Clear Channel and Rush are leaving commercial talk radio.

I ask this question on your behalf:  "What's happening with Rush and conservative talk radio?"  You may not be aware of this fact,  but Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and others are a part of Clear Channel.  As of January the first,  Clear Channel has pulled these shows from conservative talk radio.  Apparently there is a move to concentrate more on "pay per view," than commercial programing.  Here are a few requisite facts. 

I begin with this: 

Limbaugh’s  much touted “22 million” audience is,  in reality,  a daily  assembly of 4.5 million [at best] people  times 5 days per week.    The truth has Rush’s listening audience  of regular or repeat listeners, at or around  15 million per week,  before the Sandra Fluke issue.  The 22 million estimate,  may have been true,  years ago,  but no so much in the last fives  . . . . . .  in my opinion (and I am a fan). 

Understand that at the time of “Sandra Fluke” {March of 2012],  Rush was making claim to 22 million listeners.  I listen(ed)  to Rush nearly every morning during his first hour.  In the last week of December,  2012,  surprisingly,  he pitched his audience at "15 million" per week  -  a number that matches up well with my guesstimate (above).

If this is a true picture,  Rush talks to 2.5 to  3 million folks per day,  no more than  half of which are daily or regular listeners.   

And now,  as of January 1, 2013,  Clear Channel,  the carrier of Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck,  is in the process of leaving local/commercial radio in the lurch.  

I live in the Central San Joaquin Valley of California . . . . near Fresno.  KMJ is the local radio station of choice,  and may be the largest conservative/Limbaugh audience in the nation,  certainly in the top three.  

Beginning with the first of the year,  KMJ lost its top three programs,  Limbaugh,  Beck and Hannity.  The loss is at no fault of KMJ,  and the transition/exodus  of the "big three"   was made without a single word coming from any of the three radio talk show hosts . . . . . . . not a word.  

Personally,  I have been a fan of all three and am very disappointed that each has decided to play the game,  as it were,  pretending that all is well while being a part of a larger cabal that has abandoned commercial radio  . . . . and,   after we all fought those battles with regards to the “fairness doctrine” and the treachery embedded in that Leftist scam.  

  

As it turns out,  Rush was never as big as he said he was,  but he was and is more popular than anyone else on talk  (a point we should not forget).  

Understand that all things are cyclical,  even life to death and back to life again,  if you  “believer”  as I am.   

Part of Rush’s problem is that he has been around since 1988.  He simply cannot last forever.  In fact,  it is almost shocking,  to my way of thinking,  that he has remained as strong a force as he has,  for all of this time.  What happens, now,  that his audience will be cut in half,   remains a mystery.  Are we talking about a daily “per per view” audience,  nationwide, of one million or less?  If so,  I cannot imagine his show continuing,  or Sean Hannity’s for that matter.  

Glenn Beck has a different future.  He was driven off Fox because of a Media Matters boycott,  two/three years ago.  Since that time,  he has had some real success in developing is own network.  Pretty impressive,  in my opinion. 

Glenn has his own network.  Sean has Fox and his declining radio show.  And Rush just has his declining radio show.  I would think his days of $38 million per year,  are over.  I respect Limbaugh.  He has done more for the conservative movement than most,  but times are changing and he is moving on without a word to his base.  Very disappointing. 

Now,  before closing this post to glee of the libs who frequent this blog,  I should point to the compartative health of talk radio.  

Conservative talk owns 388 stations,  nation wide,  while commercial/Progressive talk has 38 stations.  (Source:  Streamingaudioguide.com )

While conservative talk has lost a little steam,  Progress talk never had any "steam" to begin with,  just hot air.  

Changes are coming in the way we express ourselves as conservatives.  Could be exciting.