Re: Rush and Dr Laura

[FMradio1@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-07-09 10:31:28 EDT, Dib9@aol.com writes:

<< By the way, Rush is not the only show that charges stations to carry them.
 Both Imus and Stern charge big bucks.  Are Stern and Imus greedy?  I don't
 know what the arrangement is now, but when WZAN added Imus they were paying
 three times as much to carry Imus as they were to run Rush on WGAN.>>

I'd be willing to bet that Stern and Imus continue to bring in major
advertising revenue for the stations that carry them.   Ask WEEI and WWRX how
well they do with Imus.  WBCN does extremely well with Stern, and WCCC in
Hartford was brought back from the dead once they brought in Howard.  If the
talent can deliver the ratings and the revenue to the majority of the stations
it syndicates to, charging fees is appropriate, not greedy.  

Stations are willing to pay fees to syndicators if they can recoup those costs
and make a profit, especially if it's more than if they programmed the daypart
locally.  A couple of years ago I would have put Rush in this catagory.  These
days his ratings are dwindling, his audience is aging out of the 25 to 54
"money demo", and he's on too many radio stations so he is not exclusive to
any one station.  If this trend continues, many of his small affiliates will
continue to drop the show, forcing his syndicator to offer it for barter just
to keep it from dropping to the "Tom Leykis" level of syndication.

Just a question:  If WRKO was to drop Rush Limbaugh, what station in Boston
would pick him up?  If you can't reasonalbly answer that question, than he's
not worth the syndication fee.

Mike Thomas, WXLO & Premiere Radio Networks

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #123
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