Limbaugh's Future Cloudy After Cumulus Earnings

Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh’s specter hovered over Cumulus Media’s second-quarter earnings call Tuesday, but Forbes reports the conservative talk radio host was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey.

Unlike three months ago, when he blamed an anti-Limbaugh boycott for a $2.4 million revenue decline, Dickey was both vague and politic, bringing up the subject of a soon-to-expire deal with Premiere Radio (which syndicates both Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) only to announce that he wouldn’t be discussing it further. 

“While there will be no comment on individual talent negotiations, I will say the framework we employ is straightforward and very consistent,” he said. The factors to be weighed, he said, include “listener interest, advertiser demand and opportunity cost.”

 If you were to sift those verbal tea leaves for meaning, they might be read as suggesting that Limbaugh’s extension on Cumulus stations past December is unlikely.

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