Access Atlanta > Entertainment > Radio Talk > Archives > 2008 > July > 21
Monday, July 21, 2008
7/21: Sean Hannity gets a new contract, Real Housewives of Atlanta date set
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Syndicated talker Sean Hannity, heard locally on WSB-AM, has signed an unusual contract between his original syndicator ABC Radio and Premiere, which handles the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Plus, he gets some profits himself. So it’s worth at least $100 million over five years, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Hannity is the No. 2 radio talk-show host in the country behind only Limbaugh, with audience estimates ranging from 11 to 13 million a week. ABC will handle his syndication on ABC-owned stations while Premiere will take care of the other stations, including WSB-AM. This is a huge pay increase for Hannity.
I’ve left messages with the bigwigs at WSB-AM to see what impact this might have locally. I’m not sure how long Hannity’s contract is with the station. Effectively, its rival Clear Channel, which owns WGST-AM, will be overseeing the syndication come December. That could be awkward.
But WSB-AM is the flamethrower in Atlanta and I can’t see why Hannity would ever want to leave it. (See what happened to Dr. Laura when Premiere moved her over to GST? Her ratings dropped by half and she was eventually booted off the station.) Ironically, Hannity worked at GST from 1992 to 1996 before he went to Fox News and hit the syndication route.
Locally, Hannity’s ratings from 4 to 7 p.m. generally lag behind those of his brethren, local syndicated hosts Neal Boortz and Clark Howard, but he’s still a solid No. 1 among men 25 to 54. Hannity has been on WSB since 2001.
This contract does not affect his “Hannity & Colmes” Fox News TV show, which airs live on weekdays at 9 p.m.
-The five members of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” showed up at the NBC party for TV critics out in Los Angeles. I hope to meet with them soon, but the show doesn’t debut until Sept. 16 so there’s no rush:
-Mark your calendars: Jay Leno’s last day as host of “The Tonight Show” before Conan O’Brien takes over is May 29, 2009. In the meantime, where he goes is still up in the air.
