"On most days when he peddles his diatribe, I'm busy doing something worthwhile."
-- Retired Chairman and CEO Al Neuharth, in his weekly USA Today column. Today's installment was an unusually frank takedown of Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio show host, who has as many as 20 million listeners. The true size of his audience is much-debated. As I update this at 9:23 a.m. ET on July 8, Neuharth's column has drawn an especially large number of comments: nearly 400.
Bluto was ranting on his radio showgram about Michelle "Marie Antoinette" Obama's trip to Spain, where the huge crowds can't get enough of the First Lady and her daughters. Another conservative, Andrea Tantartos, a critic of the Obama Administration and Fox News commentator, writes for the New York Daily News and her views are her own, but they certainly don’t represent what most of the U.S. press is reporting about the Obama trip in Spain. Ironically, a poll next to her column reports that 2/3 of Americans approve of this trip.
ReplyDeleteIs that the same 2/3 that approve of Arizona's immigration stance or the 2/3 that didn't want the health insurance reform that got passed?
ReplyDeleteThis isn't a political comment, but a newspapering one. We rely too much on statistics and polls as if reporting a number is the same as explaining it. Even if we bother to report the exact phrasing of the question, we lump Strongly Agree, Mostly Agree, Somewhat Agree together as 'approval' in the interest of clarity, word count or *gasp* maybe even a little writer bias.
Not that bias is wrong. But intellectual honesty and fairness should be what a reader could expect from a journalist - or they need to give up that title in favor of 'pundit', 'commentator' or 'stand-up philosopher'.
Whether or not you agree with his politics, Limbaugh has found a way to create an audience, grow that audience, and make money off of those listeners - and he carries them to his website as well.
ReplyDeleteOur daily paid circ is around 6 million. We 'reach' 21 million households with TV, whatever that means in real viewers.
Here's one guy with maybe a few dozen researchers and engineers touching 20 million listeners five days a week, for a couple hours.
We have 100+ properties trying to do the same thing.
He might not be smarter than us, or nearly as enlightened, fair-minded or enjoyable to be around.
But he sure is a lot richer.
"Conservative" is a weasel word for "right-wing". Limbaugh was correctly called out as a "talk-show fascist" in the Village Voice in 1992 when George H.W. Bush was US president.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it's one member of the ruling class dissing another member of the ruling class. Limbaugh may claim to have 20 million listeners but it's more like 10 million -- mainly from right-wing radio, almost all of which is on the dying AM band.
If Limbaugh is making big money it's at the expense of local broadcasters. Stations have to pay cash to carry his show because his big mouth scares off major advertisers. I know of at least two stations that dropped Limbaugh because they needed the money for their own staff.
I get Rush on the FM band, not AM - typical Lamestream Media generalization, backed up with no supporting documentation. The regime has less than 90 days left to shove government control down our throats before it's voted down to lame-duck status, so you better hurry-up!
ReplyDeleteLimbaugh employs 150 people, and they are paid very well, along with outstanding benefits. Recently all employees received iPhones as gifts along with free 2-year service contracts. I'd work for him any day over stingy GCI.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your oh-so original insights, ditto-head 12:50 PM.
ReplyDeleteEstimates of Limbaugh's nationwide (and overseas) audience are exercises in guesswork, slippery methodology and suspect data.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/06/AR2009030603435.html
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Arbitron has never attempted to aggregate all of this audience data for this many stations and times. "There is no economic motivation for any objective third party to do that kind of analysis," says Thom Mocarsky, an Arbitron spokesman.
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Whatever the number, not all of Limbaugh's listeners are the ardent ideological followers known as "Dittoheads." Figuring out the size of Limbaugh's flock "is an art, not a science." Michael Harrison, the editor of Talkers magazine, says Limbaugh typically attracts FAR LESS than 20 milllon weekly and is based on Arbitron figures from about 30 cities and spot checks of a similar number of stations.
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And how amazing is this: Limbaugh in *1993* claimed he had 20 million listeners, and in 2009 the press is still mouthing the same statistic. Meaning that, until recently, Limbaugh's audience hadn't budged -- not up, not down -- in 16 years...
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http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6329:why-dont-we-just-pretend-rush-limbaugh-has-50-million-listeners&catid=88888972:analysis&Itemid=88889782
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Where did that bloated 20 million number come from? From Limbaugh, of course. The first reported reference (Eric Boehlert-eNews) could find came from the July 31, 1993, issue of the radio bible, Billboard magazine, which reported "Limbaugh's show is now heard on 610 stations and reaches approximately 20 million listeners, according to [Kit] Carson," Limbaugh's "chief of staff."
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Says Boehlert: "The truth is journalists only have a faint idea of how many people listen to Limbaugh's program each week. And until reporters can get some independently verifiable information, they shouldn't pretend hunches represent facts. And they shouldn't announce Limbaugh's audience has doubled unless they can prove it."
While the health care debate was going on in Congress, Limbaugh swore on everything he held sacred that if the bill became law, he would get 100% of his health care in Costa Rica. The bill became law. He's still here. Al was right; he IS a laughing matter!
ReplyDeleteI've now updated this to reflect the debate over the true size of Limbaugh's audience.
ReplyDeletePlease do not refer to him as "Big Al."
ReplyDeleteHis proper nickname is "Diamond Al."
(You may also call him "Little Al.")
LOL. I'm being facetious. After all, I know all about the lifts he wears, plus the imperial office desk he kept mounted on a platform.
ReplyDeleteAl was and is cool. Excesses and all.
ReplyDeleteHe was the Donald Trump of his day -- but with more Pouilly-Fuissé, and much better hair.
ReplyDelete