Rush To Dickey: Don't Blame Me!

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, May 6, 2013

In a report from the NY Daily News, talk radio king Rush Limbaugh is not taking the rap for declining ad revenue at his flagship NYC station, WABC. Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey, which owns WABC, has gone on record saying Limbaugh's now infamous Sandra Fluke comments in 2012 have diminished ad revenue for the past year -- and the slump remains a "residual hangover" for the station. But the issue came to a head over the weekend and a source close to Limbaugh told the paper: "Lew needs someone to blame, (so) he's pointing fingers instead of fixing his own sales problem."

Limbaugh's contract with WABC expires at the end of the year and if not renewed would likely mean a jump over to rival WOR. Limbaugh has said that any advertisers who left as a result of the Fluke controversy were quickly replaced and a source close to the show said revenue was "very minimally impacted in the short term." However, Dickey has maintained that the fallout from the Fluke episode cost Cumulus "a couple of million" in the first quarter of 2012 and "a couple of million" in the second quarter.