-By Warner Todd Huston
Talkers Magazine has put out their “2008 Heavy Hundred” list rating radio talk show hosts across the country and one thing is obvious, conservatives still reign supreme in radio.
The top ten includes one “progressive” (Ed Schultz) and one shock jock (Don Imus), but is otherwise dominated by conservatives. The rest of the list has a smattering of sports guys and a very few more left-talkers, but just as in the top ten, much of the other 90 slots are dominated by conservatives.
- Rush Limbaugh
- Sean Hannity
- Michael Savage
- Dr. Laura Schlessinger
- Glenn Beck
- Laura Ingraham
- Don Imus
- Ed Schultz
- Mike Gallagher
- Neal Boortz
In an interview with CNSNews, Talkers Mag Editor Michael Harrison discussed the loss of traction seen by several well-known left-talkers.
Two of the most popular liberal hosts on the list lost ground in the ratings compared to last year. North Dakota-based Ed Schultz dropped from fifth to eighth. Air America Radio’s Randi Rhodes plummeted from 13th to 40th place.
Amusingly, Harrison tried to soft peddle the loss of status that progressive talkers have seen over the last year.
Harrison explained that determining liberal hosts’ positions on the list was more difficult than placing conservatives.
“It’s a very subjective thing, determining the popularity of liberal hosts, because they have this sort of alternate universe they operate in,” he said. “They have more importance because they’re not a dime-a-dozen like so many conservatives out there.”
I assume that was an effort by the Editor to forestall attacks for being “unfair” to left-talkers. Whatever the case, they fell in status and that cannot be papered over.
So, congratulations to the conservative talk radio stars that once again made the top 100 list and it shows that conservatism isn’t a dead issue despite how badly Congress has muffed it for us all.
____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
I am not surprised at these results. Conservative hosts can only be found on one television news channel, Fox. The rest of the televised talk show hosts are all libs. As conservatives, we turn to radio for discussion with the content and substance we want to hear. Congrats to Rush, Hannity and the others.