New York – Heartland America may think the tristate area is the bluest place, but a whole lot of folks around here still listen to Rush Limbaugh.
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And not just because the boisterous conservative radio host is having a verbal food fight right now with the administration of President Barack Obama.
“He’s always been one of our top shows,” says program director Laurie Cantillo of WABC (770 AM), which carries Rush noon-3 p.m. and remains Limbaugh’s flagship station, even though the 58-year-old host does most of his broadcasting now from his home studio in Florida.
In recent Arbitron ratings for the New York metropolitan area, which covers the tristate region and includes about 18 million people, Limbaugh has averaged 4%-5% of the audience.
That does mean, however, that in any given quarter hour, 95%-96% of the area is doing something else.
But by radio standards, that’s a very successful number. It means tens of thousands of people are listening to him at any given time. Over the course of a week, that number swells to several hundred thousand.
Not bad for the reddest of red-state guys, a man who frequently voices his suspicion of big-city coastal media capitols and his admiration for their brethren in the middle.
Nationally, Limbaugh’s office puts his audience at 20 million per week. The national trade magazine Talkers, which does a semiannual count, estimates his listenership at “more than 14.25 million.” John Mainelli, Limbaugh’s former program director at WABC, says Limbaugh’s audience has declined from its peak in the 1990s and now stands around “12 million, tops.”
That would still probably make him the most popular talk host in the country, though his WABC colleague Sean Hannity has been closing in.
In any case, it’s a tricky figure to pin down, because hundreds of small towns around the country are not measured by Arbitron, or any other ratings company. So listenership there has to be estimated. The same holds true to some extent for the Internet and other “non-traditional media” listenership.
He’s the best! Forget about how many listeners he has! Too bad for Barack Obama!
rachmana litzlan
nebach
I just hope its not the frum yiddin listening to him because of bitul torah
Goood for him
Savage is number one in my book
It seems that El Rushbo, has done it again! LOL..
If only the 73 % of our Yidden would have thought with their brains, rather than with their EMOTIONS, maybe it would have made a big difference, rather than having to pay for an imbecile in the WH.
If this clown would sit on the moon, he still would not have the class needed to be the President. What wonderful fodder El Rushbo will have during the next 4 years.
i am so sick of all those liberals taking over the media! Savage rocks.
Limbaugh’s program is as much a model of bad midot as is anything on television today. I can’t believe frum Jews would promote him.
And Howard Stern is # 1 on satellite radio what great company… 60% of listeners disapprove of Limbaugh’s views and clearly he has no evidence of being the voice of America because the candidate he backed Mitt Romney got clobbered in the primaries oh and hows his Jindal guy (aka Regan) who thinks government shouldn’t be involved during national emergencies doing now?
he defends klal yisroel he is much appreciated by the frum community.
Rush and all the other Gop pundits are all a bunch of sore loser hypocrites
For example they attacked michelle obama when she said “this is the first time in her life she felt patriotic” and the Limbaugh goes out and says he hopes Obama fails.
They are busy attacking obama for increasing our debt, passing earmarks and growing our government. When bush himself was guilty of all of the above. Why didn’t they complain when bush earmarked $24 million to his wifes library?
Money for the banks is called a bailout, money to everyone else is called socialism funny how that works out
I love Rush .. he is the embodiment of true America , a breath of fresh air…
He is a demagogue and the Republican party tries to disavow him , his rantings and ravings remind of the Nazis in Vienna. Remember his against government give aways and his philosophy is abolish section 8 and the other leftist free handouts
Bush, not being a dictator did not and could not outlaw stem cell recearch. He just didn’t support federal funding for it.