Cumulus planning to drop Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity



By DYLAN BYERS |
7/28/13 7:59 PM EDT


In a major shakeup for the radio industry, Cumulus Media, the second-biggest broadcaster in the country, is planning to drop both Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity from its stations at the end of the year, an industry source told POLITICO on Sunday.

Cumulus has decided that it will not renew its contracts with either host, the source said, a move that would remove the two most highly rated conservative talk personalities from more than 40 Cumulus channels in major markets.

The decision comes after negotiations between Cumulus and Premiere Networks, the division of Clear Channel that distributes Limbaugh and Hannity's shows, broke down due to disagreements over the cost of the distribution rights, the source said. Cumulus is known to drive a hard bargain on costs, and Clear Channel is known to seek top dollar for big names.

As industry insiders caution, Cumulus and Clear Channel have come to the brink before during contract negotiations only to resume talks. But the source told POLITICO that Clear Channel was unlikely to reduce the cost for distribution rights to a level that would satisfy Cumulus

Cumulus declined to comment for this story: "Cumulus is not in a position to comment about negotiations with talent under contract, no matter what the rumor of the day might be," a spokesperson told POLITICO.

But in recent weeks, Cumulus has been quietly reaching out to radio talent agents and political insiders about new local and regional station hosts to fill some of the airtime that will be left vacant by Limbaugh and Hannity, industry sources said. Cumulus is also expected to move some of its existing talent -- which includes Mike Huckabee, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage -- into one of the slots.

Premiere, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday night, is expected to carry Limbaugh and Hannity on stations in many of the markets where they are currently signed with Cumulus, should the negotiations not go through. A spokesperson for Limbaugh was not immediately available for comment; Hannity did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013...ity-169371.html

Cumulus is a failure of a radio outfit. They have single handedly destroyed the biggest talk radio station in the world with their bumbling and incompetence, 770 WABC. They also have a bunch of clowns running programming that have always thought they had better shows than Rush and Sean. Just recently they brought Mike Huckabee on as their noon to three guy to directly challenge the leading broadcast on their own stations. What happened with that? It is failing worse than when they put Joe "I didn't kill that intern" Scarborough on 770 in the mornings.

Cumulus can go to hell. Any of their stations that drop him will have a challenger in the market pick Rush up in that market and crush them.