Advertiser nervousness over inflammatory or polarizing commentary clearly goes beyond Limbaugh. The trade publication Radio-info.com reported last week that Premiere has circulated to station managers a list of 98 blue-chip advertisers that had requested their commercials not air during programs “that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial” or are “likely to stir negative sentiments from a very small percentage of the listening public.” The programs include not just Limbaugh’s but those hosted by many of the leading conservative talkers on the air: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage.
Such edicts indicate that “all of talk radio, or all of conservative talk radio, is being tarred” in the reaction to Limbaugh, said Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers magazine, which covers the talk-show business. Harrison sees the damage to Limbaugh as “a short-term dent” that will harm Clear Channel’s cash flow for a month or two. But the episode may have a lasting impact as advertisers reconsider the value of being associated with any kind of controversial material, he said…
“At a time when Obama’s [approval] ratings are falling, it sure looks like liberals are trying to knock conservative talkers off the air to help get Obama reelected,” says Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the conservative Media Research Center. “But there’s certainly the possibility that these campaigns could sour sponsors on all of commercial talk radio. Conservatives have more to lose in that scenario.”
The “liberal success” in targeting Imus, Beck and Schlessinger, Graham adds, “has every conservative host watching his back.”
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