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Let’s talk. Let’s talk talk radio. Specifically, let’s talk Cumulus Media and all those stories like this one about Cumulus being unhappy with Rush Limbaugh. You know what the Big Story is here? For once, this is a Big Story in talk radio that really isn’t about Rush Limbaugh at all. And the same Big Story isn’t about Sean Hannity either, although Hannity’s name has been thrown into the mix. The Big Story here is this: What in the world is going on at Cumulus Media? What’s with this very, very discernible pattern that should be obvious as the sun...

Reports surfaced this week of increased tension between the king of talk radio Rush Limbaugh and Cumulus Media, as the Sandra Fluke controversy of early 2012 apparently still rages on. The Fluke matter and other Limbaugh controversies are detailed in The Right Frequency: The Story of the Talk Radio Giants Who Shook Up the Political and Media Establishment (History Publishing Co.), from his often messy personal life to past efforts to have him tossed off the air, such as the 2007 “phony soldier” matter that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried and failed to use against the host. “Limbaugh not...

Rush Limbaugh is engaged in a very public war with Cumulus Media, the radio network that runs his show on 40 stations, including WABC in New York. Limbaugh and Cumulus must renegotiate their contract terms by the end of the year, so it's not surprising that they're jockeying for leverage. But a source tells us that Cumulus has less to lose in this battle than most people think, and may even gain financially from Limbaugh's departure. First, the back story: Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey recently told investors that the ad boycott of Limbaugh's show — after Rush called a Georgetown...

The Rush Limbaugh Program is considering ending its affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media at the end of this year, a move that would bring about one of the biggest shakeups in talk radio history, a source close to the show tells POLITICO. Should the move take place, 40 Cumulus-owned radio stations would lose the rights to the most popular talk radio program in the country. In addition, the show might be picked up by competing regional radio stations in Washington, New York, Chicago, Dallas and other major markets. According to the source, Limbaugh is considering the move because Cumulus CEO...

Tom Taylor via his new radio biz newsletter tells us that DC-based righty political gabber Laura Ingraham should announce her new syndication deal today. Will it be with Cumulus? That was the hallway talk at last week's Arbitron Client Conference in Annapolis. Ingraham is the second high-profile talk personality to split from Talk Radio Network. The first one was Michael Savage, and he landed at Cumulus. Ingraham joined TRN from Westwood in 2003 and was rewarded with a daytime slot instead of her previous nighttime gig. That helped free her up for other work, such as appearances on Fox News....

11/29 - UPDATED. DCRTV hears that DC-based political talker Laura Ingraham (right) could soon return to the airwaves via a brokered deal with DC area talker WTNT, 730 AM/102.9 FM. Ingraham, who had been heard until early this week on WTNT, recently announced that she's leaving her syndicator, TRN. But, we're told, she does not yet have another national radio distribution deal set up. Sources tell us that she's been talking to Clear Channel's Premiere and Cumulus. That leaves her with the short-term possibility of buying time from WTNT and doing her show from its Fairfax studios, allowing her to...

“The Savage Nation” will return to the air via Cumulus Media Networks Oct. 23, Michael Savage’s new syndicator announced today. The show, formerly in the 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern time slot, now will air from 9 p.m. to midnight Eastern, Monday through Friday, Cumulus said.

"It's the first time anyone actually gave a dollar amount regarding the Rush Limbaugh Sandra Fluke incident. Monday evening Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said the advertiser boycott cost his company "a couple million" dollars in ad revenue in the first quarter and "a couple million" in the second quarter. He said things look like they will be back to normal in June. Cumulus carries Rush Limbaugh 38 markets and blames 1% of the 3.5% drop in revenue for the quarter on the Rush boycott. Dickey said Cumulus was "hit pretty hard by this."

Wow. As we often say here: you just can't make it up. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee took his first phone call of his new talk radio call-in show yesterday. From "Mike in San Francisco." Remember: the show is being positioned by the Cumulus Media Network as the conservative show with "more conversation, less confrontation." Or, as it is certainly being pushed in the anti-Rush Limbaugh media, the show for moderate Republicans that will Take Rush Out. RINO Radio, as we noted here last week. But there seemed to be something slightly out of whack. That something? The very first...

“The Rush Limbaugh Show” is leaving the dominant conservative talk radio station in Philadelphia, one of the biggest radio markets in the country. In its place on the station, WPHT, will go “The Michael Smerconish Show,” hosted by Mr. Smerconish, a native of the city.snip It is unclear when the change will take place in Philadelphia. The company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh’s show, Premiere Radio Networks, declined to comment. But Premiere has indicated that it will be moving Mr. Limbaugh to a new station in Philadelphia. Radio-Info.com reported on Monday that it might be WKDN, a Christian programming station that...

Cumulus Talk 570 KLIF Dallas will add morning and afternoon news blocks to its Talk lineup while shifting its local talk programs to sister 820/96.7 WBAP.

would seem so, from this blog entry, which Davis posted this morning: The question has arisen, and here is the answer. My contract with WBAP's new owners, Cumulus, ended last week and we have been unable to reach an agreement on a renewal. I will be in all the other places I occupy-- Fox 4 and WFAA, and my column in the Dallas Morning News-- and I will be here in the blogosphere every day, often multiple times, with my thoughts on matters large and small. Keep a good thought for all my friends at BAP, and treat them with...

RINO Radio? Republican In Name Only Radio? Taking on… Rush Limbaugh???????? And demeaning the audience of one's would-be customers… this is a business proposition? Seriously? There's two parts of this discussion: talk radio and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Cumulus Media has dropped Coast To Coast AM with George Noory from multiple markets and replaced it with its own Red Eye Radio. Among the stations that have dropped the program are 770 KKOB & 1050 KTBL Albuquerque, 1290 WNBF Binghamton, 890 WLS Chicago, 710 KCMO Kansas City, 630 WPRO/99.7 WEAN Providence, 980 WAAV Wilmington NC, and 630/105.9 WMAL Washington DC. In two of the markets, the program has already found a new home as it is picked up by Clear Channel’s 920 WHJJ Providence and Sea-Comm’s “Big Talker” 93.7 WNTB/106.3 WLTT Wilmington NC. For now Coast To Coast remains...

Need the power of DU behind this Posted by Horse with no Name Added to homepage Thu Feb 24th 2005, 12:28 PM ET We need to promote our agenda in a uniform and consistent manner. Part of this is by supporting liberal radio formats across the country. In Dallas we are writing letters and circulating petitions to have a liberal station started. But we need liberal radio in all markets across the country so that we can spread our messages, spread the truth and combat Rush and his minions. There are some very good liberal hosts out there to do...

Recently, there has been a lot of Congressional hand-wringing about media conglomeration, focusing on the red herring that consolidation results in, as Senator Barbara Boxer put it, "Communist and Nazi tactics in controlling opinions their citizens hear." That's a little silly, because, as a Democrat, Boxer should know that there has been a witch hunt in an effort to limit freedom of expression and controlling opinions bogeyman but with her cronies who run leftist special-interest groups. After all, the thought police haven't suddenly been unleashed. The technique of trying to virtually assassinate those who dissent was perfected by leftist special-interest...