MEDIA MATTERS IS CORRECT

Rush Limbaugh is on the decline and it seems irreversible (see here and here).   This story from Tom Taylor's NOW radio newsletter has a little more evidence:

Rush Limbaugh to move again in Philly – Merlin sells WWIQ (106.9) to “K-Love” parent EMF.

18 months ago, Randy Michaels-led Merlin Media paid Harold Camping’s Family Radio $22.5 million for Christian WKDN, Camden - partly because the Mt. Rushmore of conservative talk was available from Premiere. Merlin moved Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and more over to 106.9, revamped as WWIQ. But Merlin ran into some truly lousy luck. Just as it debuted talk “IQ 106.9,” Rush made his late-February 2012 remarks about Sandra Fluke, which activist group Media Matters whipped into a highly effective and ongoing advertiser campaign. The result? IQ’s had a tough time monetizing the ratings. And in the last six months, those have been drifting down anyhow, from a 2.8 in May to a 2.1 in July. With Merlin’s sale to not-for-profit Educational Media Foundation, the parent of the contemporary Christian “K-Love” network, Rush and the rest will be trooping out the door in Philadelphia – the single toughest major market for syndication. There just aren’t many signals there. In fact, Philly was the last market in the entire top 100 to get Rush in the first place, in the 1990s. What’s next for Limbaugh, et. al.? Presumably Premiere will be calling up CBS Radio’s WPHT (1210) – Limbaugh’s previous radio address in Philly.