Sunday, April 22, 2007

Randi Rhodes is Now Top Lib Talk Host

The "goddess" of liberal talk radio is now the top rated lib talk host in the country. In the most recent Talking Radio survey of syndicated lib talk hosts, Randi Rhodes has ended Ed Schultz’ two year reign as the number one talker and held off aggressive challenges from number three Thom Hartmann and number four Stephanie Miller.


Despite improving his time period on about 20 stations, Schultz slipped to number two in the quarterly survey. Schultz was hurt by his continued lack of coverage in New York, a downgrade in Los Angeles, and the loss of carriage on KTRH in Houston. There is also some speculation that critical comments made by Schultz about other liberal talkers and AAR, which angered many listeners, also contributed to his decline. On the other hand, Rhodes hung on to all of her stations and received time period upgrades on eight stations.


The TR survey* rates the performance of virtually all of the syndicated lib talkers who broadcast on weekdays. You will notice that the hosts are rated by the percentage of the total audience that they reach.

Furthermore the positioning of the hosts is based on all radio listeners, not the so-called money demo, i.e. adults 25-49. You will have to go to other sources e.g. trade magazines or the host's websites to find specific data concerning ratings, shares, AQH's and cumes. Here is the ranking of syndicated lib talk hosts as of April 15, 2007:









Overall, listenership continued to fall over the past three months. The lib talk audience decreased by 7% over this period, primarily because of the loss of lib talk stations and the termination of two talkers. Since, the beginning of the year, eight stations serving 4 million potential listeners have dropped the format and two talkers – Al Franken and Sam Seder – are no longer doing weekday syndicated shows.


Of the 15 lib talk shows contained in the current survey, only one – The Young Turks – has maintained the same position. The other 14 talk shows have either moved up or moved down.

Not surprisingly, Thom Hartmann, who has taken over Franken’s slot on Air America Radio, gained the most coverage over the past three months. In January, Hartmann had a 5.4 ranking. In the current survey, Hartmann’s ranking is 16.0 -- a gain 10.6 or about 300%.

Rhodes secured her number one ranking even though her show is carried on 23 fewer stations than Schultz'. The difference was in New York and LA where Rhodes’ show is carried live. On the other hand, Schultz has no carriage in New York and is carried from 7 to 10 PM in LA with frequent sports preemptions.

Late night talker Alan Colmes is carried on the most radio stations – 85. However, Colmes is only ranked sixth on the current survey because he is always carried during the late night daypart when radio listenership is very low.

AAR hosts continue to lose lib talk audience share. Non-AAR talkers attracted 43% of the listenership in the current survey – that’s up from 34% in the January survey.

There are 161 stations that carry at least one syndicated lib talker on weekdays. Of these 96 stations carry only one host, 12 stations carry two hosts, and 53 stations carry three or more hosts.

*These estimates, pertaining to characteristics of the liberal talk radio audience across America, are excerpted from Talking Radio’s in-house, non-scientific study. It is drawn from interviews with listeners of general news-talk radio across the United States supplemented by input from talk radio programmers, hosts, sales personnel, and radio station in-house research in addition to occasional studies provided by academic institutions.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. Not sure why this should be taken any more seriously than Talkers' rankings.
But for the sake of discussion:
The players here are Rhodes, Schultz, Hartmann and Miller. The rest are also-rans. But you can tell that from listening to the various shows.
Malloy is getting his clock cleaned by Colmes and Lionel. Only having to go against Lionel could help, assuming Lionel's current stations don't keep running the show (on delay) in late night.
The big factor in these ratings appears to be the appeal of shows to stations, not listeners.
The only thing keeping Air America in the game is Nova M failing to register as a contender.

PunditFight said...

i wonder how radio streaming fits into all of this? I myself get all my content through archives/podcasting etc...
i wonder if this is captured in the rankings. Frankly i think the future is headed in 'streaming', but right now it doesn't seem like there's any money in that yet.

barooosk said...

The Talking Radio survey only includes data from terrestrial radio sources. Hopefully, we will figure in a way to include internet sources, like podcasts and streaming in the near future. Some surveys do suggest that as much as 20% of lib talk listening is on the web.

Rauha (Peace) said...

Your ratings are based on listenership. That is related to how many stations the Talk Show Host is on. My ratings (http://talkshowratings.blogspot.com) are, however, based on a series of factors related to the ability and quality of the Talk Show Host. It takes about a year before I bring a person onto the ratings. (I only consider those Talk Show Hosts who are live on the web - not radio.)

Mike Malloy has remained No. 1 from the time I started the ratings. Peter Werbe has held the second position for almost as long. Randi Rhodes who loves the sound of her own voice and her own opinions, is way down the ladder.

Hartmann is stale as he has too many hours on air. Undoubtedly a brilliant host, but with too many blindspots.

Anonymous said...

Now this is funny! Ed Shultz is a poser - and hardly liberal. If you actually listen to him and pay attention you can see he's an apologist for the Democrats, and tightly controls the content to make sure it doesn't go one degree past left of center. Rhodes is better, but she's still too timid, (or restricted by the suits?) and often give the Dems a pass. At least she's often clever. BOTH Schultz and Randi should revisit the concept of 'talk show' however, and remember their callers should have the opportunity to TALK without being manipulated. Either that or stop calling it a talk show where listeners are supposedly part of the format.

Anonymous said...

Rhodes once said:

"I'll never criticize Israel"

She is supposedly pro civil rights, pro civil liberties, and anti-Bush - but super pro-Israel (like so many of her ilk).

What a hypocrite! Justice for all -a waiver for Israel!

How can she support a country that White Christian Republicans believe is not only "sacred" but has a right to kill with impunity or be as ruthless as is necessary to dominate the Middle-East at the expense of all others?

What a hypocrite!

I'm sure there were many “good” Germans who once said "I'll never criticize the fuehrer" - and for that they could never be liberals!

Hey Randi "I'll never criticize Israel" Rhodes - you are a hypocrite; a shill for Israel and Zionism and for making the Democratic Party - and our country - a slave to the Jewish lobby.

YOU CAN'T BE A LIBERAL AND SUPPORT WIPING PALESTINE OFF THE MAP!!

There are no waivers for victims of persecution or slavery or even of Holocausts. Justice is justice -and any true liberal would never waive that fact for any people or race, or country.

God Bless Rachel Cory! A true Liberal...

Anonymous said...

Amen, Angelo...

The Forward is a major advertiser on her show. I guess she knows which hand feeds her.

What is also dispicable is how the Zionist Lobby tries to avoid ANY criticism by labelling those who disagree with actions of the Israelli government as anti-semitic.

The fact that Baroosk calls Randi "the goddess" shows a certain pro-Randi mind-set here.

For what it's worth, Talkers Magazine continues to show Big Ed with an audience more than twice as large as Randi's.

If we go by quality rather than quanity, IMHO Stephanie is the top host.

barooosk said...

We didn't come up with the idea of calling Randi the "goddess." This is well known handle that she has had for many years.

Also, the only reason that Ed's numbers are more than twice as large as Randi's numbers in Talkers Magazine is that Ed advertises in Talkers and Randi doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Randi calls herself "the goddess." The fact that you repeat it shows a certain bias. Face it, you're a fan. Nothing wrong with that but it does call your objectivity into question.

Randi should not even qualify as a "libtalker." A better description would be "liebtalker." She is a liberal like Lieberman is a liberal. Anyone who condones genocide of Palestinians forfeits any liberal credentials. Randi - and AAR, generally - are DLC Talk, not progressive talk.

Many have said Talkers' rankings favor advertisers but nobody has ever offered any proof. Fact is, their rankings - and yours - are "guesstimates" (a Paul Harveyism) based on questionable methodology and some creative speculation.

My survey shows the following results:
1. Ed Schultz
2. Randi Rhodes
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3. Randi Rhodes
4. Thom Hartmann
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.
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Also ran: Everybody else

Anonymous said...

PS: Stephanie Miller will be taking the I-man's spot on MSNBC next week Monday through Wednesday. She will broadcast from MSNBC in Secaucus and the shows will be simulcast on MSNBC and on her regular Jones Radio affiliates.

Anonymous said...

Given the date of publication, I have to believe that data for Sam Seder's show was available. Where did his show fit in the rankings?

Anonymous said...

Uh, Rhodes didn't say she wouldn't criticize Israel, she said she wouldn't discuss the Israeli Paliestine conflict due to people like you...

Anonymous said...

"Not discuss" is the same as "not criticize." And "people like you" means what? People who do criticize Israel? People who have some sympathy for the plight of Palestinians (if not always their methods)?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous:

You're dead wrong - Randi Rhodes said this on Air America:

"You’ll never hear me criticize Israel"

This makes her a sub-liberal, someone who talks like a strident liberal - but who in reality is a Zionist zealot. You can’t be both girl - make a decision: the U.S. and its interests or Israel and its interests.

Americans need to lance this boil on our body politic - one way or another...

Anonymous said...

Randi I
Randi whines and kvethces because Franken and Janeane get more promotion and money.
Randi II
Randi whines and kvethes because Big Ed gets more stations and more listeners and she gets bumped to evenings in much of the country.
Coming Soon: Randi III
Randi whines and kvetches because Steph goes on TV and Randi does not . It's so unfair nobody wants to look at Randi first thing in the morning. It's so unfair that people think Steph is funny and nobody thinks Randi whining and kvetching is funny. It's so unfair people think Steph is hot on TV and people think Randi ... oh, never mind.
Did the labels get switched? Should Steph be "The Goddess" and should Randi be "Mom?"

Anonymous said...

Air America is definitely on someones leash. Question why Kerry folded so easily, or about 911 being an inside job, and they boot you. Also I have noticed a lot of callers who raise valid questions that say Randi, doesnt like, are quickly silenced. She is no better than Rush.

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Anonymous said...

I think that Randi Rhodes is the best talk show host on the air anywhere today. I am very disappointed in the air america network for their unamerican act in taking Randi Rhodes on the air because she has the guts to speak the unadulterated truth. I hope air america radio network goes bankrupt quickly as they do not deserve the title "progressive radio" as they act more like the right wing. They are worse than nazis because they pretend to be liberal and progressive when they are absolutely not! I am not connected to the Randi Rhodes show nor have I ever spoken to or met Ms. Rhodes, but I am a long time listener and I love her!

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