Rush Limbaugh Kicked Off Largest Conservative Radio Station In Philly
“The Rush Limbaugh Show” will soon no longer be broadcast on Philadelphia’s dominate conservative radio station and one of the largest strongholds of conservative talk in the United States. WPHT announced on Wednesday that it will instead move forward with The Michael Smerconish Show.
While the station has not directly said Rush’s firing came down to his recent “slut” comments made against Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke, the move is sure to raise more questions about Limbaugh’s ability to continue his show after nearly 600 affiliates dropped his program following the comments he made.
Earlier this week competitor The Mike Huackabee Show started broadcasting in the same noon-to-3 p.m. time slot that has been dominated by Rush Limbaugh.
At this time its unclear when the change will take place and Premiere Radio Networks which syndicated Rush’s show has failed to comment on the end of the show. Speculation now surrounded a move over to WKDN for Rush Limbaugh, that station is currently a Christian programming network however it is expected to soon move over to news-talk.
WKDN is a smaller 38,000-watt station however unlike WPHT it is an FM station and the Premiere Radio Network has been attempting lately to move all of its syndicated shows over to FM stations.
In the meantime WPHT owner CBS Radio said in a statement this week:
“Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia. As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in the market, in this new time period.”
Mr. Smerconish in the meantime doesn’t fit the stereotypical radio personality in that he is not to the extreme-right or extreme-left but rather is a moderate who has interviewed people from all walks of life including President Obama. Michael is also a Philadelphia native. Smerconish’s show is syndicated all over the country but until now it has been time-delayed in Philadelphia to make way for Rush Limbaugh’s own show.
