Rush Limbaugh has signed a new four year contract with iHeart Media and Premier Networks. There has been much speculation, including here at DKOS, regarding the expiration of Limbaugh’s $400 million eight year contract, which ended in July, 2016, and whether Limbaugh would stay on AM radio. It now appears that Limbaugh will be on the air for at least four more years. Financial terms were not disclosed, but industry pundits believe that compensation under his new contract will be for some percentage of the ad revenues he generates, and in total will be a small fraction of his most recent contract. Flush Rush, and its affiliates, have done an outstanding job of convincing national advertisers to boycott the Limbaugh show, and that has changed the economics for all political talk radio and its broadcasters.
This NYT article provides a good summary.
www.nytimes.com/...
Last week I drove from San Francisco to Massachusetts, a trip I also made two years ago. I had several observations. The biggest difference in over-the-air radio in the past two years is the continued proliferation of Christian Radio on both AM and FM channels. Christian Radio has been the most active buyer of radio stations, as political talk has declined as a viable format. The Christian radio groups have copied much of the successful talk format, primarily airing inexpensive to produce national programs, and a small amount of local content. This allows for significant economies of scale on both the revenue and cost side of the business, including the ability to sell to national advertisers. Christian radio has a natural audience of listeners, and is an attractive market for certain kinds of advertisers. I expect they will continue to be active buyers of over-the-air radio stations.