In the United States radio listenership is gauged by Arbitron and others for both commercial radio and public radio.[1][2] The total listenership for terrestrial radio in the year 2005 was 230 million.[3] The top five radio shows have not changed since 2005, and Rush Limbaugh's show has been number one since at least 1991 when record keeping began.[1][2][4] The last show to fall off the list was The Howard Stern Show on January 1, 2006 when it moved to satellite radio. It was previously tied with Laura Schlesinger in the top 5.[2][5]
From 1933-1935 Maxwell House Show Boat was the top radio show in the United States.[6] In 1948 Walter Winchell had the top rated radio show when he surpassed Fred Allen and Jack Benny.[7][8]
Contents |
Current top programs in the United States
Talkers Magazine compiles Arbitron's data, along with other sources, to estimate the minimum weekly audiences of various commercial long-form talk radio shows. The most recent results, from September, 9, 2009 are as follows:
- The Rush Limbaugh Show - 20+ million.
- The Sean Hannity Show - 16+ million.
- Glenn Beck Program - 9+ million.
- The Savage Nation - 9+ million.
- The Dr. Laura Program - 9+ million
- The Mark Levin Show - 6.25 million
- The Laura Ingraham Show - 6.25 million
- The Dave Ramsey Show - 6.25 million
- Neal Boortz - 4.25+ million
- These results only take into account commercial programs. Public, non-commercial, and non-English programming is not included in this list.
Other terrestrial programs, such as news and music, are not generally estimated in as much detail. Notable high-rated programs that fall outside the long-form talk category include the late commentator Paul Harvey (estimated listenership: 20 to 22 million) and lovesongs host Delilah Rene.
Sirius XM Radio was monitored by Arbitron from only 2007 to early 2008. The latest numbers available, from early 2008 (prior to when XM and Sirius merged), have The Howard Stern Show being the most listened-to show on either platform, with Stern's Howard 100 channel netting a "cume" of 1.2 million listeners. However, recent third party independent research studies indicate that over 60% of the 21 million current Sirius/XM subscribers listen to Stern at some point in the week. [9]
Past top programs in the United States
A. C. Nielsen rated the top ten radio shows in 1955:[10]
- Jack Benny Show (CBS)
- Amos 'n' Andy (CBS)
- People Are Funny (NBC)
- Our Miss Brooks (CBS
- Lux Radio Theater (NBC)
- My Little Margie (CBS)
- Dragnet (NBC)
- FBI in Peace and War (CBS)
- Bergen and McCarthy (CBS)
- Groucho Marx (NBC)
Current top stations in the United Kingdom
Total listenership in the United Kingdom in 2003 was 43.6 million and all BBC programming had 31.9 million listeners. The figures counted listeners over the age of 15 who tuned in for at least five minutes. The following figures show data from 2003.[11]
Station, and weekly listeners in 2003
- BBC Radio 2 - 13 million
- BBC Radio 1 - 9.8 million
- BBC Radio 4 - 9.6 million
- Classic FM (UK) - 6.5 million
- BBC Radio 5 Live - 5.8 million
- Virgin Radio - 2.7 million
- 95.8 Capital FM - 2.6 million
- talkSPORT - 2.1 million
- BBC Radio 3 - 2 million
Worldwide broadcasts
- BBC World Service - 188 million weekly listeners and broadcast in 32 languages as of 2009[12]
- A State of Trance with Armin van Buuren has more than 30 million listeners.[13]
See also
- Audience measurement
- Best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began
- List of most-watched television broadcasts
- List of highest-grossing films
References
- ^ a b "The Top Talk Radio Audiences". Talkers magazine. November 2008. http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=34. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ a b c "Latest top host figures". Talkers magazine. 2005. http://www.talkers.com/talkhosts.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17. "The new figures are in and Talkers magazine’s Fall 2005 estimates of the weekly cume ratings and rankings of the nation’s most listened-to radio talk show hosts, based on Spring 2005 local market Arbitron reports and other factors, indicate that the industry has remained relatively stable since the prior bi-annual report released earlier this year."
- ^ "Satellite Radio Takes Off, Altering the Airwaves". New York Times. 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/national/05satellite.html?pagewanted=all&position=. Retrieved 2008-12-18. "Still, satellite radio is also unlikely to inflict fatal damage on commercial radio, which has about 230 million listeners, according to Arbitron, the radio ratings provider."
- ^ "Late-Period Limbaugh". New York Times. July 6, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06Limbaugh-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-12-18. "Michael Harrison, the editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, a trade publication, puts Limbaugh’s weekly audience at 14 million. Limbaugh himself says it is closer to 20 million. Either way, nobody else is close. He has been the top-rated radio talk-show host in America since the magazine started the ranking 17 years ago."
- ^ "Satellite Radio Still Reaches for the Payday". New York Times. December 26, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/business/media/28radio.html?8dpc=&_r=1&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2008-12-28. "Back in the day when Mr. Stern was on free radio and had an audience of 12 million, that remark would have cascaded through the media universe. But by switching to satellite radio three years ago, Mr. Stern swapped cultural cachet for big money."
- ^ Pendergrast, Mark (1999). Uncommon grounds: the history of coffee and how it transformed our world. ISBN 0465054676. http://books.google.com/books?id=Da_d7SKHVGIC&pg=PA194&dq=%22top+radio+show%22&ei=jt5NScWBGI6syATGrdzkDQ. "By the beginning of 1933 "Maxwell House Show Boat" was the top radio show in the country, a status it would maintain for the next two years. ..."
- ^ Thomas, Bob (1971). Winchell. http://books.google.com/books?id=ajUrAAAAMAAJ&q=%22most-listened-to+radio+programs%22&dq=%22most-listened-to+radio+programs%22&ei=o9JNSe7WBYKEzgSG8fyyCQ&pgis=1. "His ranking among the most listened-to radio programs climbed higher and higher until in 1948 his audience was the biggest in radio."
- ^ Garrett, Eddie (2005). I Saw Stars in the 40's and 50's. ISBN 1412058384. http://books.google.com/books?id=TDbGVZj5qzgC&pg=PA26&dq=jack+benny+%22most+popular+radio+show%22&lr=&ei=VNdNSYTGKoiUzAS5z6G0CA. "In a short time, Benny became the most popular radio show in America in the 1930's and 1940's"
- ^ Hinckley, David. Howard Stern rules satellite radio. New York Daily News. 7 May 2008.
- ^ "The Busy Air". Time magazine. February 7, 1955. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823759,00.html. Retrieved 2009-01-07. "The Nielsen ratings of the top ten radio shows seemed to indicate that not much has changed in radio: 1) Jack Benny Show (CBA), 2) Amos 'n' Andy (CBS), 3) People Are Funny (NBC), 4) Our Miss Brooks (CBS) 5) Lux Radio Theater (NBC), 6) My Little Margie (CBS), 7) Dragnet (NBC), 8) FBI in Peace and War (CBS), 9) Bergen and McCarthy (CBS), 10) Groucho Marx (NBC)."
- ^ "BBC Radio 1 loses listeners". BBC. July 31, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3110667.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-25. "BBC Radio 1 has said it will look "long and hard" at its output after its weekly audience figures fell below 10 million during the last three months."
- ^ "BBC World Service records its best listening figures ever despite cuts". BBC. June 02, 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/06_june/02/audience.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-23. "It uses multiple platforms to reach 188 million users globally, including shortwave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels."
- ^ Armin van Buuren Official Site - News
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