Limbaugh's Dirty Little Secret of Radio "Success"

[KoKo]

Limbaugh's Dirty Little Secret of Radio "Success"
Bill Mann

TV-Radio critic, www.dcweasels.comPosted April 12, 2009 | 04:22 PM (EST)

Ever wonder why Rush "Boss" Limbaugh's 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" Limbaugh's bloviations are often the only thing you can pick up on a car radio. Hey, that's what CD players are for.

Did Rush accrue hundreds of local radio affiliates across the country because his political views are mainstream? That's 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.

-snip-

It's because -- ready for this? -- Rush's 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 Wolff's first-rate recent piece on Rush in Vanity Fair).

Here's how a barter deal works: To launch the show, Limbaugh's syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks -- the same folks who syndicate wingnut du jour Glen Beck -- gave Limbaugh's three hours away -- that's right, no cash -- to local radio stations, mostly in medium and smaller markets, back in the early 1990's.

So, a local talk station got Rush's show for zilch. In exchange, Premiere took for itself much of the local station's 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.

It's 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 that's 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, isn't 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 Francisco's KSFO-AM ("Reichstag Radio") have to pay actual money, of course, to carry Boss Limbaugh's 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).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mann/limbaughs-dirty-little-se_b_185965.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Does this enter upon violation of antitrust laws and unfair competition?

[onenote]

4. no, Barter deals are and have been common in the radio industry for years

As others have pointed out, the show isn't "free" -- its provided in exchange for advertising time.

[Tace]

2. Dirty LIttle Secret?

"Barter deals" don't involve radio stations getting programming for "free." They agree to run the national ads in exchange for running the show on their local station.

I'm no fan of El Rushbo, but there's nothing necessarily untoward about so-called "barter deals."

[anigbrowl]

6. Quite so. I work on a (non-political) tv show that operates this way.

It's a lot simpler to find advertisers and sell slots to them in your program content and then present the station with a done deal than to beg the station to air your show and have them start from zero in finding advertisers for the time slot.

Sure, Rush makes a big deal of how popular he is and so on, but the fact is that radio and TV have always made use of this business model. It's very rare for a local show to go national and then be syndicated just because it's so allfired good.

[Froward69]

3. Denver has two

("Reichstag Radio") stations KOA and KLZ both AM (yes three call letters as they are the oldest in the state.) although KOA used to be both sides of the political spectrum regan changed that. KLZ was country, then the evangelicals got a hold of it.. now it is "the light" I monitor both of them from time to time... like monitoring enemy propaganda broadcasts. Luckily "760 progressive radio" is between them.

("Reichstag Radio") I love it!!! a new way to describe both.

[KoKo]

5. Here in NC it seems Limpballs is on 24/7...only interrupted by Religious Radio

with sermons and music and some Local RW "fill ins."

I had to get Satellite radio to survive...but then that's now hit the crapper too. I really wish I could just survive on my I-Pod collection...but sadly, in these dark times, just listening to my Favorites from Past...sort of seems hollow...:-(