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Rush Limbaugh Rating Woes Continue: No Audience For Hate-Filled Radio Troll? [Opinion]

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 23:38 PST, Jun 18, 2015

Rush Limbaugh and his rating-related woes are a source of amusement for those who can’t stand the hate monger. It’s hard NOT to be amused watching the downward spiral of a loudmouth whose primary claim to fame is divisiveness and ignorance.

The ratings slide is rather amazing when you realize that we live in the 21st century; today, celebrities and information are far more accessible than at any other point in human history. We live in the age of YouTube, SoundCloud, iTunes, and the various other podcasting options available to a man like Rush Limbaugh.

Was Rush Limbaugh so drunk off his own hype that he thought getting dumped by major radio stations AND losing major sponsors were both “temporary setbacks”? Whatever his current delusions, it’s likely that Rush Limbaugh believes that he doesn’t have to do anything to bounce back. Woes? What woes? He’s still collecting $50 million per year courtesy of Premiere Radio Networks.

Although with no audience to write home about, I’d be stunned if Premiere Radio Networks and their lawyers weren’t going over that contract with a magnifying glass. Who wants to pay millions to a guy stuck on AM radio, ranting away on radio stations with a 0.6 rating?

The downfall of Rush Limbaugh will be remembered as no one’s fault but his own. The belligerent radio personality couldn’t resist an ugly rant against Sandra Fluke.

Media Matters reports that the decline in the former “king of talk radio” can be almost directly traced to the misogynistic ravings against Fluke, who testified in favor of contraception mandates. Somehow this decision warranted three days of insults, during which time Rush called Sandra “a slut” and called for her to post sex videos on the internet.

The fiasco led sponsors to walk away.

It isn’t the departure of sponsors or potential radio stations that served as the most intriguing aspect of Rush’s woes; it’s the lack of fan support.

Where is Rush Limbaugh’s supposedly huge fanbase? Where did the listeners and their dollars go?

I think perhaps the most pleasurable aspect of watching Rush sink under the weight of his growing irrelevancy is what his situation proves: The market for hate and paranoia is smaller than you think. Hatemongers and partisan trolls are always trying to convince Americans that the are the voice of the people and that they’re saying what everyone else thinks or wants to say but can’t. Turns out, that’s not true.

Instead, Rush Limbaugh and his woes prove that without being gifted an enormous audience by sponsor dollars and large radio stations, men like him are ultimately exposed as unpopular and unwanted.

[Image Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images]

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