The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

19 February 2007

Talkers Annual Heavy Hundred, Talk Radio

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Talk's Quirkiest Publication Releases Annual List







In what has become an irritating annual ritual, Talkers Magazine has released its "Heavy Hundred" list of the "most important radio talk show hosts in America" and this year's rankings are as downright silly as ever.

More of a marketing gimmick than true measure of individual impact in the genre, the Heavy Hundred has never had a great deal of credibility within the industry.

That's due to the obvious personal agendas behind its compilation. In the past, the list has also been prone to key omissions and other blunders.

However, the rankings are often cited in trade advertising for hosts who make the list, while mainstream media outlets have a nasty habit of referencing it in news stories about talk radio.

While the top four this year are pretty straightforward, with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Dr Laura Schlessinger holding down those positions, it quickly goes downhill from there.


What in the world, for example, would possess publisher Michael Harrison to place libtalker Ed Schultz in position five? Or Randi Rhodes at number 13?

There is simply no way in the world that Schultz is more important than Howard Stern, who came in at a mere twelfth this year.

While Schultz may have earned a place in the top 20, a top five position smacks of affirmative action for libtalkers.


In addition, Schultz now ranks higher than Laura Ingraham, who has emerged as a major star in talk radio. This is just plain silly. Also, Glenn Beck (#10) is placed behind several people that he generally outperforms.

And so far, FM / satellite hot talkers Opie & Anthony have simply not performed at a level that would justify placing sixth.


From there, it just gets worse: overnight "Coast- To- Coast" star George Noory is ranked at a mere 28th place, despite maintaining solid ratings and interest. Noory ought to have a genuine bone to pick with Talkers.

As your Radio Equalizer sees it, here are the main flaws behind the annual list:



It favors syndicated talent
over local hosts far too heavily. In the latter group, there are a number of significant talkers who fail to make the list year after year. Others should clearly rank higher, such as KSFO's Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan, who didn't make 2007's top 100.


It has a bias toward syndication companies that place a lot of advertising in Talkers. This has long been an industry beef with the publication's overall content.


There's a regional slant, as well: hosts working in the Northeastern region of the country, even in small markets, are more likely to make the list than big guns working on the West Coast. Talkers is based in Springfield, Massachusetts.


There are weird personal agendas at work: some rankings are the result of longtime friendships in a very cliquish talk radio subset. That places some talkers, particularly a few who are long past their "sell- by" dates, in higher positions than they deserve.


In the end, talk radio would be better off without this annual attempt at ranking the importance of its hosts, as it merely misrepresents our genre to fans and the mainstream media.


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29 Comments:

  • Brian
    I agree with you on Coast to Coast, they should be ranked higher, Rhodes is placed in the correct #, her numbers kick ass in many markets. Dr. Laura has ZERO ratings, does not belong on the list, except mayber in the low 80's. Opie and Anthony, do not belong on the list at all, they have low ratings, the slime in San Fran, Morgan and Rogers , rightfully so do not belong on the list, they are not only trash, they are locals which nobody cares about. Big Ed, I'm not sure about, I don't know his ratings, but is is on a lot of stations

    Do not underestimate Rhodes, she kicks ass all over the country, I know it eats you alive.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 19 February, 2007 16:36  

  • Malloy?? Samuels?? Wilkow?? Batchelor??

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 February, 2007 17:18  

  • Malloy made the list, not the top 100

    did not notice the others

    Randi Rhodes picked up 4 new affiliates today
    Buffalo, NY
    1520 WWKB-AM

    North Bend/Coos Bay, OR
    1340 KBBR-AM
    Raleigh-Durham, NC
    1360 WCHL-AM
    New Affiliate - live from 3-6pm ET
    Springfield, MA
    1240 / 1400 / 1600 WHMP-AM
    New Affiliate - on from 8-10pm ET

    i guess as much as Maloney hates it, the new ownership is keeping AAR alive

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 19 February, 2007 17:24  

  • Why are you attacking the few liberals who made the so-called "Heavy 100"? There are only 13 (including "urban" hosts)on the list. Besides five weekday AAR talkers didn't even make the expanded list (to top 250) while all the Salem talkers made the Heavy 100. What's that all about. In the top 25 markets carrying both AAR and Salem, AAR ratings are about 50% higher.

    By Blogger barooosk, at 19 February, 2007 17:27  

  • barook, makes a good point, Salem gets a 0.0 in most markets they are heard in as in NO LISTENERS. Look it up, yet Parsel,Medved and the others with next to no listeners all made the list, yet Rachel Madow and Sam Serar don't crack the list?? Both of those shows have much larger audiences than any Salem show.

    Maloney: here is simply no way in the world that Schultz is more important than Howard Stern, who came in at a mere twelfth this year.


    Hackery. Stern crashed and burned on satellite radio. Never lived up to the subscription hype. Schultz at least has many affiliates. Stern was important in the early 90's. "show me your boobs" is not exactly compelling radio anymore nor groundbreaking.

    If you want to question the list, question, any Salem host being there, Stern even being in the top 20, Opie and Anthony ( I agree with maloney) or that hack Jerry Agar "intelligent talk"??? That guy is a total hack, reads RNC talking points word per word on his show.

    Also
    Leslie Gold?? She gets a mention? Bombing in drive time in NYC, JV and Elvis? Horrible, offensive and no ratings either.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 19 February, 2007 20:01  

  • What about Alan Colmes?

    Is THIS why AFN is torturing our troops with the "Black Hole Of Charisma"??

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 19 February, 2007 20:31  

  • Jerry Doyle? You mean the guy from Battlestar Gallactica or whatever it was?

    John & Ken only at 34? Tell that to Gray Davis.

    Why are Bob & Sheri wearing the same sweater?

    Why is Hugh Hewitt at 72 instead of, just as an example, the number one past 665?

    I'm sure the others on the list appreciate Martha Zoller being called an "articulate conservative".

    By Blogger LonewackoDotCom, at 20 February, 2007 00:31  

  • AAR alive? Just barely. It's being controlled by a computer with Al
    Franken's voice, the AL-9000.
    "Good evening Dave. I am fully
    operational. What would you like me to do today?...I'm sorry, Dave.
    This does not compute. My records
    show that Air America has 500 affiliates and you are saying there are only about 50. I'm sorry, Dave.
    I'm sorry, Dave...Would you like
    me to sing a song? Daisy, daisy,
    give me your answer do..."

    (sorry, recently saw 2001 and
    2010 on DVD and couldn't resist!)

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 20 February, 2007 01:52  

  • MoPoop and Hash need serious time with Dr. Phil.

    Any magazine is going to tilt toward their advertisers. I wonder how much AAR scamed money found its way to Talkers to influence tehm into putting the AAR screeches on the list at all.

    In my Liberal Democrat part of Iowa, you don't hear AAR at all, and never have.

    By Blogger PCD, at 20 February, 2007 09:35  

  • PCD

    get a grip on reality. It appears Salem paid Talkers the $$ not AAR, AAR radio destroys Salem in the ratings, yet every last disgusting Salem talker appears on the list and only 2 AAR radio hosts show up. Judging by the increaded syndication of Randi Rhodes, the new ownership is going to keep AAR alive and well. Smash your head into a wall until you die PCD, I could not care less, you filthy traitor

    Why don't you go donate some money to Al Queda like your fellow Republican Ali Asishtari in NY
    http://www.progressiveu.org/173946-new-york-man-arrested-for-funding-terrorism
    Republican support terrirism, proof right there, read it, let it seep in to your microscopic brain, you filthy degenerate.

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 10:15  

  • More than a few Salem talkers are on there but where are their
    listeners? Providence's Dan Yorke shows up

    "the selection process is subjective"...

    #101 - #250 follow but are arranged by category. Among them:
    Gene Burns--KGO, formerly WRKO
    Eagan and Braude--WTKK
    Todd Feinburg--WRKO (note it lists him that way, not as "syndicated")

    Michael Graham--WTKK
    Glenn Ordway--WEEI
    JT The Yankee Lover--Fox Sports

    Considering their far reaching signal at night am surprised WBZ isn't on there somehow. I think they're
    ranked by importance rather than listenership, but Sullivan, Leveille, Rich, and Dyett don't show.

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 20 February, 2007 10:43  

  • >>AAR radio destroys Salem in the ratings

    You're right:

    in Boston, on average 12 +
    WTTT Salem, didn't show up
    WKOX/WXKS Air America 0.4
    (WRKO 4.2, WTKK 3.7)

    Of these WTTT is still on the
    air. Air America is gone.

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 20 February, 2007 11:11  

  • >>Smash your head into a wall until you die PCD, I could not care less, you filthy traitor

    Anger and venom from liberals, and
    humor (see my post about AL-9000
    above) from conservatives. Now we
    see why AAR failed.

    "But I thought liberals were full
    of...love..."--Alan Colmes

    By Blogger raccoonradio, at 20 February, 2007 11:14  

  • Fudgie, you need shock treatment....as for "your part of Iowa"...I'm guessing you're still using outhouses and old Sears catalogs to meet your basic human needs.....

    Now. You haven't been able (most likely over several years of obsessive scouring of patriotard "media" sources) to come up with ONE actionable breach of ethics, your hysterical ramblings over "free market" forces and "scamed money" (leave your homeschooling behind and get spellcheck, buckwheat) and your various persecution complexes over everything from Australian lightbulbs to baldheaded prostitutes and Hollywood conspiracies...

    Is a small, struggling network that somehow manages to survive despite constant leeching by you and yours and pathetic management but actually gets results threaten your bottom-feeding, fake-ass flag-waving house of cards it's taken you to assemble?

    GOOD! Because it's that framework I want to take a flamethrower to...

    You insects took every ounce of decency, righteous outrage, and penny of charitable work this country possessed after our world exploded into flame and melted the bones and flesh of the innocents and SQUANDERED it....you stole our treasury, our hard-earned rep in the world, our moral high ground, and the existence of thousands of our fighting men and women, our industrial base, our ability to function, produce, and provide for ourselves, our health, our faith, our childrens' security, and forced US to waste valuable time, energy, and resources to clean up the festering, burning cesspool you've left, and bear your rightful burden of shame.

    And I aim to get it back.

    You got a problem with that? Tell it to "Sweet Baby Jeezus" Hannity, the "Concave Convert" Ingraham, rent a "Freedom" tour bus, and veer straight into the Centraliaesque, bubbling, all-consuming inferno of perpetual incineration you've earned.

    We don't WANT your Dr. Phils and your heilige Lauras, do you READ me?

    We want our country back.

    We want everything you stole.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 February, 2007 11:38  

  • Rocky whined:

    Oh, the "anger and venom"....

    Rac, I don't see "Kumbaya" on my set list....I'm not brandishing a tambourine.

    "Anger"????

    This is just the "Coming Attactions"...

    Do you really want to see how fragile you are?

    HA!!

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 February, 2007 11:42  

  • Hate?
    I know how AA even existing eats PCD alive, so I suggest next time he is in a neo-con hate fueled rage, he smashes his head into a concrete wall. If it kills him, I could not care less, Pcd is disgusting. I'm not advocating violence against him, I suggest he kills himself. Get it?

    Hash, your writing gets better by the day. You can guest on my blog anytime you want. Too bad your not in NY, we would have you on the show

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 12:04  

  • Hash, it was never your country to begin with. Your Stalinist ideas are as dead as Stalin himself.

    MoPoop. Salem is on the air and much stronger than AAR will ever be. Also, you are cherry picking to try to make your rants believable.

    Hash and MoPoop, you two are truly psychotic. The sad part is you both demonstrate that here multiple times daily.

    By Blogger PCD, at 20 February, 2007 13:44  

  • PCD (terrorist supporter) Salem is on the air and much stronger than AAR will ever be.

    only problem Salem has no listeners


    our country now

    real patriots, who support America not the letter "R" and a failed PNAC doctrine of endless war for expansionism, you represent the fringe. America rejected PNAC, any CON associated wityh PNAC, both Rudy and MCCain are , WILL LOSE.

    The doctrine of pre-emption has been rejected loudly by America

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 13:58  

  • MoPoop, you are a loser. You think surrendering is victory. How stupid can you get. Wait, don't tell us as you've been pretty stupid already.

    By Blogger PCD, at 20 February, 2007 14:28  

  • Oh, MoPoop, my friend, Hugh Hewitt, has more seats off the KRLA website than you will ever get. More than Franken does, too.

    Oh, Franken will be exposed regularly by Hugh Hewitt on the Patriot up in Minneapolis daily. He doesn't stand a chance.

    By Blogger PCD, at 20 February, 2007 15:10  

  • You think surrendering is victory


    you f*cking neo-con piece of sh*t

    You hate America

    You hate the troops

    Who are we surrendering to?
    How does us being involved in a civil war keep us safer?
    What does victory look like in Iraq?

    why do you not serve?

    are you a sissy?


    you worthless dittohead

    you seriously Hate America

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 15:12  

  • Hewitt hates the troops

    and so do you
    if you do not support Murths, you hate the troops

    you dirty piece of crap
    you really are an enemy of America

    neo-cons are disgusting

    Hewitt, deserves to be locked up in jail
    he is an enemy of America

    if you support the neo-con ideooogy, you are an enemy of the United States


    the troops support going home.. They do not support your twisted neo-con insanity
    if you are so obsessed with "defeat"
    fu*king sign up, like my wife

    get comissioned
    take the test

    put your money where your mouth it, you filthy traitor

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 15:16  

  • MoPoop,

    Hiding behind your wife's uniform again. We know your are just a Mr. Mom. Hide behind your locked door in Brooklyn. That's all you are good for.

    By Blogger PCD, at 20 February, 2007 15:28  

  • You have no connection to the war

    You look at the war for self gratification, as Scott ritter said, a chest thumping moron does not support the troops, it makes you feel all big and bad

    If you support the troops, you filth, go to Walter Reed, go speak to the vets suffering, your flag waving and listening to RNC radio is not supporting the troops.
    I'm making the sacrifice, the love of my life is serving, and she does not support the war.

    why are you not serving?
    you want to thump your chest and talk about "not quitting'
    why are you not there?

    I have a good reason,
    I have severe asthma,
    what is your excuse?

    I could not get in, if I tried. I need an inhaler at all times, and I would serve if this disgusting degenerate was not president, I would have served under Clinton.
    My wife chose to serve now, and she despises Bush, not as angry as me, but than again she does not have to see combat.

    You have a deep obsession with my wife
    you sick little degenerate

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 15:51  

  • There's a devastating article about the plight of our troops, amputees and all, in Walter Reed...

    Imagine feeling safe in a cesspool of a hospital, away from "eyes that stare"...

    Conservatives never cared about the troops and never will. They are a means to an end...the aftereffects are an inconvenient problem, a blight on the proud neocons' war record and plans for thirty-year, forty-year, even permanent war, that they don't want you to see.

    Because you probably don't WANT to see it...

    The Murtha plan was up for debate but the pure fact of the matter is, the neocons set the stage for this catastrophe, and now they begrudge the poor slob who actually stands up and suggests a way for our countrymen to escape from the quicksand....they HAVE no exit strategy, you see.

    As they will when deficit time looms....

    You don't get tube steaks like Giuliani, to throw into the ring unless you didn't have true leadership at the top in the first place.

    Challenge the enemy. Stand up to them and argue on the points, not the personalities. Everyone of them is an empty suit, and they reinforced themselves by taking a damaged, psyoped population and gave 'em flags for front yards and yellow ribbons for their SUVs to make them feel all proud....

    Look at Walter Reed and you'll see the emperor had no clothes...

    What a disgrace. If you're honest, you'd hang your head in shame.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 February, 2007 16:11  

  • These disgusting degenerates in the White House, treat the wounded like sub-human garbage

    military times has a good article about this
    http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/tnsmedboards070217/


    The 2 part Walter Reed article is astonishing. What they are doing in a time of war over there is a disgrace.
    None of these smear mongering, Bush cheerleaders give a flying crap about the troops, they only care about being right and being able to point at the ones who told them the truth and shriek "libs" because some disgusting talk radio host told them "libs do not support the troops".

    Listening to Rush and Hannity does not make you a patriot, standing up for these kids, makes you a patriot. These freaks on the radio will never touch the story about Walter Reed, but you can be sure they wil attack Murtha for 12 hours a day, polluting the air-waves and the minds of already functionally retarded "cons"

    This administration has broken our military, screwed the wounded and wants to send more troops over without proper equipment to even scramble the radio signals of the improvised explosive devices (the ones Bush touts in his effort to drim up an attack on Iran).

    These mouthpieces on the radio and their minions HATE the TROOPS. They will trash Murtha, ignore the stories about Walter Reed that Murtha gets up and has the guts to tell. They will question his patriotism. They will destory anyone who speaks the truth
    The do not support America, they support a failed ideology, and the letter "R".
    They gravitate to the letter "R' because deep down they hate brown people, gays and women. In their warped minds the letter "R" represents their hatred. The troops mean NOTHING to them. America means nothing to them, their warped vision of a fascist, White, Christian, Male world is all that matters to them. This lies in the heart of every neo-con Bush flunkie

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 February, 2007 17:02  

  • They don't read those articles.

    They're still whining for "good news".

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 February, 2007 17:26  

  • For instance, Bush disinvited one of our Iraq vets, to a major event, because he wouldn't look good in front of the cameras.

    They could care less about these guys, so don't be taken in by these lemmings.

    They hate America and Americans, indeed hate the whole idea of an American government entirely, and have allegiances to other entities and interests.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 21 February, 2007 01:55  

  • Brian - why don't you do a top 100 list or at least top 20 - you seem to have great knowledge of the industry.

    By Anonymous Pat, at 23 February, 2010 21:12  

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