Another station dumps Limbaugh over comments

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A second radio station has dropped Rush Limbaugh's talk show in reaction to his derisive comments about a Georgetown law student advocating birth control be covered by the Jesuit university's health care plan.

Radio station 1420 AM WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass., said Tuesday it is no longer airing Limbaugh's show and apologized to anyone offended by the commentator's remarks.

“While we understand the controversial nature of talk radio and encourage political discourse, we believe there are ways to do that without exceeding the bounds of civility,” the station said.

Even though Limbaugh has apologized, that was too little, too late for many. A slew of advertisers have left the show and at least one other radio station, KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii, has stopped airing it.

WBEC said Limbaugh's remarks violated the standards it has for its stations and left the company with no choice but to remove him from its airwaves.

“We thought it was completely uncalled for,” said Peter Barry, vice president and market manager. “If one of our local on-air personalities were to refer to someone in the disparaging manner that Rush did, they would be terminated.”

The station has received phone calls all day about the move. Barry said for every one complaint, it is receiving about 50 calls in support of the decision to drop Limbaugh.

A number of anti-Limbaugh campaigns are pressuring companies to ditch Limbaugh, using Facebook, Twitter and other online forums.