Rush Limbaugh is in trouble. Two days ago he didn't have a single unpaid public service announcement on his flagship show on WABC in NYC. Yesterday, 56% of his ads in NYC were unpaid PSAs. Today, 90% were unpaid PSAs, and the show included three occurrences of 'dead air'.
Here's a breakdown with the help of Media Matters' data:
86 ads aired today on Limbaugh's show on WABC in NYC
Assuming that Netflix and Constant Contact are telling the truth, that is a total shut-out. Rush has lost almost all of his paid advertisers on his flagship WABC show, at least judging by today's line up. His only remaining sponsor is The Small Business Authority which is currently locked into a year-long sponsorship deal with WABC.
The unpaid spots were all obtained from the Ad Council and all a broadcaster needs to run them is to register for an account.The AHA has already asked Limbaugh to drop their ads. A boycott is definitely working when even the unpaid advertisers are heading for the exits.
Right now, Limbaugh is too radioactive even for the scam artists. This is probably a smart move on their party as the last thing a company with a shady history wants is to attract attention. Lifelock came out in Limbaugh's support but seem to have thought better of it after people started to mention that $12 million settlement they just made with the FTC for deceptive advertising.
For all his communications skill, Limbaugh is an entertainer. And as Michael Vick found, advertisers don't want to associate with entertainers who have turned themselves into public figures of hate.
