American radio's top 'shock jock' reveals deafness but vows to carry on broadcasting coast-to-coast to 600 stations.
You see?
The valiant Pigboy endeavors to press on.
(sigh- he's my hero...)
And objection to the term "reveals."
That implies it's true and he's letting us in on said truth.
It would be much more accurate to say, "Rush
claimed he's going deaf."
There's a difference between a fact and a claim.
The press can't figure out words mean things?
Lawrence Donegan in San Francisco
Sunday October 14, 2001
The Observer
America's most infamous talk radio show host,
Rush Limbaugh, was in typically gung-ho mood on the bombing
of Afghanistan. 'It's Hammer Time, folks!' he
declared to his 20 million listeners, showing the sophisticated
analysis of international politics that has kept
them tuned in for 15 years.
Common mistake, but Rush doesn't have 20 million listeners, no matter
how many times he lies about it.
He has (up to) FOUR million listeners five times per week.
But Limbaugh's image as the indestructible voice
of the American Right was shaken last week with the announcement
that he has gone almost completely deaf over
the past six months. 'I can't communicate with people,' he told his audience
last Thursday morning. 'I can occasionally talk
to people in person, one to one. But I can't hear radio. I can't hear television.
I can't hear music. My left ear is completely
shot, and I've lost 80 per cent of my hearing in the right. If the pattern
keeps up,
I will be entirely deaf.'
Did you catch the Pigboy caveat? "If
the pattern keeps up..."
That means, IF
he's telling the truth, there's a CHANCE he may, one day, go deaf.
Limbaugh said he first realised he had a problem
at the end of May, when he woke one morning with no hearing in his
left ear. Despite a rapid decline over the following
months he was still able to broadcast his show, though several listeners
had sent him emails asking why he was sounding
different. 'It could well be that my voice is changing. I don't know.
I can't hear myself well enough to know.'
Doctors have diagnosed a rare condition known
as auto-immune inner ear disease, AIED, which they describe as akin
to arthritis of the ear. It is responsible for
just 1 per cent of hearing loss cases.
Immune deficiency?
Isn't that what AIDS is about?
A failed sports broadcaster who rose to prominence during Newt Gingrich's Republican 'revolution' of the early Nineties, 50-year-old Limbaugh made a career - and millions of dollars - out of baiting former President Clinton and America's liberal community. His core audience, known to friend and foe alike as 'ditto heads', is drawn largely from an angry white male constituency, though some on the left have been known to tune in on a 'know thy enemy' basis.
Pretty accurate statement, but, to my knowledge, he's never broadcasted
any sports.
He handled group ticket purchases for the Royals, but that's hardly
"broadcasting."
In July he signed a nine-year $259 million deal
to syndicate his show to over 600 stations across America, the richest
contract in the history of radio. Limbaugh and
his syndication company, Premier Networks, both insist they didn't know
the extent of his condition when the deal was
signed, though both appear committed to seeing it fulfilled.
I'd suuuuuuuuure like to read a copy of that contract.
I'll bet it's a hoax.
Pigboy says he didn't know "the extent of
his condition" when he signed that contract?
Horseshit!
You don't have to have a degree in medicine to know your left ear is
"completely shot."
That's like a football player signing a ten year contract knowing he's
lost the use of one arm.
'They (the doctors) have told me they are 15 years
away from a cure. I'll only be 65, and the word "retire" is not in
my vocabulary. I'm not going to quit until every
American agrees with me,' the broadcaster said.
More endless self-promotion from P.T. Pigboy.
So when he bails out, the right will gush with admiration for "his
determination to press on."
Gag me.
There has been an outpouring of sympathy for Limbaugh
but some commentators are critical at the way he handled the announcement.
Jerry Del Colliano, publisher of the daily industry newsletter Inside Radio,
accused him of not being
straight with his listeners and advertisers.
'He says his listeners are his extended family yet while he knew of his
hearing loss in May he chose not to share the
information with them until this week.'
You can bet the retirement play was written in stone before he breathed
a word of it.
Ken Meuller, radio curator at New York's Museum
of Television and Radio, said Limbaugh's disappearance from the
nation's airwaves would be disastrous. 'He has
been a very important figure in modern radio. A lot of AM stations
in America were struggling, and these stations
were able to rebuild themselves around Limbaugh's programme.'
If AM Radio can't make it without Nazi hate they should go of the goddamn
air.
Some stations might be tempted to blame falling
revenues over the next year on Limbaugh's deafness, according
to Del Colliano, when the real problem is the
advertising recession and Limbaugh's steady assimilation into the
US establishment. 'He is undoubtedly a huge star
but I begin to wonder - and several radio stations have shared
this concern with me too - whether he is still
on the cutting edge now he doesn't have Bill Clinton to kick around.'
I think this piece was written by a ditto-head who threw in a few shots
at Rush as cover.
Falling revenues are due to Johnny One Note having no Clinton devil
to bash.
But Kraig Kitchen, president of Limbaugh's syndication
company, insisted technological advances, coupled with his
star's resolve, would be enough to ensure the
longevity of the Limbaugh brand. 'During Rush's three-hour programme
he typically talks to between six and nine callers.
We have employed real-time transcription technology that allows him
to read the communication that is coming into
his right ear, so it is in front of him on a screen,' he said. 'We've also
got
technology that allows the producers who have
worked with him for years to show Rush, through notes and through
different colours on the computer monitor, the
moods, impressions and the direction that each caller approaches
each phone conversation with.'
That won't work and I'll tell you why:
That would make it "The Rush and Bob Show,"
and his ego would never allow that.
If a caller says "Hillary is the smartest
woman in the world," "Bob" will have to determine if
the calleris being flattering or sarcastic, and that could put Pigboy
in an even more ignorant position.
The day after announcing his deafness, Limbaugh
received more than 30,000 emails and countless phone calls,
including one from New York Mayor and fellow
Republican Rudi Giuliani. Dr Jennifer Derebery, a Los Angeles
hearing specialist who is treating the broadcaster,
described AIED as an inflammation of the inner ear caused
by the patient's own immune system.
Rush, you may have gone a hampster too far.