Free For All - The Free Liberal Blog: Rush's Deal

August 2008

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Rush Limbaugh renegotiated his contract, earning some 84 million dollars a year. Assuming a three hour show per day, five days a week, that amounts to about $1000 per hour (or $1500 for a two hour show). Given the fact that his rabid listeners also rabidly support his sponsors, this is a sweet deal for his sponsors.

The left (myself included) bemoans the lack of a competing program. Air America never caught on. Listening to it, this is not a shock - most of it is pretty bad as satire goes - then again, Rush's contribution to the nation's intellectual life is not what I would call extreme either. Having listened on occassion and examined one or two of his books more closely, the thing that strikes me about Rush is that the lack of conent - to wit - in a book called "The Way Things Ought to Be" never really says anything about how things should be. Rush does not seem to have a policy agenda. Then again, given his credentials, I wouldn't expect him to. He is not a wonk - he is a cultural commentator.

The reason liberals don't have a competing show is that their audience does not really go for that media. Liberals blog (as do conservatives). More importantly, the liberal audiance watches television.

The comparision of Rush to Randi Rhodes is therefore invalid. The real comparison is Rush Limbaugh to John Stewart. Liberals, it seems, watch television. Radio, not so much. When talking Liberal TV, of course, the biggest gun to the biggest gun is not Limbaugh to Stewart - but Limbaugh to Oprah.

Oprah could buy Limbaugh. LImbaugh is a court jester. Oprah is queen - and unlike Rush - her candidate in the primaries won - and she can claim some of the credit in bringing her audience to him.

Comments

I see Oprah as the left-wing Rush Limbaugh. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Oprah popularized and revolution the tabloid talk show genre which was pioneered by Donahue, and turned it into a huge industry. According to the book FREAKS TALK BACK by Yale sociologist Joshua Gamson, this trashy talk show trend of the 1980s and 90s did more to make gays mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century; Oprah largely abandoned her trashy roots in 1995 and spent the next 13 years secularizing spirituality and promoting literature that encourages sympathy for oppressed groups.

Rush Limbaugh has been doing the same thing but in the opposite political direction. He popularized and revolutionized right-wing talk shows and turned them into a giant industry. He has spent years preaching disdain for the culture of victimization (calling extreme feminists feminazis) and advocating traditional values.

Like Oprah, Rush speaks to a specific gender and like Oprah he struggles with his weight, makes lots of money and has had a huge impact.

Posted by: Thomas | July 7, 2008 03:40 PM

MB,

check yer math.

82MM/50/40/5=$8.2K per show. or $2733 per hour.

The guy is likely working more than 3 hours/day. Prepping should count.

Posted by: Robert Capozzi | July 7, 2008 10:02 PM

Actually, I had the number wrong. He makes about $40 million a year. If you consider his signing bonus separately it is $30 million per year. He does 50 weeks and is on the air 15 hours a week. If he is on 40 minutes an hour it is $1000 per non-commercial minute.

He is not being paid for his content, however. He is being paid for picking the right advertisers who his audience seems to have an affinity for. They might purchase the same things in the same quantities without Rush. Its one of those things that is hard, though not impossible to test. The question is the bane of all admen. Is it the show or the targeting?

Posted by: Xianleftist_Michael | July 7, 2008 10:23 PM

Randi Rhodes is the counter part of Rush L on the left, just much smarter than him, her IQ will double his, more honest, informed, exciting and yes, much more delightfully insensitive.

Posted by: Trent | July 8, 2008 08:48 PM

If you want Rush's policy desires, there's a short list in the NY Times Magazine piece on him from this past weekend.

It's on page six of the web version.

(Of course, that first sentence there begins with an "if." *grin*)

Posted by: Micah Tillman | July 8, 2008 08:57 PM

Liberals have NPR, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, most of Hollywood...

Conservatives have Wall St. Journal, Fox News, Forbes, Reader's Digest, CBN

Rush is successful because of lack of competition, especially when he started. There was no Fox News at the time. Air America flopped because liberals have so many well-entrenched alternatives.

Posted by: Carl | July 10, 2008 04:19 PM