Huffington’s Bill Mann Proves He Knows NOTHING About Radio
Huffington Post radio reviewer Bill Mann made what he thought was a startling revelation about Rush Limbaugh today:
It’s because — ready for this? — Rush’s show was, and presumably still is, given away for free to many local radio stations.
This shocker is because of a little-known practice in broadcast syndication called a “barter deal.” (Barter deals were briefly mentioned in Michael Wolff’s first-rate recent piece on Rush in Vanity Fair).
Mann is probably right, Rush’s small market affiliates, are probably bartered. And Glenn Beck, the other show that Premiere syndicates is also probably bartered in small market stations. In fact almost every radio show that is syndicated to small markets, gets there through barter…