Reports are flying that the large Chicago Cumulus radio station WLS 890 am is about to drop Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Cumulus is denying the leak, however today's industry rumor closely follows a very out-of-character post by Limbaugh on his official Facebook page. 'Now that I've outgrown the 25-54 demographic, I'm no longer confident I see the world as everybody else does.' Hold the phone, what? It's hard to believe these defeatist words would come from El Rushbo, the self-proclaimed, ego-driven, 'Mayor of Realsville'. Rush Limbaugh's post was published not even 24 hours before media veteran Robert Feder came out with his article reporting a WLS 'leak' that Limbaugh is being dropped, after being with the station for 25 years.

There are hard facts here. The network continues to lose money in big numbers. WLS's revenue dropped from $13 million in 2013 to less than $9.5 million in 2014. The article also states that the overall market was down 10 percent last year. Feder adds:

If all goes as planned, Limbaugh’s syndicated talk show, which airs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, will be dropped by the end of March, according to insiders at WLS. A Cumulus Media spokeswoman [at first] declined immediate comment. But a source familiar with the decision said it was based on the show’s diminished ratings and failure to generate advertising revenue for the station, adding: “It’s impossible to sell.”

This is not to say Rush Limbaugh will not show up on another Chicago station. We've been through this before with Cumulus crying poverty and whining that the Rush Limbaugh boycotts were dragging their revenue down. Then in August of 2013, media rumors lit up social media after Politico 'leaked' Limbaugh was being dropped by the network. Two weeks later, Cumulus and Limbaugh signed a new deal. It may have been a publicity stunt, or possibly a way for Cumulus to drive down the cost of a new deal with Limbaugh. Only the knowing parties are privy to that information.

This, however, seems different. Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal now confirm the 'failure to generate ad revenue' is, in fact, due to social media campaigns like StopRush/BoycottRush/FlushRush. Limbaugh is not only in trouble himself; he has also become a huge ball and chain to the radio industry. Last week, IHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel) which carries the Rush Limbaugh Show on over 500 stations, reported a quarterly loss of $309 Million, adding to there billions of debt. It continues to look grim for the aging media bully, well known for hate speech, racism, misogyny, and homophobia.

A new surge in the Limbaugh protest is taking place. In addition to the Time and WSJ articles, the Rush Limbaugh Sponsor Boycott Petition reached 126k signatures last week, gaining over 20,000 new signees in 10 days. Real live people are publicly giving their names, addresses, and email addresses to Change.org in order to let Limbaugh sponsors know these consumers refuse to buy from companies that support hate speech/hate radio. And it's working. It's been working, due to hundreds of thousand of protestors/petitioners/boycotter and some very hard-working StopRush/FlushRush volunteers. The fruits of their labor might just now be ready to reap.

Talk radio's hate-monger has good reason to admit words of defeat on his Facebook page. Rush Limbaugh is losing. The American public is winning. How great is that.

Updates Will Follow

Here is how everyday people have gotten involved with this highly effective protest against Rush Limbaugh and Hate Radio:



Special thanks to Margaret A. from BoycottRush, and Freya Malin for your continued work and dedication to this cause.

And thank you, Daily Kos Diarist Richard Myers. Rest in peace, brother. We miss you, and we will finish this.