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#2289407 - 07/03/08 03:15 AM

Rush Limbaugh's pay

gahuntertom
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Registered: 11/13/05
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Loc: Atlanta

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Talk was never cheap for Rush Limbaugh, but now it is getting a lot more expensive.

The A.M. radio host will be paid about $400 million to continue serving up his daily dose of conservative patter through 2016. His $50 million a year paycheck represents a raise of about $14.4 million a year over his current contract, which was paying him $285 million over eight years and was set to expire in 2009.

The deal — struck a month short of the 20th anniversary of “The Rush Limbaugh Show” — is thought to be the most expensive in radio since Howard Stern moved to Sirius Satellite Radio for a reported $500 million in 2004.

“I’m not retiring until every American agrees with me,” Mr. Limbaugh, 57, said on his radio program Wednesday.

The deal amounts to a major bet by Clear Channel Communications and its syndication subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks, that Mr. Limbaugh’s brand of conservative talk will prosper well into the next decade. The company announced the contract renewal on Wednesday, though the financial details were supplied by Mr. Limbaugh in an interview with The New York Times Magazine for an article that was posted online at http://www.nytimes.com on Wednesday and will appear in print on Sunday.

Mr. Limbaugh’s windfall comes at an acutely tough time for the radio industry, which has been troubled by technologies like iPods and a sluggish advertising climate. The total time spent listening to radio has fallen 16 percent in the last decade, according to data compiled by Arbitron, the measurement firm.

Advertisers have taken note: Nielsen Monitor-Plus, an advertising information service, measured a 3.6 percent decline in national radio spending last year.

“Frankly, since 2001, we’ve had a number of things going against us,” said Jeff Haley, the chief executive of the Radio Advertising Bureau.

In April, the bureau, a trade group, helped introduce “Radio Heard Here,” a marketing campaign that is meant to reiterate the medium’s relevance and emphasize that it reaches 235 million listeners a week. “Rush represents the reach of radio,” Mr. Haley said.

Certainly, the eight-year contract and large payout for Mr. Limbaugh underscore his position as the leading purveyor of political talk radio. Only a handful of other radio personalities — like Mr. Stern, Paul Harvey, Ryan Seacrest, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck — have anywhere near the same recognition and power to name their prices.

“Limbaugh is a master of the airwaves,” said Michael Harrison, the editor of the radio industry publication Talkers Magazine, in a telephone interview Wednesday. “He is the best talent on the air in modern broadcasting.”

Mr. Limbaugh’s existing contract, which was worth $285 million over eight years, was set to expire next year. His show — which is on every weekday from noon to 3 p.m. — attracts 3.5 million listeners in an average quarter-hour, and reaches an unparalleled audience of nearly 20 million in an average week, according to Premiere. This makes him the country’s most popular news-talk host by far.

“Broadcasters of Rush’s quality come along once in a lifetime,” John Hogan, the chief executive of Clear Channel Radio, said in a statement on Wednesday. “We’re privileged to continue our relationship which is unprecedented in the history of our industry.”

Mr. Limbaugh is not the only radio star who is busy pumping his franchise. Sean Hannity, the country’s No. 2 host according to Talkers Magazine, is in contract talks with his current syndication company, ABC Radio, as well as Premiere, for a potential three-way deal, according to two sources close to the negotiations. They requested anonymity because the deal had not been signed.

Glenn Beck, another popular host, signed a new contract with Premiere last year that will pay him $10 million a year through 2012.

Mr. Hannity and Mr. Beck each appear on radio while hosting television shows, writing books and staging nationwide tours. Other media personalities, including Oprah Winfrey and Mr. Seacrest, also have radio engagements that feed into their cross-platform brands. But Mr. Limbaugh sticks to his self-proclaimed “golden E.I.B. microphone” — E.I.B., for excellence in broadcasting — and his associated Web site.

In The New York Times Magazine interview, Mr. Limbaugh said the new contract would pay him about $38 million a year for eight years. He also said he would receive a nine-figure signing bonus, and that he earned extra income by selling advertising time on his show and endorsing products. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

“First and foremost I’m a businessman,” Mr. Limbaugh told the magazine. “My first goal is to attract the largest possible audience so I can charge confiscatory ad rates. I happen to have great entertainment skills, but that enables me to sell airtime.”

But Mr. Limbaugh remains a decidedly traditional media celebrity, remaining almost exclusively a radio man. His call-in show is the flagship program of nearly 600 local radio stations. And his brand of staunchly conservative talk, punctuated by bravado and humor, has set the tone for a generation of radio commentators.

The fact that he purposely antagonizes people is part of the draw. Among the more noteworthy examples, in 2006 Mr. Limbaugh made fun of the actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease, saying that the physical symptoms Mr. Fox had displayed in a political appeal for embryonic stem cell research were “purely an act.”

His success is especially significant given the difficulties of the radio business, which is challenged not only by portable music devices but also by satellite services like Sirius and the growing availability of other entertainment options.

“The terrestrial radio industry must provide the best possible programming or it will not survive in the face of the competition on the Internet and from other new technologies,” said Mr. Harrison of Talkers Magazine.

He added, “The industry has to make sure it has the major league stars in broadcasting; therefore, it makes sense that the most money and the longest contract would go to the biggest star in radio today, and that’s Rush.”

Syndicated talk shows, like Mr. Limbaugh’s, have fared somewhat better than music formats in recent years. When Clear Channel reported a $30 million decline in radio revenue in the first quarter of 2008, it said that the decline was partially offset by syndication and Internet revenues. Charlie Rahilly, the chief executive of Premiere, said that support among sponsors of Mr. Limbaugh’s show was “as strong as it’s ever been.”

Mr. Limbaugh’s new contract was reminiscent of the one that Mr. Stern signed four years ago when he defected from terrestrial radio to Sirius. He is reportedly being paid $100 million each year for five years, though that deal also covered the staff, production and studio costs for “The Howard Stern Show.”

Asked whether Mr. Limbaugh had considered a move to satellite like Mr. Stern, Mr. Rahilly said that it was not discussed. “With 600 affiliates, that’s an unmatched platform that essentially has ubiquity,” he said.