Annual Talk Host Rankings Revealed

More Air America Troubles

Liberal Talk Hosts MIA In New Industry Survey


Fresh evidence of Air America's troubles has emerged in the latest issue of Talkers Magazine, an industry trade publication, which annually tracks the popularity of nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts.

None of the liberal talk hosts in Air America's lineup, or those distributed by other companies made the 2005 Talkers list, which ranked the 30 largest programs by audience size.

In addition, it surveyed the talk radio listenership and broke it down by group. We'll discuss that later in this piece.

Added to recent mounting evidence of lackluster ratings nearly everywhere for the network, this data does not bode well for "progressive" talk's future.

The Radio Equalizer would add that Air America's talk hosts have seemed largely absent from the spotlight in recent weeks when key news events have occurred.

Did you see them on cable talk shows, quoted in the papers, or in any other capacity outside their own programs, on the biggest news stories? Where were they in the Newsweek fiasco?

A vital aspect of programming promotion, is by way of free media exposure, outside of radio. Without it, it's exceptionally difficult to build an audience.

Before taking a look at it, it's important to know a few things about its source, Talkers Magazine. It's a quirky, imperfect publication and like other radio trades, frequent advertisers are favored in editorial coverage.

That actually should have helped, not prevented, liberal talkers from making this list given their heavy ad presence in the last year.

Does Talkers have a conservative bias? In my view, from years in the industry, attending trade conventions, reading the publication and personal knowledge of those behind the magazine, I can confidently say no.

In fact, its publisher has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for liberal talk, so it must have been disappointing to have to exclude these hosts from the rankings.

Where's Al Franken? When even the network's marquee talent can't make the top 30 list, there's a serious problem.

In addition, it's more art than science in compiling such a ranking. It relies on combining Arbitron ratings data from cities where hosts are heard, itself not a certain indicator of audience performance.

It does, however, give us a rough idea of where the programs stand. It's better than anything else we've got.

Here's the list, with names, followed by estimated weekly audience size, rounded to the nearest quarter-million. Keep in mind that local hosts are not included in these rankings.

There are a few, in Los Angeles and New York, that could make this list on the strength of just their one station.


2005 Talkers Magazine Talk Host Survey


1. Rush Limbaugh 14.75 million
2. Sean Hannity 13 million
3. Michael Savage(t) 8.75 million
3. Howard Stern (t) 8.75 million
5. Dr. Laura Schlessinger 7.50 million
6. Laura Ingraham 5 million
7. Jim Bohannon 3.75 million
8. Neal Boortz (t) 3.5 million
8. Mike Gallagher (t) 3.5 million
10. Clark Howard 3.25 million
11. Glen Beck (t) 3 million
11. Don Imus (t) 3 million
11. Bill O'Reilly (t) 3 million
11. Doug Stephan (t) 3 million
15. Dr. Joy Browne (t) 2.75 million
15. George Noory (t) 2.75 million
17. Kim Kommando (t) 2 million
17. Michael Medved (t) 2 million
17. Dave Ramsey (t) 2 million
17. Jim Rome (t) 2 million
21. Bob Brinker (t) 1.75 million
21. G. Gordon Liddy (t) 1.75 million
23. Jerry Doyle (t) 1.5 million
23. Tom Leykis (t) 1.5 million
25. Bill Bennett 1.25 million
26. Jim Cramer (t) 1 million
26. Dr. Dean Edell (t) 1 million
26. Phil Hendrie (t) 1 million
26. Rusty Humphries (t) 1 million
26. Tony Snow (t) 1 million


An unscientific, Radio Equalizer gut analysis, concludes that some of these hosts are overstated here, based on what I know about affiliate size and ratings.

I also strongly dispute the small gap between Limbaugh and Hannity's totals. My sense is that Hannity is much further from catching Rush that this would have us believe.

I have other nitpicky disputes with aspects of it, but I do believe they were correct in leaving Air America's personalities off-- they just haven't earned a place here.

Now we can sit back and wait for the "not enough time" excuses, but the truth is that most of their hosts were already on the air when last year's list was being compiled. And, with all the publicity they've had, there's no reason for Al Franken to be unable to beat the bottom-feeders in this survey.

Beyond that, maybe the numbers just aren't there for liberal talk in the first place.

In the other portion of the Talkers report, it found that just 13% of fans count themselves as being on the left, while 39% are conservative and 22% moderate.

If talk radio makes up, at best, 10% of radio listenership in a metropolitan market and only 13% of those people are liberals, it means Air America may have already found its entire potential audience, with the 1.0 share results seen in many in many cities.

This is probably why we haven't seen any audience growth for Franken & Co.

Update: liberal talk radio blogger BlatherWatch doesn't like my "spin" about Air America, thinks they need more time. Welcome Orbusmax readers.

Check back after 5pm EDT, for a discussion of new radio ratings releases. We'll have data for New York, Chicago, San Diego and more.

Also in the works: a fresh Air America controversy that provides behind-the-scenes details. Check back here soon.

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