WBT Swamped By Rush Ruckus
Local talk radio station WBT has landed smack in the middle of a national controversy swirling around Rush Limbaugh, the polemical midday talker who has come under fire for calling Georgetown law student and free contraception-on demand advocate Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
But despite receiving hundreds of emails and calls from people threatening to boycott advertisers and demanding that the station drop Limbaugh’s show, which airs weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on WBT 1110-AM, the station has no plans to alter its programming.
“I know it’s a cliché, but if you don’t like what you’re hearing, change stations,” said WBT Program Director Carl East. “Turn it off, if it makes you feel better. I don’t have a problem with that.”
WBT won’t know what impact, negative or positive, the Limbaugh/Fluke uproar has had on ratings until later this week when measurable data becomes available, East said. Meanwhile, the station hasn’t had any local clients pull their advertising from WBT or sever ties with the station.
“The ‘BT brand gets results for them,” East said. “I’m glad we have that kind of relationship.”
A few local companies – East declined to provide an exact count – have requested that their ads not air during Limbaugh’s show and the station has shifted them to different time slots.
Nationally at least 29 advertisers, including high-profile clients ranging from Allstate Insurance and Sears to Quicken Loans, AOL and Carbonite, have pulled their spots from Limbaugh’s show since last Wednesday.
That’s when Limbaugh ignited a cultural and political firestorm with his comments about Fluke, who had testified before a Congressional quasi-hearing where she championed mandates that would force employers to provide employees with health insurance that includes coverage for contraception.
Limbaugh subsequently apologized for his comments and acknowledged he had chosen “the wrong words” in his “analogy of the situation,” which “created a national stir.”
But the apology has done little to calm the storm, both nationally and locally. WBT continues to receive a steady stream of emails, upwards of 300 and counting, that are critical of Limbaugh, according to East. A few Rush-bashers, he said, even requested a list of companies that run ads during Limbaugh’s time slot so they could launch a boycott. East’s response? He suggested they listen to Limbaugh’s show and compile their own list.
While the number of critical emails has dwarfed supportive ones (WBT has received five), East said most of the negative missives contained similar language and content and were likely part of an orchestrated social-media campaign, versus people who actually listened to Limbaugh’s show on a regular basis.
There’s another year left on the station’s Limbaugh contract, East said; when it’s up for renewal, WBT will review its merits using the station’s standard process and criteria.
Executives from WBT’s parent company, Massachusetts-based Greater Media, have been involved with station management’s discussions and decisions on how to handle the Limbaugh/Fluke tumult since it erupted and as it’s evolved, East said. It was a collective decision, he said, to not issue a public statement addressing the situation.
“We get complaint emails and calls from people about anything and everything for all of our hosts’ shows,” East said. “It goes with the territory. People can agree or disagree about opinions. But we live in a country where we’re allowed to be idiots, whether you’re a Bill Maher or a Rush Limbaugh.”
UPDATE: PunditHouse contributor Vincent Bordini unearths a campaign, coordinated by operatives from Obama for America and Media Matters, to pressure advertisers into dropping Limbaugh’s show.
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