SEE UPDATE BELOW: ALAS, IT LOOKS

LIKE RUSH IS GETTING A BUM RAP HERE

*



UPDATE

-- Rush Limbaugh, accepting an award from Talkers magazine



Recently, in a speech given in acceptance of a talk radio industry award, Rush Limbaugh openly admitted that his number one priority as a broadcaster is not to influence policy or sway peoples’ opinions. Rather, his foremost priority every day is to attract as large an audience as possible, hold that audience as long as possible, and then deliver that audience to advertisers in exchange for large sums of money.

[0:33] There are people who want to silence those that say things they don't agree with. That is an ever-present danger, and it's something that we all have to be vigilant against, and the best way to engage in free speech is to engage in free speech, and to not be afraid of what somebody is going to think of what you say.



[0:56] I got a piece of advice when I moved to Sacramento in 1984 -- that was actually my first full-fledged talk show -- and the guy that took me out there, who has since passed away, Norman Woodruff, one of the most important people in my career, said, "Look, we want controversy." Rush explains that unbeknownst to him he was being brought in to replace the fired Morton Downey Jr., who had told a "Chinaman" joke for which he refused to apologize.]



[1:35] "We want controversy, but don't make it up. If you actually think something, if you actually believe it, and you can tell people why, we'll back you up. But if you're going to say stuff just to make people mad, if all you want to do is rabble-rouse, if all you want to do is to stand and get noticed, that's not what we're interested in and we won't back you up."



And I've never forgotten it.

[7: 13] The host has credibility, captive audience, audience loves the host, thinks the host tells the truth, host advises the product is worthwhile, the product moves off the shelves, bingo -- success! I don't know about you, but that's what keeps me on the air, not what I think about issues, not what I think about who the president is or what he's doing.



That matters. It's a close second, don't misunderstand. But we're in radio, we're broadcasters. We have the opportunity to move more people in a substantive way for the good of the country because of that intimacy that radio affords that television doesn't.

#

-- KenHi Ken . . . and whoever else might be listening!So let me tell you in print the events.I go to the gym at 5 AM. All, or most all, of my news comes from NPR. Just prior to 5 AM, and I'm thinking it was just before the election, I heard a British interview with Rush boy.The interview centered around Limbaugh's cochlear inplants -- he's dead . . . oh, I'm sorry, I meant. Freudian, I suppose.Anyway, the interviewer wanted the listening audience, who may not be familiar with Limbaugh, to hear a clip from one of his shows, after which Limbaugh says, "I will say anything to obtain confiscatory compensation from my advertisers. You don't get it, it's just show business."At the time I thought it would be easy to track down this interview on some archive.Well, eight weeks and I'm ready to open a vein.I contacted the following: BBC, The Strand, National Public Radio, WHYY (Philadelphia local), Bill Maur. Except for Bill Maur, who hasn't replied yet, all others say they have exhausted all resources.Can that be? I know I didn't dream this interview! We need to effect a global search pattern!Commenter Anonymous directs our attention to a post on the Rush-Matters.com website that indeed contains language similar to what Ralph heard in the British interview. It's billed there as an "admission":In fact, though, if you actually watch the 11-minute clip, you discover that this is a clearly willful, even shocking misrepresentation of what Rush said. I have to say, it's a truly brilliant speech, arguing the unique power of talk radio "to move more people in a substantive way for the good of the country."What the website Rush-Matters.com trumpets as an "admission" is no such thing. That strikes me as a radical misrepresentation of what Rush is actually saying, and we're not talking subtlety or nuance. He indeed says "We're broadcasters first," that "our job is to attract an audience, and to hold that audience for as long as we can, for the purpose of charging confiscatory advertising rates." He makes clear that, yes, radio is a business, and a business he loves.But he also makes absolutely clear throughout the clip that anfor what he does is that hebelieve in what he says, that he is totally passionate about the beliefs he espouses. It's just that he loves his job as a broadcaster. "I don't want to move to Washington and I don't want to get involved in policy." I think he leaves little doubt about his concern for his on-air credibility in this remarkably well argued section:Rush goes on to talk about the intimacy of the talk radio medium, and its unmatched power as an advertising medium. The host who establishes credibility with his audience has that audience "captive," he says.Don't get me wrong either. I hate Rush as much as anybody drawing breath. But he is emphaticallysaying that he says stuff to get ratings. What he's saying is the exact opposite: that getting big ratings is what makes it possible for him to say the things he believes on radio.

Labels: Rush Limbaugh