Hilo radio station dumps Rush Limbaugh’s show

Hilo radio station KPUA-AM 670 has pulled the plug on the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh talk radio show after Limbaugh called Georgetown University law school student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute."

"Had this been one of my disc jockeys that had made this comment, they would have been terminated," said Chris Leonard, president and general manager of KPUA’s Hilo-based parent company, New West Broadcasting Corp.

The controversy led to a dozen national advertisers, including AOL and Sears, cutting ties with Limbaugh’s show, but KPUA was the first or second radio station to drop the program. Hours after news of the KPUA decision raced around the Internet, CBS reported that a Pittsfield, Mass., station also had cut Limbaugh.

Limbaugh’s show is carried on some 5,000 radio stations. Clear Channel Communications Inc., the biggest owner of radio stations in the United States, and its syndication subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks, which hosts the show, signed a $400 million, eight-year contract with Limbaugh in 2008.

Defending himself against the growing ad boycott, Limbaugh told his listeners Monday that the companies that have defected from his program have decided "they don’t want you or your business anymore."

"So be it," he said, reminding his audience that the advertisers "have profited handsomely from you" in the past and asserting that the defectors would be replaced.

But Limbaugh also issued a rare apology, first in a statement Saturday and again on his program Monday.

By attacking Fluke, "I became like the people we oppose," Limbaugh said Monday. "I ended up descending to their level."

He insinuated that advertiser pressure had no effect on his decision to apologize.

Fluke, in an appearance on the ABC talk show "The View" on Monday, suggested otherwise. She said his apology did not change anything, "especially when that statement is issued when he’s under significant pressure from his sponsors who have begun to pull their support."

The effect of the advertiser defections remains hard to assess because the total number of Limbaugh’s national advertisers is unclear. Separately, the hundreds of local stations that carry his program also have their own advertisers. The stations pay the syndicator, Premiere Radio, for the right to carry Limbaugh’s show, partly fortifying it against an ad boycott.

KPUA’s Leonard said he was aware of Limbaugh’s apology, nevertheless, the damage already had been done. "The decision for us is one of decency and responsibility."

Limbaugh attacked Fluke after the law student testified before congressional Democrats in support of their national health care policy that would compel her Jesuit college’s health plan to cover her birth control.

"We are strong believers in the First Amendment and have recognized Mr. Limbaugh’s right to express opinions that oftentimes differ from our own, but it has never been our goal to allow our station to be used for personal attacks and intolerance," Leonard said.

For KPUA, the Limbaugh show was the second-highest ratings generator among male listeners 25 and older from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, Leonard said. High ratings generally translate to higher advertising revenue.

Nevertheless, Limbaugh’s former time slot is being filled by Yahoo! Sports Radio, formerly known as Sporting News Radio Network.

KPUA is a San Francisco Giants broadcast affiliate and with the season beginning shortly "we’ll be airing a good amount of baseball into the early afternoon."

The station has received a slew of phone calls both complaining about and praising the cancellation decision, which Leonard said was not fueled by politics.

Two other Hawaii radio stations air the three-hour weekday Limbaugh broadcast: Oahu’s KHVH-AM 830 from 9 a.m. to noon, and Maui’s KAOI-AM 1110 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The stations will continue to carry the program.

KHVH is owned by Texas-based Clear Channel, which was founded by a politically conservative family.

On KAOI, President and General Manager John Detz aired an apology saying "we disagreed with" the content of Limbaugh’s comments regarding Fluke and found them inappropriate.

He called Limbaugh’s comments "out of bounds," and apologized for airing them, "but I would ask you to listen to the entire broad range of thought we air throughout the day."

KAOI carries not only Limbaugh’s conservative show, Detz said, but talk shows conveying other viewpoints, including libertarian Dennis Miller and liberals Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz.

"At any given time we most likely upset someone in our audience, but we try to be fair with the airing of multiple opinions," said Detz.

"We’re probably one of the few stations" that air such divergent shows, he told the Star-Advertiser.

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The Associated Press and New York Times contributed to this report.