Report: CC Losses Termed “Excruciatingly Painful”

Rush Limbaugh

Clear Channel, Rush Limbaugh's parent company, last week reported first quarter losses that had to be excruciatingly painful. According to an article by Edith Allen at examiner.com.

She cites CC reporting a loss of $203 million compared to last year's loss of $143.6 million. The article says one clue to Clear Channel's troubles is a nationwide boycott of Limbaugh's sponsors. That boycott began early last year after Limbaugh called a college student a "slut" and a "prostitute."

According to a May 3 Daily Kos article, Clear Channel's revenue fell 1.3 percent to $1.34 billion. Revenue from the company's media and entertainment division was down 2.2 percent. Operating expenses dropped 3.5 percent.

Sharp pains resulted when the public "had enough" of what Allen calls Limbaugh's blatant racism, sexism, gay-hatred and bigotry that went out over 600 affiliated radio stations. Two very large systems, StopRush and the ThinkContext browser extension were set up to enable millions who identify Limbaugh's sponsors and encourage others to stop buying from them.

Sandra Fluke

The artirle said the effort  was devastating to Clear Channel's business plan. Clear Channel is in massive debt and a May 3 Moody's report indicates that a CSO note including Clear Channel was downgraded.

She claims after Limbaugh's attack on college student Sandra Fluke, activists forced about 100 sponsors to abandon him. Fluke was the Georgetown law student who testified to convince Congress to mandate contraception coverage in health insurance plans.

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