Rush Limbaugh Advertiser Sleep Train Pulls Commercials In Wake Of Sandra Fluke 'Slut' Firestorm

[Julian Englis]

58. The Hypocrisy of Premiere/Clear Channel

Rush Limbaugh gets 0 days suspension, but KFI's John & Ken got 7

Rush Limbaugh’s continuing battle with his critics over his attack on a Georgetown law student as a “slut” and a “prostitute” has focused largely on several dozen advertisers reported to have pulled away from his radio show.

There has been no serious talk at Premiere Radio Networks — the company that syndicates Limbaugh’s show to more than 600 stations — about suspending or otherwise disciplining America’s most popular talk radio host. That's what Premiere management has said.

But that might seem like an unlikely position for the outfit to stake out so unequivocally, since Premiere is a subsidiary of Clear Channel and Clear Channel just last month suspended KFI-AM (640) radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou for calling the late Whitney Houston a “crack ho.” KFI carries both Limbaugh and John & Ken.

The acerbic duo missed seven programs in late February when the Los Angeles station called them out for what management called “insensitive and inappropriate comments.” Kobylt and Chiampou apologized to their listeners and to Houston's family both before and after their suspension.

Clear Channel-owned KFI also made a series of other pledges to increase sensitivity to minorities at the station, which activists complain features only white hosts. Kobylt and Chiampou agreed to take part in “cultural sensitivity training," the station said, "furthering their awareness of the cultural melting pot that is Southern California.”

[link:http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/03/rush-limbaugh-gets-0-days-off-while-kfis-john-ken-get-7.html|