Re: Rush and Dr Laura

[beckwith@ime.net]

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998 Dan Billings wrote:

> If a station decides that Rush is not worth paying for, they can
> drop his show.

When I first learned of the plan by EFM to charge stations to carry
Rush, I thought that despite the common cash-plus-barter arrangement
in TV syndication it couldn't survive radio economics outside the
largest markets.  Sure enough, the ratings are down and smaller
affiliates are dropping like flies.

Imus isn't delivering anywhere near the kind of numbers he once did in
Boston and Portland (not that his ratings have delivered any kind of
revenues in Portland anyway) so I have to wonder if he's next,
especially when his ranch project gets fully underway and he's even
more distracted than usual.  By the way, he's been on vacation for two
weeks; his "best-ofs" are about as thrilling as watching paint dry--or
watching Tom Snyder play out his string, depressingly, on CBS late
night.

> Both Imus and Stern charge big bucks.  Are Stern and Imus greedy?

Not really.  In those instances a stronger case can be made for cash
plus barter, since the total number of affiliates is nowhere near what
Rush or Paul Harvey deliver.

> Also, before people start cheering for WTSN.  We should remember that this is
> the station that eliminated a bunch of local programming earlier this year to
> save money.  The latest moves follow that pattern.

It's radio suicide, pure and simple.

Take care,

Chris

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