Survey Finds Talk Radio Has Diverse Audience

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, “angry white males” aren’t the only fans of political talk radio, according to a new survey of talk radio stations.

The Talk Daily nationwide poll of more than 3,000 people who said they listened to a program the day before or on the day they were questioned found that women make up a surprising 40 percent of the audience.

Meanwhile, the stereotypical angry, white Republican male comprised a meager 22 percent of the listening public, according to the new daily digest of some of the nation’s leading political talk radio shows.

The survey also found that most listeners are not Republican and that 90 percent are registered to vote. They also are more likely than the general public to have graduated college and to have higher incomes.

And nine programs claim more than 60 percent of the listening audience.

“So much of the conventional wisdom has been that the audience is angry, Republican men, and the audience is actually more diverse than that,” said Bill Adams, who is starting the daily fax reports on talk radio next month.

The telephone survey of 3,035 adults, conducted in July and August by Adams’ public opinion research firm in Arlington, Va., has an error margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

“Dozens of these (hosts) claim to be on everywhere and have huge audiences, but we wanted to see who had a large enough national audience for us to track,” Adams said.

According to Talk Daily, the top nine political talk radio hosts are: Rush Limbaugh; convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy; Bob Grant and Tom Leykis (tied); Michael Jackson, Ken Hamblin, Chuck Harder, Iran-Contra figure Oliver North and Michael Reagan (also tied).

The 10th host was impossible to identify, Adams said, because the rest of the audience is split among dozens of local and regional programs.

Of the top nine, Leykis and Jackson are considered liberals; the rest are conservative. Except for Grant of New York City and Jackson of Los Angeles, all of the programs are syndicated nationally each weekday.

Among the poll’s other findings:

Three-fourths of the talk radio audience is younger than age 60.

Republicans comprise just 38 percent of the audience.

Nine of 10 political talk radio listeners are registered to vote, compared with six of 10 Americans.

Listeners tend to be better educated, with 39 percent holding college degrees, compared with 21 percent of Americans overall.

In terms of annual family income, 30 percent of listeners exceed the $60,000 mark, while just 20 percent of the general public have similar incomes.

Two-thirds of listeners say talk radio is a very or moderately important source of political information and ideas.