5% IS NOT A SOLUTION

Wingnut talk radio shows can do very well while at the same time the GOP can be doing very poorly. The GOP needs 50% plus 1 in elections but the bar for talk radio is much, much lower. If a show gets 5% of the listening audience, it's doing great.

The future of talk radio
By Jeff Jacoby
May 4, 2009
The Boston Globe

Q: You've said, "Rush Limbaugh at his biggest and his best is only a small player in the broader picture of radio." How so?

A: Rush Limbaugh, even though he's number one, is not the dominant figure in radio. Radio is much larger in total than any of its on-air components. There are no Super Bowls in radio.

Q: You mean no one with real mass appeal?

A: Nobody in radio has a following that comes anywhere near a majority of Americans. Limbaugh gets about a 5 percent, 6 percent share of people listening to the radio at any given time when he's on - and he's only on three hours a day. The idea that radio is dominated by conservatives or by Rush Limbaugh is not correct.