It is serendipitous or providential

After decades as a dominant force in talk radio, Rush Limbaugh could be in for his biggest fight yet. But the threat isn't from burberry ties activist groups who dislike his conservative politics. It is from one of his own: former Republican governor of Arkansas and onetime presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee.

Starting April 9, Mr. Huckabee, a Fox News Channel commentator, will go head-to-head with Mr. Limbaugh in a syndicated radio program airing in the noon to 3 p.m. Eastern time, weekday slot.

"The Huckabee Show" will initially air on 140 stations, well short of Mr. Limbaugh's roughly 600. But the recent drama over Mr. Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student a "slut" for her comments about contraception insurance coverage has given Mr. Huckabee an opening. Numerous advertisers bolted from "The Rush Limbaugh Show," and at least two stations dropped the program.

With the slogan "more conversation, less confrontation," the syndicator behind "Huckabee," Cumulus Media Networks, has been pitching the new show to advertisers as a less combative alternative to Mr. Limbaugh. Cumulus is a unit of Cumulus Media Inc., CMLS +0.89% which owns 570 radio stations.

"I'm not a person who would call anyone by names that would cause my late mother to come out of her grave and slap me to the burberry handbags floor," said Mr. Huckabee in an interview.

Through a representative, Mr. Limbaugh declined to comment.

"It is serendipitous or providential, however you want to look at it," said Cumulus Media co-Chief Operating Officer John W. Dickey of Mr. Limbaugh's troubles.

Cumulus itself carries the Limbaugh program on 40 of its stations, including WABC in New York, the nation's largest radio market. Radio veteran Joel Hollander, a former chief executive of CBS Radio, said "one of the big litmus tests" will be whether Cumulus pulls the Limbaugh show from WABC when its contract expires and picks up the Huckabee program.
[HUCKABEE]

Finding another New York home for Mr. Limbaugh might be complicated because other stations would have to change their programming formats to fit in his show. If Premiere Networks, the syndicator of Mr. Limbaugh's show, couldn't find another New York station, "that would be a huge chink in the armor" for Mr. Limbaugh's ability to sell national advertising, Mr. Hollander said.

In an interview, Cumulus's Mr. Dickey said he would "honor" existing contracts with the Limbaugh show, including at WABC. But he didn't rule burberry belts out a switch to Mr. Huckabee in the future. "We are in favor of eating our own cooking," he said.

At launch, 50 Cumulus stations will air "Huckabee."

"Mike Huckabee will pose the most formidable challenge to Limbaugh that I can remember from a conservative hosting in the same time slot and being backed by a major company," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers Magazine, a talk-radio trade journal.

Premiere Networks, part of Clear Channel Communications Inc., said in a statement that it had no "official drops [in stations] due to Huckabee" and dismissed any imminent challenge to its embattled host.

"Mike Huckabee is the latest in a long line of those who have attempted to compete with Rush," Premiere Networks said. Premiere also noted that reports of advertisers leaving are "grossly exaggerated."

Indeed, some advertisers are likely to stick with Mr. Limbaugh. And as the controversy diminishes, some of the departed may even return, according to media buyers. For marketers, the show is an easy way to reach a large group of highly educated affluent males, Mr. Limbaugh's core audience,burberry scarves according to media buyers.

Over the years, other conservative talk-show hosts have failed to dethrone Mr. Limbaugh, including another Fox News commentator, Bill O'Reilly, who hosted a noon to 2 p.m. syndicated show from 2002 to 2009. When he stepped down, Mr. O'Reilly cited a desire to reduce his workload. Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee followed in that time slot in 2009, but ended his show about a year ago.

(Fox News is owned by News Corp NWSA -0.89% ., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.)

The advertising environment in radio has dimmed, adding to pressure on Mr. Limbaugh.

Radio-industry ad revenues plummeted 25% between 2006 and 2011, estimates MagnaGlobal, both because of the economic downturn and longer term moves away from radio.

"The medium is struggling" with ad revenues shifting to "digital channels and TV," said Vincent Letang, director of global forecasting at burberry kids skirts cheap MagnaGlobal, a media buying and research arm of Interpublic Group of Cos IPG -0.25% .

The Limbaugh storm has been "a stomach punch for radio" at a time when advertisers are "already fleeing to other targeted media" such as the Internet, said Gordon Borrell, chief executive of Borrell Associates Inc., a local-media research firm.

Since the problems arose a long list of companies have distanced themselves from the Limbaugh show including AOL Inc., AOL +0.11% ProFlowers.com, Citrix Systems Inc. CTXS -1.25% and Allstate Corp. ALL +0.28% Ad buyers say that there can be hundreds of advertisers associated with Mr. Limbaugh's program since ads can be purchased either nationally or locally on hundreds of stations around the country.

Mr. Huckabee "is a conservative but he is not controversial, so he could pick up some of the advertisers," said Coreen Gelber, director of local investment at PhD, a media buying firm owned by Omnicom Group Inc. OMC +0.36%

Still, ad buyers say that for big ad dollars to move, "Huckabee" needs to acquire more stations.

So far, only two stations have publicly said they are abandoning "Limbaugh." In some cases, however, contracts with Premiere require stations to continue paying for the show even if they don't air it. In other cases, stations can quit the show with 90 days notice.

Cumulus Media's Mr. Dickey said "some" Limbaugh stations had already decided to switch to the former governor's show, but wouldn't disclose how many or which ones. One broadcaster who didn't want to burberry bags outlet be identified said it had dropped "Limbaugh" and signed "Huckabee."

A former Baptist minister who started in radio when he was 14, Mr. Huckabee said that his new show would be "heavy on politics," but not "altogether predictable."

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