Today he announced a setback with his lung cancer:
. . . .and it appears his days as radio host are all but numbered. Love him or hate in those are big shoes to fill in Conservative Talk Radio. For instance we have a local AM CTR station owned by Clear Channel where its a morning show then Glenn Beck 10-12, Rush 12-3, Shawn Hannity 3-6 and its been that way forEVER. So as you can imagine while its a Midday slot, this station has a problem coming up.
Some possible candidates to take Rush’s chair:
-Buck Sexton
-Ken Matthews
-Joe Pags
-Mark Steyn. Of the above I like Steyn the best from an entertainment standpoint.
Guys who I dont think will do it:
-Glenn Beck; too wrapped up in his own network, and a bit goofy
-Sean Hannitty; no reason to change time slots and has own highly rated TV show
-Alex Jones; too out there even for CTR
-Bill O’Reilly; too many listeners creeped out by the whole Fox lawsuit thing
ULTIMIATELY I’m going to guess Limbaugh’s syndication network will fracture or go away and no one will take over the “golden microphone”. As for my local station, they will just have to find new programming on their own.
I’m sure however I missed a lot of candidates–name 'em!
Rush is (was) a phenomenon. His undeniable talent and entertainment value kept his audience from realizing he had no scruples about what brand of conservatism he happened to endorse at any point in time.
When El-Rushbo passes so will his era, just like other one-of-a-kind-talents from Johnny Carson to Paul Harvey to Arthur Godfrey to Garrison Keeler.
I agree with Man_Super above- radio personalities are largely irreplaceable. The only time I’ve seen it done was with that syndicated morning guy Kidd Kraddick, whose show is still continuing 7 years after his passing.
I’d bring up Mark Belling who has sat in for Rush several times.
However, he is starting to get up in age and has had significant health problems himself. Plus I have no idea if after all these years he has any interest in leaving his own local show for a nationally syndicated one.
I have observed that, while sitting in for Limbaugh, Belling exhibits a much milder persona than he does on his own show. I don’t know if he’d be able to do that permanently.
Yeah that’s why I really think his syndicated network will just break up. Remember when Howard Stern left radio for Sirius? His stations tried replacing him with various shock jocks and David Lee Roth and it failed miserably. It’s brutal to try to replace a popular radio personality/show. It does happen, but it’s hard- especially when you are trying to replace a GOAT.
I think a lot of that was because his show was/is very much an ensemble show with 4-5 other major co-hosts on it, and while he was the biggest single person on it, he wasn’t necessarily who the show revolved around as much as say… Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh.
I have a feeling that what they’ll do is revamp the schedule, and move one of the existing conservative talk people like Mark Davis, Sean Hannity or Mark Levin into Limbaugh’s slot, and move someone else up to the "big time in whatever the worst slot is.
So true, but wouldn’t it be fun to see him try and fail? Others have suggested Twitter will close his account by January 21 at the latest, so he might want the platform at first. As I keep insisting, once he is no longer president his following will dwindle to almost nothing. All those cowardly senators who refused to oust him will suddenly find their voices and denounce him as the problem and declare there intention to move the GOP back to the stately, rational party it was before Trump fucked it all up.
The best case scenario would be an on air firing. With a hot mic in the studio, hear the sound of a door opening then the sound of the station managers voice: “Sorry big guy, your ratings are a flop”. “I’ll let you finish this broadcast, but then go clear out your desk/office. Your fired, but you can keep the coffee cup; 'America’s Voice”, kinda funny huh big guy? Rusty the security guard will escort you out after you sign off the air and collect your things".
