When it comes to ratings, Rush Limbaugh is not blowing smoke.
Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity seem to leave all the other talkers in the radio ratings dust. And although Limbaugh’s lead over Hannity appears slim at first glance, deeper analysis shows that Rush leaves Hannity in the dust, too.
Talkers Magazine says Limbaugh has “a minimum” of 14.75 million listeners who tune in at least once per week. Hannity comes in a close second with 13.75 million.
Limbaugh’s achievement is even more remarkable than it may seem because Hannity’s potential audience is much larger than Limbaugh’s.
Hannity airs 3 pm-6 pm EST. So his entire show airs in radio’s “primetime” in the East and portions of it air in “primetime” everywhere except the Pacific Coast.
Limbaugh’s program airs noon-three pm EST, a virtual dead zone for radio. One of the reasons for his success in syndication is that he brings his affiliates a highly-entertaining, highly-rated program that makes that makes it easy for them to sell advertising time in a daypart on which they used to lose money.
Here’s a complete list of the Top 10:
One other comment:
Ed Schultz has 2,500,000 listeners? OK, now we think the whole survey may be bogus.
Source: Talkers Magazine via LARadio.com
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Can’t believe Medved is in the top ten.
Controversial. What do you think?
Bob, is that your response to any information that doesn’t fit your liberal world view?
Talkers magazine does a pretty good job of being impartial, but it’s run by a confirmed lib. The ratings around the nation are no secret. You can go to RadioandRecords.com and look up the ratings for any station in any market you choose. Rush’s stations have huge ratings, but the lib stations are virtually without listeners.
If you really care to know the truth, you might use the search function at IHateTheMedia.com to look at other articles on the same subject. They’re all factual, full of actual statistics, and all provide links back to the source material. Unless, of course, you want to believe that Nielsen’s TV ratings and Aribitron’s radio ratings are all part of that giant right wing conspiracy you guys are so fond of quoting.
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Sorry, editor, before I saw your comment, I had to ban Bob for subsequent foul language and plain ugly comments. So that removed his comment here on this thread.
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We, who are unable to get through on your phone line, would welcome an email address to comment to/on/by–
We love you Mark! Keep educating the American public — how can we get the attention of those who are too prejudiced/uneducated to listen to conservative talk radio/tv?
Obama is simply a front-man for the democrats and the likes of Bill Ayers/J. Wright. That’s why he remains silent or takes the communal position for America! He loves his newfound importance. Let’s keep an eye on Hillary and Bill in the background–they haven’t changed! And Obama is not as smart as the media would have us believe — his history/general knowledge is sadly wanting!
Controversial. What do you think?
My personal favorite is Savage…the guy is a the best of this bunch by far…he’s a free thinker and a free speaker …. rush and hannity seem a bit forced at times…and they often steal savages thoughts and run them as their own…but # 3 is a good place to run….it keeps some of the Left Winged heat off of him….
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Man, I hate the media too. At least the corporate media. Make no mistake – every host on there is a fear-mongering, control-freak doing propaganda to promote the corporate state. Even Ed Shultz is a stooge for the corporate DLC’s. In fact, Limbaugh, Hannity and company are America haters. They hate the progressive, enlightened ideals of our founding fathers. They even hate the constitution. They simply work for the top 1% and work to protect thier interests. They hate democracy, unions, human rights. They are so disfunctional that they even hate the earth they live on. The good hosts out there in radio get less exposure – people like Thom Hartmann, Marc Maron, Mike Malloy – because they don’t kiss up to the suits and the corporate power-brokers.
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Well, Thom(I really don’t need the “H”)Hartmann, Marc Maron, & Mike Malloy are hosts with limited appeal & almost no listenership. These hosts, & there are others, who denounce capitalism & wonder why they can’t get ratings & bring in advertisers. Who woudda believed it? Those host may spit in the face of the suits & corperate power-brokers rather then kiss their a$$es, but would be more then willing to suck & swallow the ultimate power-brokers, BIG GOV’T.
Thanks for playing Shawn, we have some nice parting gifts for you, & learn how spell your name. Everyone knows it should be Sean.
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I listen to Laura Ingraham on the internet, then to Rush on radio, Sean on radio, then Mark Levin on the internet. I’m retired and that pretty much takes up my day. Sunday nights I never miss Bill Cunningham. Bill was the only one I heard who defended Savage from the Brits. Sorry nobody else bothered to do the same.
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Where do some of the bigger sports talk shows fit in? I would have to think Mike&Mike or Jim Rome would be near the bottom of the top 10.
Controversial. What do you think?
It’s great to see Savage toward the top of the list. As good as he is you’d think he’d above Hannity. I can only listen to about 30 minutes max. of Sean. He’s a Republican honk that won’t spout out against his own party. To Sean it’s Republican good…Democrat bad. Why can’t he make his own observations and come up with his own solution or conclusions? That’s what makes Savage the best. He’s not in bed with either party. It’s too easy to label one party as better than the other. As a matter of fact it’s seer laziness. Savage calls it as he sees it and I’ll continue to listen as long as he does.
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I read the comment claiming Sean Hannity is in the tank for Republicans, i.e., “Republican good…Democrat bad”. I agree with half of that comment. Democrats ARE usually bad, but Republicans are sometimes bad too. Sean does not claim to be a Republican. He claims to be a Conservative as anyone who has ever listened to his show knows. He frequently criticizes Republicans whenever they stray from Conservative principles. I listen to Mark Levin so I can’t comment on Michael Savage.
Rated Awesome! What do you think?
Well said! Our best talk show host aren’t necessarily Republicans or Democrats. They are Reganite Conservatives. Rather than join in with all the other 3rd graders commenting here, I am not going to say who I think is Best and who is worst. Opinions like that belong to sports blogs- “My Team Is Better Than Yours”…
The truth is; Hannity, Rush & Mark Levin are good friends and nary stray from the same ideology. Savage, who I have respect for, has made choices that ‘for reasons outside their control’ has forced our more eminent conservatives to separate themselves from him. It doesn’t make him any more relevant…just less effective in the true conservative moment.
Prop’s for Red Eye.
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What? Where does Boortz fit in in all this?
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I hate to pile on with some of the conservative talk show haters but, I just have to. How any one thinks that the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, or Beck is saying is in anyway fair or balanced is sadly mistaken. These guys talking about how the media is so unfairly liberal is just crazy. What people need to take into consideration is that conservative radio programs are media! So these uneducated three making claims that there is no conservative media is just preposterous. They are media. Oh, and yes, they are uneducated. The three of them collectively don’t have enough college credits for an associates degree. And those three claim they know better than folks with masters degrees and PHD’s? PUHLEASE!
Controversial. What do you think?
Jeez, Ben, are you really that ignorant? No one, including Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck themselves, have ever claimed that there were unbiased. They clearly and frequently state that they are conservatives or libertarians. They all readily admit that talk radio is the only medium dominated by conservatives.
Do you not understand the difference between biased news and biased entertainment programming and biased commentary?
And as far as education goes, we now have an administration with lots of education, but zero real world experience. Look where that’s getting us.
Maybe you should spend a little more time listening to Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck. You might learn something.
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I listen quite frequently to Limbaugh and Hannity and I’ve never learned anything useful whatsoever! By the way, “Ben” did not claim that Limbaugh, Hannity, or Beck called themselves “unbiased.” Fox news says that about the garbage it puts on television. And yes they are “media” too, mainstream at that.
To be fair, however, the vast majority of television news, radio news, newspaper news, is crap.
Most important though is why do you care about the views of Limbaugh, or Hannity, or Savage, or a host of other gadflies (look that up) who get paid lots of money to flap their yaps? Believe me, they don’t care about you!
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You forgot the “ur” between “td” in your sig.
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I’m sure all three of those guys are jealous of Oblermann and his Ivy league degree.They can only hope to someday be as enlightened and intelligent as he is.
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BEN DEHO: A degree doesn’t prove your intelligent nor successful. Instead of listing all the poor unintelligent people with college degrees I will just list a short roster of people who didn’t graduate college yet are very successful: BILL GATES, STEVE JOBS, HENRY FORD, FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT, TY WARNER, MILTON HERSHEY, WALT DISNEY, RACHAEL RAY, DEBBI FIELDS, BARRY DILLER, MICHAEL DELL, SIMON COWELL, COCO CHANEL, RICHARD BRANSON & MARY KAY ASH. Oh yeah, and ME! This is a really short list but enough to reveal the inept bone that has forked it’s way in between your “inferior frontal gyrus” and your splintered tongue. For you to base your opinion on who is qualified to speak on behalf of our God Given Constitutional rights in this beautiful country on whether or not someone has a degree or not or what college they graduated from just goes to show how little knowledge you truly have of our countries origin and the principles it is based on. I don’t know if i am allowed to post links here, but here is a link to a Red Eye’s show on Keith Olbermann’s embarrassing show when he pulled out his degree from Cornell University… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdwLuW1QcZI
Maybe you can relate? Or do you belong with that unfortunate group of non-people who didn’t graduate college?
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Well said Gemini Rising – not to mention the Radical Professors who are Ruining the minds of our college students with their radical agendas.
Kruchev said back in the ’60′s “we will get you thru your children..they have.
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that was sarcasm, right shawn?
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Where’s. Stone and digita dave at ?
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i cant believe savage is higher then Levin, and about conninghem nobody comes close to him on sunday nights he would be my replacement after rush says goodby (not that rush isnt still the best but i gotta dream of a replacement), and my stupid station here in NY WABC took him off and replaced him with the dreamer John Batchelor, god bless you Coningham put the cheese on the crackers
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listen guys the reason Savage is not # 2 or even # 1 is very simple; he is syndicated be independent Talk Radio Network they don’t own any radio stations around the country unlike Hannity who is forced on us by Premiere
who put him on all clear channel stations, savage is on the weak stations in most markets in top 25 markets and is not heard in LA. Savage has real followers who search stations to find him unlike hannity who is on all big stations.
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Go Obama the great one! its time to change America to its new level!
Obama is like Jesus but with out the spiritual power!
Thanks GOD for Obama!
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I hope that this is a joke. I am laughing because I am thinking this is a joke… is this a joke?
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hahahahahahahahah……yeah he’s doing a great job. Ratings going down every day. Independents who got him elected jumping ship..even far out liberals are scratching their heads.
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I guess if you’re radio show is FORCED onto every channel in the USA by the company that owns all the radio stations – then you would have the biggest audience- duhhhh..
Lintball is on 3 AM stations and 1 FM station all at the same time here in TX.
It’s soo lame.. the guy is a total partisan hack…designed to keep people stupid and barefoot he’s the most UN-American person in the USA. and 2nd place for that is Hannity and so on. They basically are a complete waste of airwaves. they serve zero purpose and say nothing but childish lies and rants for hours on end. Now Ed Shultz is cool and informative. Even Dr N-Word is semi informative but I can’t stand her in general–
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Your ignorance of how the radio business works is remarkable. But you have mastered a fine list of inane liberal talking points.
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Now Ed Shultz …It’s soo lame.. the guy is a total partisan hack…designed to keep people stupid and barefoot he’s the most UN-American person in the USA…basically are a complete waste of airwaves…serve zero purpose and say nothing but childish lies and rants for hours on end…duhhhh..
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Rush gives all the bum’s rush on everything outside the Republican Conservative platform, which is feed me, blank me, and feed me again. Hannity started out cheating way back in High School, fakes the angelic guy each day while laughing all the way to the Bank – meanwhile the neocon girls all swoon at the doofus. Very funny stuff. Rush the caricature of bloated self absorbed know it all and Hannity the parrot. Savage is an entertaining comedy of egocentric craziness and Levin another nerdish nutjob also has his cult following.
Mark Simone should have higher ratings but he refreshingly lets us know that he just doesn’t give a shit. Imus should be taken just before bed time. He is so bad it hurts, but the bad art of Talk Radio is just as addictive as Grade B Movies.
The genre has to die soon as it is divisive stuff for the Country, and the Libs are as bad as the righties, only less artfull at packaging the pills to be swallowed. You need to quit listening as it will help you to restart listening to your own life. Talk Radio every day is for idiots. I guess that is why it remains so popular. God help America when we make a bunch of clowns like we have on the Radio now mega millionaires while many of us are struggling. Shut the damned thing off! Read a book. Go play with your child. Or get back to working on your own life. Forget the Johnny two notes on the AM dial. They are counter-productive and shooting from someone else’s corner. Someone who owns the Corporation, and it’s people too.
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