Patterico's Pontifications

2/19/2014

L.A. Times Botches Basic Facts Underlying Story About Rush Limbaugh Leaving KFI

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:56 pm



The Los Angeles Times reports that KFI has not lost any ratings during the “month” that KFI has (supposedly) not been airing Rush Limbaugh. (As we will soon see, this reporting is utterly bogus — which I’m sure you find shocking, given the source.) Here’s ace reporter Ryan Faughnder:

It’s early days, but losing Rush Limbaugh to another Clear Channel station didn’t seem to hurt ratings for KFI-AM (640) in January.

Numbers released Tuesday by Nielsen Audio showed little change in KFI’s numbers in the first month after Clear Channel moved the conservative talk show host to KEIB-AM (1150), formerly known as KTLK-AM.

KFI, which has switched to all-local programming, accounted for a 3.1% share of the Los Angeles-Orange County audience for the period of Jan. 2 to Jan. 29, flat with the previous month and ranking at No. 10.

Quiz for those reading this article:

Q: When did KFI begin their new local schedule that omits Rush Limbaugh?

a) Before Jan. 2
b) Beginning Jan. 20

If you guessed b), you are correct. Here’s Richard Wagoner at the Los Angeles Daily News on January 8:

It has been common knowledge for the past month or so that Rush Limbaugh would be moved from his longtime home of KFI (640 AM) to the new “Patriot,” KEIB (formerly KTLK, 1150 AM), so when I logged on to the KFI website Monday to find out who the new host was for the unfilled 1-3 p.m. shift, I was surprised to see Limbaugh still listed as the 9 a.m. to noon host.

I was ready to call KFI/KEIB’s marketing manager, Neil Saavadra, and give him a hard time about the mistake. Until I tuned in and discovered that Limbaugh was indeed on KFI. As well as KEIB. What gives?

“We wanted to make the transition an easy one,” Saavadra told me. So through Jan. 17, you can hear Limbaugh on two local stations. Then, Jan. 20 will mark the beginning of KFI’s almost-all-local format.

Our young Jimmy Olsen said that ratings were unchanged “in the first month after” Limbaugh had been “moved” to a different station — yet it appears that Limbaugh was actually gone for all of nine days of the 28-day period in question.

Reader Steven D. reports:

I sent the author an email and said I didn’t expect a correction, because it is the LA Times and the LA Times isn’t all that concerned with accuracy. Nothing on the story has changed, and I sent emails to the top editors of the Times to tell them about their inaccurate story. Not that they’ll care.

So cynical, Steven D. is!

And, of course, with good reason. Because this paper is truly amazing in its capacity for misstating the facts in service of a partisan slant.

Oh well. They’ll keep telling falsehoods. It’s what they do. We’ll keep correcting them. It’s what we do.

9 Responses to “L.A. Times Botches Basic Facts Underlying Story About Rush Limbaugh Leaving KFI”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Unexpectedly!

    AZ Bob (533fbc)

  3. AZ Bob – What you said!

    Bill M (c8f413)

  4. This “Patriot” station appears to be an LA-only AM channel. I can’t pull the signal in on any radio, including my car, from Orange County. Makes me really wonder why ClearChannel moved a powerhouse to a station that can’t reach its audience. Now I have to stream Rush via their app. It’s not like Orange County is far from the broadcast site either!

    Randar (a5a706)

  5. team r and it’s posse will do anything to quiet America’s anchor man.

    mg (31009b)

  6. I read that Matthew Yglesias claimed it couldn’t be heard at all in OC. I live in Fullerton, and have listened to KEIB from my car as far south as Crown Valley Parkway and as far east as Yorba Linda (Imperial Highway). KEIB is not a clear channel station like KFI. Oh, well.

    Lee Eastman (f3240a)

  7. So cynical, Steven D. is!

    he’s not cynical, he’s experienced… 😎

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  8. In New York City, Rush Limbaugh has moved form his longtime home of WABC – 770 AM – to next door WOR 710, which actually has a stronger signal.

    Sammy Finkelman (3015b5)

  9. FTR, KFI 640 just lost its spot on my car radio buttons. No spite, just nothing there I care to listen to anymore. I used to hit the button occasionally and listen to their non-Limbaugh programming, but that’s the end of that.

    Tom Van Dyke (4243ab)


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