What would it cost to buy the support of just about every nationally syndicated neocon talk show host in America? About $19.5 billion, which is what Mitt Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners have agreed to pay in a leveraged buyout agreement with Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station owner in the country. This is part of a negotiation that has been pending for over a year. Clear Channel owns more than 1,100 full-power AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations, twelve radio channels on XM Satellite Radio, and more than 30 television stations in the United States. Premiere Radio Networks, which is the largest syndication company in the United States, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clear Channel and is home to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and many others. Sean Hannity recently signed a large multi-market contract with Clear Channel, as well.
From an anonymous email:“I’ll bet those hosts won’t reveal that conflict of interest, but it’s worth noting when you hear them begin hyping Romney, which has already begun. A lot of GOP supporters will support whomever they are told to support, so be prepared for a big push for Romney. On the bright side, Romney has more vulnerabilities than Rudy, based on his record. Look at this as the GOP establishment doing us a favor. Rich men can bankroll their own campaigns (a la John Kerry), but it takes a special breed to use investors’ money to buy entire networks that can operate as passive wings of a presidential campaign.”
It should be noted that Mitt Romney, while no longer the CEO, remains a silent partner of Bain Capital.
What do you think?
Remember, Mormons consider the rest of us the enemy. And they have money. LOTS of money. Cocoa-Cola for example. They’re what the Scientology con men would like to be…
Liberal talk radio will never work. Liberals are smart and have jobs. Talk radio’s audience is old people and unemployed folks sitting around their trailer clutching their shotguns hoping the U.N. troops don’t descend to take away their guns. Normal people like me who WORK for a living, don’t sit around and listen to 10 hours of day time radio. So oddly enough (like Art Bell at 4am) you kinda get the retarded lunatics.
So let the little Republican kids have their talky time shows. It makes them feel good. Liberals can still satisfy themselves with things like books (you have to know how to read, eliminates 98% of the talk radio audience), NPR (especially drive time, you know for those of us WITH jobs), and PBS (I know, all art is for Communists).
Re: #33
Ok, just for the record, since we’ve now fallen off DU’s front page:
The top two rated talk/non-news stations in NY are WABC-AM and WOR-AM. WNYC-AM/FM is the local NPR station, and their ratings are so low as to be statistically unmeasurable. During afternoon drive WABC features Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, and WOR has Steve Malzberg and Mark Levin. If you don’t know who these guys are, just Google them. Your monitor will fall off the right side of your desk.
This is what actually exists in the real world, supported by the free market, not the government subsidized, donor supported delusional state that JackF and other MoveOnians float around in.
There is no liberal talk radio because liberals have nothing positive to say. Just lies and hate.