Lew Dickey: Rush Limbaugh Did Cost Us Millions

Lew Dickey

Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey stood by his guns Tuesday, reiterating that controversial remarks by Rush Limbaugh have cost Cumulus major advertising dollars on stations in 36 markets, including WABC 770 AM in New York.

A spokesman for Limbaugh earlier in the week challenged that assertion, saying Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey was trying to blame Rush for the shortcomings of his ad sales departments.  (See Original Post, Click Here)

Asked about this Tuesday on his quarterly investors' conference call, Dickey named no names according to the NY Daily News, but said, "We've had a tough go of it the last year. The facts are indisputable over the last year."

In comments last May and again this March, Dickey said advertisers had pulled away after Rush's widely publicized charge in February 2012 that law student Sandra Fluke was a "slut" for advocating insurance coverage of birth control devices.

Rush Limbaugh

Media Matters and other progressive groups asked advertisers to withdraw from Limbaugh's show, and many said they did, including major companies like Sears and Geico.

Radio Ink quoted a Cumulus source as saying that 48 of the top 50 radio advertisers don't want their ads to run on the Limbaugh or Sean Hannity programs.

A Limbaugh spokesman over the weekend said that if Dickey did not stop bashing his talent, Limbaugh might leave Cumulus stations when his deal there concludes at the end of 2013.

That would not come as a surprise, at least in New York.

Limbaugh is syndicated through Clear Channel’s Premiere and last year CC bought WABC's rival, WOR 710 AM.

So it has been widely expected Clear Channel would move Limbaugh and Sean Hannity over to WOR, which has trailed WABC for several years in the local talk radio ratings.

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