Mike Huckabee was going to be the hammer used by anti-Rush Limbaugh forces both competitive and political to unseat Limbaugh once and for all.
During the height of the anti-Rush fever, I highlighted how Cumulus Media sought to leverage the anti-Limbaugh boycotts by holding Huckabee out as a viable conservative replacement.
Readers here weren’t buying it, and the readers were right. Via The Radio Equalizer (h/t HotAir):
With mainstream media expectations so high, Mike Huckabee’s new radio talk show was probably bound to disappoint. But newly-available hard data reveals a gaping donut hole where the audience should be….According to newly-released Arbitron audience data, the Huckster is off to the kind of start that makes Air America Radio appear downright successful.That’s despite enjoying an avalanche of free publicity upon his debut.And that’s even before we compare him to Rush, as Huck doesn’t stand on his own, either:
In New York City, where he currently airs evenings on WOR-AM, Huck ranked just 20th overall in the broadest audience demographic, listeners six and older. Houston’s KSEV registered a tiny 0.1 overall audience share during his timeslot, good for 43th place in what should be a friendly environment. In Seattle, heard from 4-6pm local time, Mike drew a 0.2 on KCIS-AM, for a 36th place finish. A similar story in Cincinnati: 0.2 overall and 31st place on WQRT-AM. Hartford: 0.0 at WDRC-AMAdding markets where Huckabee goes head-to-head with Limbaugh only underscores the futile nature of this battle: In San Francisco, where Mike’s heard on KSFO, Rush has a 143.4% larger overall audience. In Dallas, where Cumulus seeks to remove Limbaugh from his longtime home at WBAP, El Rushbo is CRUSHING the Huckster with eleven listeners for every one fried squirrel fan. Mike ranks 40th in the Metroplex. Portland Oregon: Rush’s ratings are 1444% higher. Huck ranks 27th there, heard on KUFO-AM. Salt Lake City: Rush beating Mike by 13900%. The latter ranks 40th at KKAT. Providence / New Bedford / Fall River: Huck stuck in 44th, Rush with 766% higher ratings. Jacksonville: Rush beats by 8500%, Huck takes 27th place.
Between the infiltrator at StopRush and data confirming that Huckabee is flopping, June has been a pretty good month for Limbaugh.
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