This one is for you FAOS... Granted he lost to Rush, but beating O'Reilly means that the claim that no one listens is spurious. Al Franken Beats O'Reilly in NY Radio Matchup Tue Jul 20, 9:18 PM ET By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Despite the rocky start of his liberal Air America radio network, political humorist Al Franken surged past conservative nemesis Bill O'Reilly in the first quarterly ratings matchup between the two in New York City. But before liberals can claim a victory in the battle for ears of listeners in America's biggest city, consider this: Veteran conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh beat them both. "The Al Franken Show," airing weekdays on WLIB-AM, more than doubled O'Reilly's "The Radio Factor" on WOR-AM among listeners aged 25 to 54 -- the group advertisers prize most -- during the only hour when the two go head to head in New York, Arbitron Inc. reported on Tuesday. According to its April-to-June survey, the first since Air America's debut, Franken posted a 2.6 share from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., compared with a 1.1 share for O'Reilly in the 25-54 demographic. An Arbitron share is an average quarter-hour measure of listenership that combines audience size with the amount of time people are tuned in. O'Reilly did slightly better than Franken in the broader demographic of all listeners aged 12 and up. But they were each eclipsed by Limbaugh in both demographics. Franken and O'Reilly clashed last year over the political satirist's popular book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," which poked fun at the Fox News Channel and O'Reilly, who hosts a popular Fox show. Fox News sued Franken and his publisher, claiming the book's subtitle infringed on its trademark phrase "Fair and Balanced." Fox dropped the suit after a judge said its motion for an injunction was "wholly without merit." Franken launched Air America amid much fanfare on March 31 as a liberal radio alternative to a predominantly right-leaning talk show culture whose ranks include such personalities as Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and O'Reilly. But the network soon ran into management and financial troubles. With a new group of executives in charge and investors committing more capital, network insiders have said the venture is bouncing back. Air America now claims 17 stations nationwide, plus a presence on the XM and Sirius satellite radio networks. link
My wife has changed the rimrocker household nap time schedule so she can listen to the bulk of Franken's show uninterrupted.
I would like to see Randi Rhodes in that time slot going head to head with the pill popper. I like Franken, but Rhodes seems to fire people up on both sides of the aisle.
