Rush Limbaugh's phony empire exposed

The business model of radio is matching advertising dollars with ears via content. The model of right-wing talk radio, on the other hand, appears to be matching dollars with mostly phony listeners via fakery and hype.

If you've ever listened to a right-wing talk show and were impressed that a caller teed up a perfect swing for the talk show host, you may have been listening to a setup. For example, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Glenn Beck are syndicated by a company called Premiere Networks. That very company has a secretive voice talent hiring service called Premiere On Call with an ironclad confidentiality agreement:

By joining this roster/agreeing to perform work for Premiere you are also agreeing to keep the type of work that you perform confidential. This applies to information acquired while working for Premiere or any of its affiliates.

Disclosure to any third party, sharing project information or publicizing(including via social media) may be considered grounds for dismissal or further action.

Premiere On Call isn't particularly concerned about how old you are. Much more important'how old do you sound?

Roughly, old [sic] do you SOUND? (Teens-20s? 20s-30s?)

Premiere On Call also inquires about characteristics that would be useful to any radio talk show:

Please describe your voice - include your local or native accent, adjectives might include: gruff, light, clean, crisp, high, deep, textured [...]

Please note any impressions or special skills.

When "actors are hired to read scripts and pretend to be real people," it is all about creating an image. Such shenanigans were exposed months before Rush Limbaugh's Sandra Fluke tirade, but didn't get much notice.

But let us not rehash old news when there are dramatic new discoveries to explore. Remember Rush Babes For America? Rush was feeling pressure from the "Nags" (his term for the National Organization for Women), and his new crisis team came up with the idea that they might show off the power of a radio program that (allegedly) reaches 20 million Americans on 600 radio stations. "Rush Babes" was a one-time show-off event; Rush's medium is one way talk radio, not the more chaotic and anarchistic venue of social media. Thus, it should surprise no one that the most recent post on the Rush Babes For America Facebook page was entered on May 23, more than six weeks ago.

Ahhh, but that long ago date is two days more recent than his most recent tweet. That's right, after all the hype about giving away iPads for Twitter followers, the Rush team discontinued use of Twitter almost as soon as they started.

But let's dig a little deeper. The Flush Rush team on Facebook did some exploring, and discovered that (according to the Rush Babes For America Facebook page) Rush's pro-America, rah-rah go USA listener audience is mainly'wait for it'in New Delhi!

As my friend Justin observes, it is possible to buy "likes" for Facebook pages, and it appears that is exactly what the exceptionalist, USA-Number One crisis team for Rush Limbaugh has done. And they didn't even bother to buy their "likes" from the good ol' U.S.A. How do you like them apples, righties?

(Continue reading below the fold.)