Today’s Valley News has a story about the station that carries Rush Limbaugh et al. in the Upper Valley and Kearsarge/Sunapee region of New Hampshire. The reaction: No plans to take him off the air, and nothing much from local advertisers.

The station is actually two: WNTK-FM in New London NH, and WUVR-AM in Lebanon NH. They are owned by the very conservative Bob Vinikoor, who’d be philosophically disinclined to dump Rush unless it was really bad for business. And personally, he doesn’t see a problem with Limbaugh’s toxic rants.

Vinikoor, the WNTK owner, said he was satisfied with Limbaugh’s apology, but added, “It was still a pretty poor choice of words, and the wrong thing to say.”

Yeah, as we’ve noted before, it wasn’t a “poor choice of words,” it was a three-day torrent of horrible words. And when you do a talk show like that, you plan out what you’re going to say. It’s not scripted, and you want it to sound off-the-cuff, but he had his talking points before he went on the air, and he knew exactly what he was going to do.  

As for the advertisers, the Valley News spoke with a few of them, and only found one that was considering a pull-out (geez, the double entendres are almost as bad as with Santorum). Which isn’t terribly surprising; many local business owners are quite conservative, and like Vinikoor, inclined to advertise on Rush because they like him. Unless it was really bad for business. A sampling:

Steve Gunnerson, the administrator for Newport-based Summercrest, an assisted living and senior community, said he wasn’t concerned because Limbaugh had apologized.

“With an apology, that helps a lot,” he said.

And Bill Bates, manager of R.P. Johnson & Son, a building materials company with stores in Sunapee and Andover, N.H., also said he was satisfied that Limbaugh had apologized. “If someone is man enough to apologize, I think you have to accept it and go on,” Bates said.

So, look not to the Upper Valley for a mass movement against Rush Limbaugh.

One rather pathetic note: WNTK put up an online poll about Rush, and got a grand total of 26 responses. Twenty-six. They’ve either got a tiny audience, or a remarkably tech-unsavvy one. (A combination, I think.) Of the 26, 11 wanted him off the air, five who said his apology was insufficient, and 10 who said the apology should settle the matter. (I couldn’t find the poll on their website. Either they’ve closed the poll or they’ve got a really crappy website. Or both.)

BTW, I haven’t had the chance yet to listen to my local Limbaugh carrier (Lysol! Where’s my Lysol?). When I do, I’ll start totting up the local advertisers.