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The Spectacle Blog
This is interesting.
A site called Talk Stream Live: A Dynamic Directory of Internet Radio has compiled a list of “The 50 most influential talk show hosts on the Internet.”
Guess who is number one after all those weeks of direct assault?
That’s right (so to speak): El Rushbo still stands as a solid Number One.
But what is really interesting is the full list of both the Top Ten and the Top 50.
Savage and Laura Ingraham, Hannity, Levin, Beck and others of your favorites are in the Top Ten.
But what name isn’t on either list at all? Not even mentioned?
That would be the man who was put forth as the guy who was going to take down Rush Limbaugh: Mike Huckabee.
As I wrote last week in “The Titanic of Talk Radio” I was always skeptical that the idea of a talk radio show hosted by a moderate Republican would have an audience.
Now comes a new take on the whole idea — a survey of the Top 50 talk radio hosts streaming on the Internet. To quote from TSL:
TSL sampled over 1.2 million listeners during the first 6 months of 2012 to produce the Power 50 Report — the 50 most influential talk show hosts on the Internet and on mobile devices.
Note that “the first 6 months of 2012” well includes the kerfuffle over Rush and Sandra Fluke, plus the much ballyhooed Huckabee launch. And note as well that TSL says (bold emphasis mine):
The Power 50 includes the big personalities talk show fans would expect as well as some new media rising stars.
In other words, in spite of all that incredible hype back in March and April, Huckabee not only isn’t close to Rush, much less replacing him as Number One. In this independent survey…Huckabee isn’t even listed as a “rising star”… he doesn’t even make the list!
And one other thing while we’re at it.
Back in the spring of 2011 there was a flurry of stories saying that conservative talk radio was dying.
The guy at the center of these wildly imagined pieces was one John Avlon, he of the No Labels group.
No Labels is essentially the Huckabee/Cumulus radio philosophy translated as interest group politics. RINO Radio as RINO Politics. Talk radio, insisted Mr. Avlon in an article at the Daily Beast titled “The Right Wing Talk Radio Flame Out” was dying. Rush was not only toast, but the entire idea of conservative talk was dying right in front of our eyes.
I made the point in this space that this argument was so much hooey, and one of the reasons was that new technology was changing the world — the way talk radio was listened to included. With new technology, listeners were no longer simply turning on a radio. And therefore ratings could no longer be measured in the traditional fashion. Listeners were increasingly doing their listening from some form of Internet use — streaming, host websites and satellite to name three.
This survey from TSL confirms not simply what I was saying, but spotlights the future.
Or, put another way, Rush Limbaugh has been on the air since the last year of the Reagan administration. We are now four presidents down the road from Reagan, with a serious potential of a fifth — Romney — being elected this year.
Presidents come — and presidents go.
But conservatism remains, even as the technology for listening to conservative talk radio changes.
Which is why Rush Limbaugh is still here, still Number One and Number One now in the new world of Internet radio. And quite clearly he will continue to be so. In spite of his detractors, Rush Limbaugh is the future of talk radio until he himself decides to put the dust cover over the EIB Mike.
Did you know his grandfather retired at 103?
View all comments (24) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/07/16/rush-number-one-on-web-radio-h
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Occam's Tool| 7.16.12 @ 11:45AM
Well, I always thought Rush versus Huckabee was like a Mack Truck taking on a Chihuahua puppy. Very brief, and very ugly. Splat!
JimH| 7.16.12 @ 2:14PM
Along similar lines, if you haven’t already seen it, you might enjoy the short Bambi vs Godzilla.
doramin| 7.16.12 @ 11:46AM
Golly! If it wasn't for AmSpec I would not even have known there WAS a Huckabee radio show being promoted.
Out of sheer curiosity I have been looking over his FNC show recently. I think it has actually improved considerably in its choice of guests and themes. Just remember to make your exit when he pulls out that damn guitar.
ReaganiteGOPer | 7.16.12 @ 12:18PM
Sorry, Huck, but I could reach a larger audience yelling out the window!
Grzmlyk| 7.16.12 @ 12:36PM
Huckabee is a spineless, feckless, non-entity. The only thing that prevents him from dissolving into a useless puddle of some indeterminate clear liquid is his own vanity and the hopes others have of cashing in on his name recognition, such as it is.
He is first, last and always a finger-in-the-wind accommodator.
In other words, he fits right in with 98% of the execrable Republican Party today, most of whom wake up each and every morning dreaming of new and creative ways to acquiesce to the liberal agenda.
Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the possibility of a Romney presidency, a Republican House and a Republican Senate. That'll REALLY change things. Much better to drive over the cliff at 98 mph under the GOP than at 100 mph under the Dimobrats.
Good thing John Roberts will be personally conducting the first orientation session: "How Make Leftist Friends and Be Influenced by Marxists in the Media."
That gives me so much comfort.
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 7.16.12 @ 1:12PM
Grzmlyk: I haven't seen you around in awhile, what's happening? Yeah this Huckabee character, he's umm, how can a say loser in a nicer way than calling him a loser? Oh, whatever!! Huckabee, he's not very interesting to listen to, or to watch, or to read, he's just not very interesting at all, except for his bass playing (he plays better than I do, so I'm impressed with that, but that's all)!! Here's another example of just how bad his rating are, his Twitter account has only 2,952 followers for his @HuckabeeShow which is a lot more than I have (I have only 8), but then again, I'm not on TV, or radio, or Fox News, I'm just a Soldier trying to survive the Army (and I don't use Twitter a lot)!! Even @NoLabelsOrg has more followers than Huckabee has on Twitter, with a pathetic 27,766, which is pretty sad for them too, because they've been around for awhile now, not that anybody listens to them either (pathetic birds of a feather?)!! Old Huckabee never stood a chance of eating into Rush's rating!! What were they thinking? Who wants to listen to RINO radio? Only Liberals, I think!! Which explains why he doesn't have good ratings, because they're not listening to him either!!
mike 3/505| 7.16.12 @ 2:13PM
L3,
Nice to see a fellow grunt on the net.
Regards,
GATOR 3
Lullabys Legends and Lies| 7.16.12 @ 6:50PM
Mike: 3rd Brigade, huh? Small World!! Me too!! I've been at Bragg, and with 3rd Brigade since April 2003 (been with the same Company the whole time too), but my time here's running out fast, I'll be ETS'ing come the new year. I'm too old, and too tired to keep doing this for another 10 years, but it was great while it lasted (best thing I've ever done)!! We've probably passed each other by a 100 times, running up and down Ardennes, but you'll know it's me the next time we pass each other by though, I'll be the guy trailing behind my Company looking like I'm dying of a heart-attack (hey, it's not easy keeping up with these young Soldiers, when you're twice their age)!!
Take it easy!!
Airborne, Rock-44 (it's a Signal thing)!!
Grzmlyk| 7.16.12 @ 2:17PM
1) Since they changed the format and now have "moderators," I hesitate to add my 2 cents. I'm glad the trolls are gone, but, whenever you comment, as with the horrible American Thinker "comments" section, you are subjecting yourself to the whim of whatever moderator you get. On most sites, portions of them are "activists" who want to shape the debate, not merely keep the vandals out;
2) Robert Tyrell is the force behind Amspec. He recently wrote a book about how liberalism is dead in this country. This is an astonishing assertion, and can only be explained by wishful thinking, naiveté or dishonesty. It is, singlehandedly, the most ridiculous assertion I have ever seen coming from a pundit. I can only conclude that he has to make quick money by preaching to the choir. Because the parasite of liberalism will not be done in this country until it kills off the host - which is about to happen (and I'll bet that, even if Romney is elected, he'll be rejected for a left-wing socialist in 2016);
3) As such, I do not have much to say here anymore; all roads lead to Rome, as they say, and all of my potential comments tend to lead to the same conclusion: That we are doomed, and that total economic collapse, and the chaos that accompanies it, is a fait accompli. The destruction of this country is, in fact, BEHIND US. We are over the cliff - we just haven't landed yet. Many people do not want to hear that, and I can't blame them.
Grzmlyk| 7.16.12 @ 2:22PM
Oops - I had to copy my comment, Triple-L, and I neglected to grab the first two lines:
I meant to say, thank you so much for the nice welcome back!
Also, that I don't feel compelled to comment on this site anymore for the reasons I enumerated in my initial reply to you.
JmsA| 7.16.12 @ 3:23PM
As far as I'm concerned, Grzmlyk, your commentary is always welcome. You're one of the best posting here.
Grzmlyk| 7.16.12 @ 4:36PM
Thank you, JmsA - that means a lot to me.
I don't want to be too much of a downer for fellow conservatives who want to believe we can turn this freight train around, but I'm on the same page as Mark Steyn, and I follow the postings on the Mises.org web site "economicnoise.com" - I just don't see any way out of this other than default by way of inflation.
CJW| 7.16.12 @ 6:06PM
Ditto. Your comments are always appreciated.
W
Maxwell| 7.16.12 @ 1:15PM
Thank goodness for my lunch time. From noon until one in my truck listening to Rush. Best hour of information there is. Not that I'm partial.
The Bruce| 7.16.12 @ 1:42PM
Listening to Huckabee on the radio is about as entertaining as watching paint dry.
And what's sad is that here in my local area, one of the popular talk radio stations has two timeslots for him during the weekday. They play the live show in the morning and then rerun the taped version in the evening.
Jake| 7.16.12 @ 1:43PM
Rush's show has become more of an entertainment type show , with talk of gossip and celebrities.
He meanders all over the place focusing on fluff.
With 110 some odd days to the election , no conservative talk show hosts should waste a minute of air time on silliness like cigars and ice tea.
Sean Hannity gets this.
Huckabee is more timely and has lots of interesting interviews.
For instance, I tried listening to Rush today , but, he was obsessed with some HBO show and some girly book .
Huckabee had a good interview with Ed Gillespie and talked serious politics with callers.
Grzmlyk| 7.16.12 @ 2:30PM
Jake, I could not agree with you more. I wasn't going to add this (after already having been excoriated for making this point last week in response to Jeffrey Lord's first posting about this topic), but I also find Rush's compulsion to be as obnoxious as he can to have worn mighty thin. I know it works with most of his legions of fans, but I find him tiresome, tiresome, tiresome - he's a three-hour session of fingernails dragging across a blackboard.
Which is a shame, because, on occasion, he can still analyze the inside game of politics better than anyone, and he still makes a lot of points cogently.
But that first hour today - and his inability to stay on topic - well, all I can say is that I wish we had a more palatable standard bearer.
Teflon93 | 7.16.12 @ 8:04PM
The guy broadcasts fifteen hours a week and nonstop politics gets old---particularly when the GOP is running another RINO.
Here are the descriptions from today's show:
Hillary in Egypt. Obama camp: Romney a felon. Welch: Corporations are people. HBO Newsroom. Breaking Bad. 50 Shades of Gray. Obama on "paralegal" and "paramedic." Newsroom. Elizabeth Warren. Obama: Nobody successful earned it. Obama hates America.
Obama's socialism seeks to dismantle the American Dream. Libs compare Bain attack to Kerry Swift Boat ads. Santa Monica cigar smoker keeps on puffing, listening to Rush. Obama's attack on America. Romney comments on Obama felon charge.
Left is doing to Romney what they did to Bush, not Kerry. Romney on Obama attacks. How Romney should respond to Obama. Obama was doing drugs while Romney was building Bain. Obama statement on building business. Obama hates America. Paterno.
That's a pretty full agenda for three hours. It compares favorably to AmSpec's daily lineup, in fact, given 1/3 of today's articles were about Lake Superior and the hippie Mark Twain, not your heavier election season topics to be sure.
Grzmlyk| 7.17.12 @ 2:28PM
Not that you'll see this, Teflon 93, but I did check back so, for what it's worth:
I think Rush still has much to offer - I've always maintained that, when it comes to analysis of the inside game of politics, he is virtually without peer. I also think he is an excellent articulator of conservative values and has even shown a lot of courage.
I still think he's almost insufferably obnoxious. Just because I don't like his personality doesn't mean I can't appreciate the content (and I do agree with Jake above that it's not ALWAYS top-notch; not by a long shot).
By your logic, if I go see a heart surgeon, and he's the best in the business, I have to also like him personally. Just because he's good at his job doesn't mean I have to like his personality. I don't understand what it is with all of you staunch defenders of Rush who think that, for some reason, because he's got a great deal of talent, he has to be ipso facto likeable. That is nonsense.
I have a visceral reaction to him. Trying to convince me that I like him isn't going to work.
Does that mean all medicine has to be delicious simply because it's helping you?
Reggie Love| 7.16.12 @ 2:22PM
Ha! Huck is behind several who are just local hosts,like Don Wade @ Roma and Sliwa.
BTW,where is Michael Schmerconish on that list?
Teflon93 | 7.16.12 @ 7:54PM
Yes, but how'd Da Huckster do in Washington? That's the only thing that matters to him.
KMJ| 7.16.12 @ 10:21PM
Why don't you post a article about Huckabee's weekend show on fox news? Probably because it dominates the ratings and has been and continues to be the most popular tv show on the weekends. The Huckabee show almost doubled the amount of viewers the 2nd best rated show had.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvn.....ore-136825
BD57| 7.16.12 @ 11:31PM
Because Rush isn't on TV?
The guy behind Huck's radio show (but not Huck himself, to my knowledge) pitched it as a competitor and alternative to Rush. As it turns out, Huck can't compete. Lord's question (such as it is) ... why'd he ever think it could?