day to do an open-lines show and gather listener opinion about whether they should keep the show. WXTK on Cape Cod "is monitoring the show" to hear whether he slips up again.
None of this would have happened a month ago.
Rush is no longer an unquestioned asset to talk stations.
Clear Channel won't admit it publicly, but they're running the numbers to see if Rush's huge contract can still pay for itself. (Hint: if the most prominent national advertisers remaining are Newt's SuperPAC and Hillsdale College, the answer is probably "no.")
Now we need to make sure this new reality sticks.
Here's how to get inside the doors of your local Rush affiliate and get to talk to a station manager, and how to file a license challenge that will get your local station's attention. Again: you'll only be able to identify local advertisers by listening over the air, not to streaming audio. Dust off that AM radio and have at it.
Here's a more detailed explanation of how Rush makes his money and where we can use our free speech to help choke off his revenue stream.
