There Is A Way To End Rush's Career - And It Is Far Past Time To Do It

[JFN1]

Find out which radio station(s) in your area broadcasting his show - then email/call the station, let them know about Rush's hateful and racist comments, and inform them you will be calling all of the advertisers the station has (not only during Rush's show) and tell them the boycott starts NOW - until they stop supporting the station(s) that supports Rush.

Rush's audience is not only in big cities - its also in small regions and rural areas. These are usually radio stations that cannot afford bad publicity, and they cannot afford to lose advertisers, either. They don't pay for Rush's show - he gives it to the radio stations for free. The stations make money by selling ad time during the show - and of course, so does fuckstick.

We need to start hitting back where Rush lives - I am so sick of doing nothing while this gas-barge spews garbage daily. I will be calling radio stations in my area starting tomorrow.

To find stations in your area that carry the slimebag's show, I'm afraid you'll have to go to the puke's website for it (I will never link to his site). The mighty lawyers of Clear Channel apparently slay anyone who publishes the total list of crapmouth's stations, as I could not find it anywhere, except on the monster's own website.

But please - let's get to work on this shitbag worm. This latest hate-fest of his is so far beyond the pale, I have no words.

If we keep our silence, if we depend only on the cathartic outrage of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow to see us through, we'll never be rid of him, and he'll continue to fester and harm us all.

[cbdo2007]

1. You are wasting your time.

Really, we can't even get people on DU to stop listening to Rush everyday which would do the most damage. People hate him so much they have to listen so that they can be outraged by whatever he says next.

[JFN1]

2. As opposed to what?

Doing nothing?

[cbdo2007]

3. The only thing that will hurt him is if people stop listening.

You can call all you want to the radio station but they're going to keep him on the air as long as he still gets good ratings. He'll still get good ratings as long as people who hate him tune in every day for the sole purpose of getting mad at what he says, when he only says them so that they'll get mad at him. The more people on DU listen and comment and talk about what he says and spread his hate message, all it does is validate him and his stupid viewpoint.

[jobycom]

5. A lot of truth in that. The way radio works is

that radio stations pay for shows that will draw audiences, expecting those audiences to be large enough to draw advertisers. They don't care why people are listening, as long as they are. They don't even care why people are talking about them, as long as they are.

People think that the radio station is the vendor, the radio show is the product, and the listener is the customer, but that's not true. The listener doesn't pay the radio station anything. The radio station is the vendor. The listener is the product. The customer is the advertiser. The radio station sells audience size to the advertiser. The program is just the material used to create the merchandise.

The more people listening, the more merchandise they've created to sell to advertisers. Anyone listening to Rush just to report on how despicable he is is doing more to keep him on the air than to take him off.

[Anakin Skywalker]

12. You Are Correct!

[Common Sense Party]

Except that I don't believe the "radio stations pay for shows".

I believe the shows are free to the station, but certain national ads MUST be played, and the local station gets to fill the other ad time with local adverts, which is the only way they make their $$$.

[PSPS]

6. HA! Ain't that the truth

For many years it has amazed me how up in arms people are about "what so-and-so said on the radio" or "on the TEE VEE." It's all about ratings, of course. If people stopped listening/watching, all of these shows would go the way of the TV western, once a reliable staple on every television network. I've never bought the excuse, "but I HAVE to listen to see what they're up to!!11!!" I never listen to or watch them, and I tell my relatives, who occasionally call me hyperventilating about the latest "outrageous" thing they've heard/seen, that they need to just turn off the damn thing.

These "boycotts" are really free advertising for a program. They generate more interest. In fact, stations will issue press releases to make sure the "boycott" is known about far and wide. It will generate more interest, attract more people to listen, and allow them to charge more for the spots. Besides, advertisers rarely choose the show their ad runs on anyway. Spots are sold through agencies by listerership and demo, not by individual show or even station. So a station will just swap one spot for another, charge more for the spot on the "boycotted" show and the station will make more money.

So, as you say, the only way to make any show "go away" is to just stop tuning in.

[cbdo2007]

7. I do have a few family members that listen occasionally....and when they mention

something he said to me, I say everytime, "Great thanks, I was wondering what the comedians were saying about that issue."

They don't really have a response to me and they just shut up about it.

The problem with people on DU is that they think Rush is opening up a debate with them on his show each day. He isn't, he knows that he is getting people worked up and is purposely saying the most crazy, outlandish things he can think of to make people mad and any idiot here who listens to him is putting money in his pockets.

I promise everyone here....if everyone on DU stopped listening and nobody mentioned Rush for an entire week and Olberman and Maddow and whoever else out there, if they all stopped mentioning him, he would go away.

[Bigmack]

8. Somebody said that to me a couple of years ago....

"Rush said....." and I interrupted and said in an only-slightly-louder-than conversational-level "Who cares what that pigfucker says."

Ten or twelve people around.... social situation... mixed gender and age...

Loooooong silence.

I have to admit, I'd been practicing.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Bingo! Ignoring them is the best idea. Don't even admit...

Limbaugh and his ilk exist. Letter writing, phone calls, emails, boycotts, demonstrations, and all the rest of the "activist toolkit" merely bring attention to them.

The worst nightmare of any radio show is if NOBODY wrote or called about it.

(You might, however, casually mention that you don't go to your favorite restaurant any more since they started advertising on his show.)

[Luminous Animal]

19. While millions ignore, millions listen. Rush has never been exposed

for the piece of shit that he is. Ignoring him will not work. He gains more legitimacy if he toxic ideas garner little challenge.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. Bullshit!Al Franken wrote a book about him, dozens, if not hundreds, of...

websites and newsletters trash him on a regular basis and still he sits there. Exposed he's been, but who cares?

Millions may listen, but those millions don't count for shit-- they are the useless and brain dead and there's no way to reach them. Reaching them wouldn't do much good anyway.

Nope, keep his name OUT of any legitimate media and the public eye and just let his minions rot in their own juices.

[Marr]

10. How would it damage Limbaugh if DUer's stopped listening to him?

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. You don't really understand how ratings work, do you?

Sad.

[Luminous Animal]

18. That's right. Give up before you start. Yay America!

[jobycom]

4. Not that I am saying don't do it--by all means, let's do it--but you do know

that we've been doing that since before there was a DU, right? And after there was a DU. There have been web sites devoted to that.

It's had some successes. We've managed to get a few corporate sponsors to shift their advertising away from his program and to other programs on the same stations, so it gives the appearance of us having won something.

The bottom line, though--the real reason Rush is on the air and is very rich--is that his advertisers don't care about our opinions. They care about Rush's opinion. They like the fact that he is a four hour a day infomercial for the party most likely to give them tax cuts and free rides. That's what they pay for.

I'm all for blasting his sorry ass (even if he didn't say what a certain thread on DU is claiming he said, he's still despicable) any chance we get, and reminding advertisers that they are supporting a hate filled bigot. Fire up the circuits and let's get calling. I'm just pointing out that it isn't laziness or lack of effort on our parts that has left him on the air so long.

[rhett o rick]

9. I appreciate your enthusisiam, however, the stations dont care what we think.

The make their money on the rubes, the gullibles, the teabaggers. If it was them complaining, then things might happen. But if we complain, the stations will know that Rush is hitting the grove.

[sofa king]

11. I wish you luck.

I spent awhile looking into Limbaugh and wondering why he's so successful when he is personally and professionally bereft of virtue.

It turns out, it has nothing to do with him except his self-promoting skills. It's his followers, the would-be Nazis of America who comprise 23% of the population.

They're impervious to logic and reasoning, because they don't understand such things. Everything they "know" is taken from authorities they trust, like Rush. Worse, when Rush lies and liberals like me refute those lies, right-wing authoritarians are more likely to believe the lie than if they weren't told the truth at all.

They're intensely loyal, both at the ballot box and when it comes time to listen to the radio. And, they represent by far the largest and most consistent listening audience for many stations, especially the poor rural ones on the AM dial. All Rush has to do is mention the name of an advertised product and the little lemmings march out to buy it (remember the Great Duct Tape Shortage of 2002?), so his show commands excellent ad rates. Aside from Rush's emulators, there isn't another type of programming out there that can command such a loyal and well-trained audience. So I think you'll have to try burning off some of that audience before you move in for the coup de grace.

Lately I've been wondering if the right-wing authoritarians' propensity to gravitate toward disinformation might be exploited, not by refuting the things Rush says, but by endorsing them.

If Harry Reid came out and agreed with Rush on the smallest points several times a week, I think that Rush's credibility would suffer for it, as the inconsistency would sit poorly with the black-and-white RWAs. RWAs aren't terribly good at spotting sarcasm, either, so a clever speaker might be able to both ridicule (in the eyes of those who hate him) and undermine (in the eyes of those who love him) Rush at the same time by paying him back-handed compliments.

[Cleita]

13. There have been people who have tried to over and over again since

he first emerged on the public scene. The fact is, he has a right to say what he wants. The fact is he appeals to the racism, homophobia and misogynism that is a disease in this country. End those three problems and you will end Rush's career.

[Bozita]

14. Is that anal cyst-laden sonofabitch still on Armed Forces Radio? Or did Bushco give him a lifetime..

... contract?

[Born_A_Truman]

17. Premiere Radio Networks Advertising Info

Give these people your opinion of Rush. Won't help, but they deserve to know what an asshole they are selling:

Carol Terakawa
EVP of Sales
818-461-8097
[e-mail]

Michael Soifer
Director of New Business (All New Advertising Inquiries)
312-266-3873
[e-mail]

Dan Metter
SVP/Director of Talk Radio Sales
212-445-3926
[e-mail]

Alex Fenech
SVP Southeast Region; Atlanta Sales Office
404-870-5071
[e-mail]

Doug Johnston
VP Central Region; Chicago Sales Office
312-266-3880
[e-mail]

Rhonda Scheidel
EVP Southwest Region; Dallas Sales Office
972-239-6220
[e-mail]

Doug Johnston
VP Central Region; Detroit Sales Office
312-266-3880
[e-mail]

Jason Wilberding
VP Western Region; Los Angeles Sales Office
818-461-8604
[e-mail]

Cathie Mongarella
SVP Northeast; New York Sales Office
212-445-3970
[e-mail]

Ed Rivera
VP of Sales; New York Sales Office
212-445-3971
[e-mail]

[apocalypsehow]

20. "And those three hours pay for my other twenty-one - like, fifty times over..."

Sorry, but the only way Rush Limbaugh is going off the air is if his enormous, by AM & satellite radio standards, audience stops listening.