Rush is leaving WPHT Philadelphia but we don’t know when.
Possible new affiliate could be WKDN 106.9 which may be turned into a talk station.
>>UPDATED: Rush Limbaugh is leaving WPHT
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Rush Limbaugh — the dominant force in conservative talk radio in America for more than two decades — is leaving his long-time Philadelphia perch on 50,000-watt AM station WPHT, apparently for an unknown rival.
The dramatic move shakes up the Philly radio market — and arguably the local political scene as well,. It’s not clear how much the move was influenced by the national uproar over Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student “a slut,” which caused a number of major advertisers to jump ship.
WPHT confirmed the move just hours after a leading radio industry trade publication, Talkers magazine, reported that “the very hot rumor” out of Philly is that Limbaugh wa about to be yanked from his slot at 1210 on the AM dial — to be replaced by Michael Smerconish, who now airs in the afternoon drive slot.
“Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia,” CBS Radio said in a statement emailed to the Daily News. “As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in Philadelphia, in this new time period.
Smerconish said in the statement: “I have missed not having the chance to take WPHT callers in every hour of my program and am ecstatic that this will soon change. WPHT seeks to be live and local - no one is more local than me!”
Industry insiders were speculating that Limbaugh might not leave the Philadelphia airwaves for long, if at all. There are rumors, reported on Talkers and by Radio-Info, is that the new owner of WKDN-FM, 106.9 — a Camden-based station that has carried Christian broadcasting — may look to add Limbaugh as well as popular right-wing yakkers Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, who’ve been off the air in Philadelphia since they were dropped by WPHT over a year ago.
But if Limbaugh did move to the lesser-known FM station, it would probably be a struggle to rebuild his Philadelphia audience — especially in in a competition with the popular and locally based Smerconish.
And that could have a big political ramifications in Pennsylvania, considered a key battleground state in the 2012 presidential race.
Rush is leaving WPHT Philadelphia but we don’t know when.
Possible new affiliate could be WKDN 106.9 which may be turned into a talk station.