Limbaugh Loses Affiliates, Gains Award!

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, March 6, 2012 | 8:43am CT

The advertiser count walking out on Rush Limbaugh is now up to a dozen including tractor maker John Deere, solar panel maker Verengo Solar and postage website Stamps.com. While those three ran ads during Monday's broadcast, all said yesterday afternoon that they would no longer advertise.

And now local affiliates are pulling out. KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii, and WBEC in Pittsfield, Massachusetts have stopped airing Rush. Meanwhile, listeners of smaller, local radio stations carrying the syndicated show are being called on to pressure advertisers to cut all ties.

But it's not all bad news this week for Limbaugh. Plans to add him to the Hall of Famous Missourians in the state Capitol will move forward. Inductees are chosen by the speaker of the Missouri House and Speaker Steven Tilley said yesterday that the decision to honor Limbaugh was made months ago. The Republican lawmaker and Limbaugh are both from the state's southeastern corner. Kansas City sculptor E. Spencer Shubert has been working on a bust of the conservative talk show host to go on display in the Capitol alongside busts of other inductees like Mark Twain, Walter Cronkite, and Sacajawea.

Tilley defends his choice in light of Rush's current PR nightmare saying the hall honors famous Missourians -- not "universally loved Missourians."