It’s a beautiful thing to watch the large voice of everyday people cause the walls of extreme right-wing political/media corporations to come tumbling down. That is just what America has been witnessing for the last four years, ever since Republican talk show host Rush Limbaugh crossed one too many lines.
In 2012, StopRush, FlushRush, and BoycottRush along with people and petitions began to move in hard with a new weapon called “social media.” Along with liberal media, millions of people were reached and were suddenly exposed to the public radio parade of racism, homophobia, misogyny and bigotry via Rush Limbaugh and the Hate Radio. We have watched the slow and steady demise of two mighty media organizations, iHeart (formerly Clear Channel) and now Cumulus who have both supported Limbaugh and his ilk by carrying the extreme FOX propaganda shows on hundreds of radio stations throughout the country.
Both radio networks have had ample chances to make amends to concerned consumers, but chose not only to ignore the people’s outrage and outcries, the two mega companies laughed and spit on the people. They saw no threat in a bunch of Facebook and Twitter users. And that was the beginning of their big fail, as that “bunch” has grown to hundreds of progressive organizations and hundreds of thousands of people taking action by signing petitions, forming groups, contacting sponsors and boycotting companies who continued to advertise with the likes of Limbaugh. The result has been a dramatic decrease in advertising revenue. When hundreds of companies like McDonald’s, Yahoo, Wal-mart, Ford and General Motors pull ads, the stations are going to take a massive hit. And they did. But iHeart and Cumulus refused to listen.
Cut to the present — iHeart (formerly Clear Channel) has accrued $20 billion in debt and is facing bankruptcy. Now, Cumulus’ stock has fallen from $8.00 to $.46 (to date) over the last few years. Earlier this year, Cumulus reported a loss of over half a billion dollars in 2015, along with continuous Wall Street downgrades. Moody's just downgraded Cumulus again. Last week, All ACCESS reported:
CUMULUS MEDIA was negotiating with some of its creditors to swap some of its notes for revolving debt and equity. The company said that it has entered non-disclosure agreements with some holders of its 7.75% Senior Notes due 2019 so it can talk with them about a potential swap of the notes for up to 42.5% of the principal amount of each note in certificates for a trust that would hold a participation in CUMULUS's $200 million revolving credit facility... The move didn't impress MOODY'S INVESTOR SERVICE, which has downgraded CUMULUS MEDIA INC.'s Corporate Family Rating to "Caa1" from "B3" and Probability of Default Rating to "Caa1-PD" from "B3-PD."
The Wall Street Investor Service expanded on their reason for the downgrades:
"CUMULUS' Caa1 Corporate Family Rating reflects the company's excessive leverage with debt-to-EBITDA exceeding 9.5x (including MOODY'S standard adjustments) and MOODY'S revised expectation that debt-to-EBITDA will remain elevated over the next 12 months due to continued declines in network revenue and increased operating expenses more than offsetting the benefits from an expected increase in station group revenue and political ad sales in 2016.
The people warned they would take action and not do business with the sponsors of Hate Radio and they meant it. Most sponsors listened and thousands left over time, yet iHeart and Cumulous chose ignore the departures and look at the bad press as “good press.” But sometimes bad press really is bad press. Not only did iHeart and Clear Channel receive bad press, they began to receive bad earnings and 52-week lows that continue to go lower.
Are the hate media boycotts, protests, and petitions the direct cause the slow destruction of iHeart and Cumulus? No. They had the help of CEOs Bob Pittman (iHeart) and Lew Dickey (Cumulus) who made horrible decisions. Now, with sponsors and industries running from discrimination laws, Hate Media, and the creation of Donald Trump, there is the sweet sound of karma in the air. On second thought, that’s not Karma. That’s the sound and voice of ‘The People.’
To join in the movement against hate media, here are some ways:
Sign: Petition To Limbaugh Sponsors, iHeart & Cumulus
Visit/Like: BoycottRush Facebook Group
Join: The Fight To Flush Rush Facebook Group
Use: The StopRush Extensive Sponsor Database
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi
Thank you, Kossack Richard Myers. Rest in peace. We will finish this.