Stations Follow Advertisers Lead with Limbaugh Situation

Yet another radio station has made the decision to remove Rush Limbaugh’s radio talk show on Tuesday because of the comments he made last week. Rush Limbaugh, known for being a conservative, made headlines last week when he made disgusting comments about a law student simply because she believed that health care should cover contraception. Because she was an advocate for health care covering the cost of contraception, Limbaugh called her a “slut” and a “prostitute” which is something that many advertisers and radio stations simply are not willing to accept. In fact, the Massachusetts radio station, 1420 AM WBEC, decided to remove the radio program because of his unacceptable comments.

The controversy started last week after Limbaugh first made the comments about the Georgetown University student. Aside from calling the female student derogatory names, he also said that she basically wanted the taxpayers to pay for her ability to have sex because she wants health care to cover contraception. 1420 AM WBEC was not the first radio station to remove the program from their lineup. The KPUA radio station, stationed in Hilo, Hawaii, was first to announce that they would not be airing his radio program on their station anymore. The General manager for New West Broadcasting, Chris Leonard, made a statement that said while they do believe in the first amendment and the ability to express freedom of speech, they also believe that his opinion differ from their own opinions and that they are not willing to tolerate personal attacks that go beyond freedom of speech and cross the line into indecency.

Aside from radio stations, many advertisers have also chosen to remove their advertisements that were supposed to be featured during Limbaugh’s radio talk show segment. Just about twelve companies have already removed their advertisements from the radio talk show. One of these companies is the popular America Online, also known as AOL. AOL even issued a statement saying that they have morals and values and simply do not agree with the statements and comments that Limbaugh recently made against the female student. Aside from AOL, Sleep Number and The Sleep Train, along with Citrix and LegalZoom have removed their advertisements from the radio talk show segment. These companies do not want to be associated with someone who causes such controversy.

Some of these companies have even made it clear that the feedback from their customers is what helped them make the decision as to whether or not they should stop advertising during the show. A lot of people, customers included, are in agreement that Limbaugh was completely out of line with what he said about the student. And, companies want to go with what their customers believe is right because that is who they are trying to satisfy in the long run. The CEO for Carbonite, yet another company to remove its advertisements from the talk show, says that no one with a daughter the same age as the female student could possibly agree with such verbal abuse.