The influential Talkers Magazine has released its annual “Heavy Hundred” ranking of radio talk show programs for 2012. This list is commonly dominated by conservative shows due mainly to the fact that right-wing radio syndicators and station groups refuse to schedule liberal programming on their networks. Nevertheless, a few liberal programs manage to break through and prove that the radio audience is not a Great Wall of Tea Party rightists.
The most significant shift in the rankings is the precipitous drop of Glenn Beck. In 2011 Beck came in at #3, but with this year’s list he nose-dived to #9. That decline is surely the result of the cancellation of his Fox News program last summer. By denying him that platform he has been unable to sustain his position. Either that or it was George Soros dispatching his socialist goons to pressure editors at Talkers Magazine to fudge the list.
During the same time frame, Ed Schultz rose from #9 to #4 on the list. Stephanie Miller rocketed from #21 to #11. And Thom Hartmann (#8), Joe Madison (#10), and Alan Colmes (#15) all held steady.
Conservatives have been arguing for years that the reason liberals are not more successful on talk radio was because the market rejected them. That is demonstrably untrue and this new ranking is evidence that progressive talk is in demand. Whether that has any impact on the commercial operations of the conservative-run radio companies remains to be seen. But if they were to be honest they would have to start employing more liberal talent because that is what the marketplace is demanding.
As for Beck, he is currently begging his supporters to buy tickets to his upcoming “Restoring Love” event in Texas on July 28. It is being held in the 100,000 seat Cowboys Stadium which Beck is desperate to sell out. Tickets go on sale to the public tomorrow and Beck warned his listeners that they will probably be gone the same day. Somehow, I doubt it. With his popularity plummeting, his audience crumbling, and his credibility in tatters, I would expect that Beck will be preaching to an abundance of empty seats.
Remember, Beck couldn’t get 100,000 people to show up for his Washington, D.C. event when he still had Fox News to promote it. These are the End Times for Beck, and the darkness he so often predicts for the world is closing in around him now. Look for his next project to be a new communal survivalist colony in Guyana.
