<\/p>\n
All right, I just can\u2019t stand it anymore.<\/p>\n
I was hoping the Rush Limbaugh scandal would just go away and we could all go back to important things like complaining about gas prices and wondering where the heck Steven Tyler gets his wardrobe. But like that festering forehead zit the day before a big presentation, this just will NOT go away and I am now compelled to add my two cents to the conversation.<\/p>\n
As the oft quoted philosopher Richard Nixon (someone I would really love to have seen on Dancing With the Stars<\/em>) once said: \u201cLet me make this perfectly clear\u201d what Rush said was wrong. What started off as a \u201chumorous,\u201d pointed railing turned into a personal attack, period. Everyone had the right to be angry and demand an apology. And that\u2019s exactly what they did and exactly what they got.<\/p>\n Didn\u2019t satisfy your personal sense of outrage, did it? If you were hoping that this will be what finally puts an end to Rush Limbaugh, I have some very disappointing news for you:<\/p>\n It ain\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n [Isn\u2019t this the same guy who skated through a drug scandal? Was his rehab covered by his insurance? \u201cIrony, table for one.\u201d]<\/p>\n Let me hip you to something: the outrage, the ongoing conversation, the endless media focus, is nothing but Manna to Rush. In truth, he doesn\u2019t want it to end. Not yet. Rush has gone from cash cow to milkman. Keep talking about me, milk those babies dry!<\/p>\n A great radio man I worked for many years ago always said: Publicity is publicity. Good or bad, just make sure they spell your name right. If you were to put a monetary value on the amount of TV coverage Rush has received in the past ten days, it would easily reach the tens of millions of dollars. Tens of millions he did NOT have to shell out for.<\/p>\n The other day on his program, Rush stated (paraphrasing here) \u201cthe business end is fine, everything\u2019s good,\u201d which is an interesting assertion considering at last count, over forty advertisers have either pulled or threatened to pull advertising from his program. That is a LOT of money. But in truth, for Rush everything IS fine. Don\u2019t worry Ditto-heads, Rush is still collecting his paycheck and will continue to until he decides it\u2019s time to hang up the headphones.<\/p>\n But, I digress. This is supposed to be about an apology.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know Rush Limbaugh. I did meet him once. He struck me like every other radio dork I know, an insecure egomaniac who wants nothing more than for you to be addicted to his program. Rush wants your loyalty. He wants to get paid millions of dollars to sit on his ass and talk for a couple of hours a day. Other than that, he wants a good cigar and a nice round of golf.<\/p>\n I respect Rush. I respect Howard Stern for that matter. This isn\u2019t a like\/dislike thing. I respect anyone who has achieved this degree of success in radio. Unlike them, I don\u2019t have a daily audience numbering in the tens of millions, a swanky pad in Manhattan and a gigundus home in Palm Beach. I don\u2019t\/can\u2019t do radio the way he does radio and I will never achieve the level of runaway success he has experienced.<\/p>\n But\u2026<\/p>\n Rush Buddy, I\u2019m right there with you. Apologies and damage control are a pain in the ass and seemingly do nothing but appease people that you don\u2019t want to (but must) deal with in order to keep the peace and more importantly, KEEP THE MONEY COMING.<\/p>\n I know this situation because I\u2019ve actually been in this situation with the same company. For the record, what I said wasn\u2019t nearly as bad as what he said. The apology came (mine and his) when upper management said: \u201cYou really pissed off an advertiser* and if you don\u2019t say you\u2019re sorry, we could lose a ton of money. So, you WILL apologize.\u201d Even if there is a genuine feeling of remorse for the most part, apologies like this are made to appease advertisers as an effort to slow or stop the loss of money to the parent company. This gives the company a chance to go back and say \u201chey, the guy apologized. What more do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n *Most broadcasters don\u2019t care if they piss off you the listener, but they do care if they piss off You the Advertiser. FYI.<\/p>\n The weird thing here is that these types of controversies are a double-edged sword. The free publicity is always welcome but when you have to spend days, possibly weeks doing damage control it takes the radio dorks focus away from me<\/em>\u2026right now<\/em>. It\u2019s been beaten into our heads that yesterday\u2019s news is no longer important. While Rush loves being the lead story on Fox and Friends<\/em> and the above-the-crease headline of the New York Times, having to deal with last week\u2019s story prevents you from entertaining your audience and milking the love and adoration from your followers right now<\/em>.<\/p>\n To quote another philospher George W. Bush (whom I have NO desire to see on Dancing<\/em> With the Stars<\/em>) \u201cMake no mistake about it\u201d Rush, Glenn Beck, Howard Stern, all of them are entertainers<\/em>. These are characters created to be controversial. Every once in awhile they\u2019ll cross a line and need to be reeled back in. What\u2019s more important, these guys are cash cows. Rush Limbaugh is paid millions because people pay tens of millions to keep him on the air. For every advertiser who bails, I\u2019m certain that there are at least five waiting in the wings to advertize on a show that reaches tens of millions of people.<\/p>\n I know it doesn\u2019t make sense but we\u2019re talking about broadcasters, it\u2019s not supposed to. It\u2019s not about right or wrong, it\u2019s all about the money kids.<\/p>\n Now if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019ve got to figure out just what the hell Steven Tyler is wearing.<\/p>\n Be Brilliant.<\/p>\n Skip-<\/p>\n Skip Mahaffey in an award-winning broadcaster, Media Coach\/Consultant and Author of Adventures With My Father: Childhood Recollections of Divorce, Dysfunction and the Summer of Love<\/em>. Skip is available for consultation by email: skip@skipshow.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All right, I just can\u2019t stand it anymore. I was hoping the Rush Limbaugh scandal would just go away and we could all go back to important things like complaining about gas prices and wondering where the heck Steven … Continue reading