Talk:List of most-listened-to radio programs

Expanding the scope
One of the objections to this article in the AfD was that it was too narrow, covering a short time period (2005-2008) in one country (the United States). Of course this can be expanded, and here are pointers to some sources to help do so: Here is a source for top rated British shows in 2002; here is a source for the top 3 shows in the U.S. in 1998; here are the top ten radio shows in the U.S. in 1955. Yes, Nielsen actually had ratings for radio shows up until 1956; if one digs hard enough for sources, we could probably even put together things like a 1954–1955 United States network radio schedule for the seasons from 1930 or so to 1956; as we have now articles like the 1954–1955 United States network television schedule. DHowell (talk) 04:55, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Public radio
Is there any particular reason why we have not included public radio programs in this list of most listened-to radio programs? I was always under the impression that, after The Rush Limbaugh Show, the #2 most popular talk radio program in America was The Sean Hannity Show. However, I just found out from Wikipedia's own other articles as well as through their source (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/books/review/17FREEDMA.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22all%20things%20considered%22&st=cse) that the #2 and #3 highest-rated talk radio shows are NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. I think we should change this in the article to avoid misleading readers. Either that, or the disclaimer that public radio shows are not included should at least be made more prominent. --Hnsampat (talk) 12:30, 3 July 2010 (UTC)

Even NPR's page here on Wikipedia has a cited statement saying the above about the second and third most listened to. Hyperlinked, ironically to this page. It should be added in, different sectoion or not. 24.190.36.132 (talk) 11:17, 22 October 2010 (UTC)
 * You will be pleased to know our article lists public radio (Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Marketplace) between The Sean Hannity Show and the Glenn Beck Program. TNKS, Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 14:22, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Necessary improvement
This is a short article that I feel could easily be expanded. Countries such as Canada, France and many others could be easily included if someone knows a reliable source. I will have a look on the web for the most up-to-date ones in the following nations (If I find none or a negligible amount of radio listeners I shall leave it out), Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Rep. of Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Mspence835 (talk) 17:46, 7 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Edit; Scrapping trying to do Canada, the last figures were published in 2006 after which it was discontinued. I can only find listening figures for CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two anyway! Mspence835 (talk) 18:10, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

Stated numbers concerning Sirius
Sirius XM Radio was monitored directly by Arbitron from 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. Eastlan Ratings, a service that competes with Arbitron in several markets, includes satellite radio channels in its local ratings; Howard 100 has registered above several lower-end local stations in the markets Eastlan serves, the only satellite station to do so.[11]

Besides the point that there are no relevant sources/links for this information; How does it even make sense that Stern's show was allegedly the most listened show on either platform between 2007/08, when the stated number of 1.2 million listeners is nowhere near the ones that are in the top 10 for commercial programs (the number 1 being like 22 millions). Is there's something I'm not getting? Or does this in fact really not make any sense at all?--77.21.235.144 (talk) 00:43, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Prairie Home Companion ?
According to WIKIPEDIA's article on "Prairie Home Companion" that radio program has 3.9 million listeners weekly. This would put it into WIKIPEDIA's list of most-listened radio programs.
 * Then again that's only if you regard WIKIPEDIA as a reliable source.LAWinans (talk) 01:44, 9 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Reviewing Prairie Home Companion, the claim appears to be unsourced. Inclusion here would require a source, and the content there should be sourced as well. aprock (talk) 03:44, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Talkers with 3.75M+ listeners
The talkers website lists five talk show hosts with 3.75M+ listeners. If we include one, we should include all, and I'm not sure that having that many on the list makes sense. The Coast to Coast AM show only has 3+ M listeners, but it's distinct enough that it merits inclusion, though it might be better to move it off the list to avoid the confusion of excluding the 3.75M+ hosts. Not sure the best way to handle this. aprock (talk) 02:04, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Coast to Coast is now listed. Thanks, Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 14:17, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Source the Chart?
The main chart; "Popular radio shows in the United States" very mildly suggests but never states what it's sources are. Also, I notice little resemblance to http://www.talkers.com/top-talk-radio-audiences/, ...Shouldn't the "why" be explained? --69.110.90.125 (talk) 00:37, 30 April 2013 (UTC)Doug Bashford

Removal of sourced content
The recent edits have been removing claiming it was unsourced. Please review the sources in the section, all the content is sourced. Unless an explanation of how the content is unsourced is provided, or how it is problematic, I'll restore the content in due course. aprock (talk) 18:59, 19 January 2014 (UTC)
 * As the admin who stopped the edit war, I recommend you consider making the the source for the contended material more explicit using tags. I suspect that's why this whole edit war got started and I'd hate to see anybody get blocked here. Toddst1 (talk) 21:45, 19 January 2014 (UTC)
 * It's already in the article with ref tags. aprock (talk) 22:02, 19 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I've gone ahead and restored the sourced material. aprock (talk) 04:24, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Sean Hannity is absent from this list which brings into question its accuracy.
The List of most-listened-to radio programs needs to place Sean Hannity on the list near the top. Talkers Magazine, the 'bible' of the talk radio industry places Sean at #2 so why isn't he listed in this list of the top 18? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:2458:D7C9:A971:3185:5060:46FC (talk) 04:10, 7 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Someone replaced hanity with savage nation. Fixed. aprock (talk) 04:45, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

List of most-listened-to radio programs (in the world)
Apparently absent from the published list of "most-listened-to radio programs" is the "Thru The Bible" program heard each day in more then 200 countries and in over 100 languages and dialects. The program runs for thirty minutes and airs twice a day on many stations. It is certainly heard by millions, and probably, tens of millions of people each day. I feel it is an error to not have it listed 68.103.155.49 (talk) 01:44, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
 * As a general rule, we kind of need a hard number of listeners if we're going to list the show here. Part of the trouble is that a lot of the religious stations, especially those in the United States, don't rely on audience measurement services (stations that rely on listener donations don't need to sell advertising and can gauge how well they're doing by how much is coming in directly). J. Myrle Fuller (talk) 22:21, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

Tom Kent
I know someone removed the case of Tom Kent. I understand that Kent's number is self-reported, and that (along with the fact that that self-reported number is nearly double that of his nearest competitor) would be something that would probably raise questions. However, we do include several other shows on this list that rely primarily on self-reported figures as well, so for consistency I would think that wouldn't be a total disqualifier. Furthermore, also understand that Kent's programs air on a number of different formats, ranging from classic hits to hot AC, many of which have higher overall ratings in a given market than second-place Limbaugh, whose numbers in a lot of major markets are suffering. If Limbaugh can manage 13 million on struggling AM outlets, it's not a stretch to think Kent could manage 23 on a comparable number of almost all-FM affiliates (500 vs. Limbaugh's 600) with better overall listenership. I do think his self-reported number is plausible; perhaps a tag might be warranted for that entry. J. Myrle Fuller (talk) 22:21, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

Recent Talkers estimate
Does anyone know where to find recent Talkers audience size estimates? The most recent I can find is for May. Mesh22 (talk) 07:24, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Talkers not reflective of actual audience size
The Talkers website acknowledges that its list is "subjective," "Importance" does not mean most popular. Important according to whom or what standard it declines to say. Hence, it is highly misleading to include its list in an article ostensibly devoted to most the listened to hosts. According to most research, Limbaugh and Savage are the two top-rated shows in the USA. Orthotox (talk) 19:38, 28 September 2016 (UTC)

Broadcast Time is relative
For example, Rush Limbaugh is "midday" only if you live on the east coast. On the west coast he airs at 9am, which is "AM drive time". Sean Hannity is listed as "PM drive" but he's actually midday for west coast listeners (12 noon). And finally Glenn Beck is completely variable. Typically he's 9am live on the east coast, but on the west coast he is tape-delayed to 3pm or sometimes even 6pm.

IMHO this category should be deleted. It really serves no purpose when the country is so vast, and the broadcast time so variable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.249.47.207 (talk) 20:32, 5 December 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 June 2017
Hello, a lot of Sebastian's fans are wanting to edit this page. Because, Sebastian is #20 for most listened radio programs in the U.S. We don't understand why this is happening?? Please fix this! 2601:58D:400:84C0:407D:8376:31AA:44A (talk) 14:57, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
 * No specific request in the form "please change x to y" (with sources). The page is protected because it was vandalised a lot. The protection is an excellent fix for that. --bonadea contributions talk 15:10, 10 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Hmm. bonadea (or anyone else with an opinion), this begs the question, what is "relevant"? Previously, many years ago, 3.75 million was used as the minimum number of listeners to be deemed "relevant" on this page (from what it looks like, based entirely on the format used at Talkers). Should we go back to that? If so, we should remove the ones that fall below that & add the ones on Talkers not currently listed (e.g., Jim Bohannon).Happysomeone (talk) 18:57, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Unsourced, Absurdly high Rush Limbaugh Show cumulative weekly listenership claim
I'm having a little trouble with the link, so here's the cached webpage that supports the claim. Rush Limbaugh's claim in April 2017 that his audience had reached a weekly cume of 26M was never supported by any actual data or third party — unlike other sources on this page. Now that Talkers Magazine has resumed their analytics (based on data attributed to "rating services and other metrics-gathering sources and methodologies") and finds a weekly cume of just 14M for the Rush Limbaugh Show, I'm highly dubious of Limbaugh's claim. They're just so far apart it beggars belief. I will remove the cite until better information that is either sourced to a third-party ratings service or a previously agreed-upon, trusted source such as Talkers Magazine, can be provided or found.Happysomeone (talk) 18:56, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

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Top-20 list for Most Popular Radio Shows in US
As the Talkers "Top Talk Audiences" has grown, so has the list here on this page. We're currently at 25 programs listed, with popular country music program The Lia Show at the bottom with just over 1M weekly listeners. The list is pretty long. At one point, there was a minimum number of weekly listeners used as a metric for inclusion on this list that mirrored the Talkers list, but since then Talkers has lowered the limit to 3 million while other editors have added programs they thought worthy of inclusion & others kept track of the audiences as they rose or fell, rather than remove them once their audiences fell below a certain audience-size threshold. I'm proposing we hold the line of listed shows at 20 (or perhaps even 15?). I plan on making an edit in the next few days to reflect that, which would mean the Kilmeade, Pure American Country Radio, Live From Here, Kim Komando & Lia shows would all be cut. Anyone support? Opposed? Happysomeone (talk) 17:36, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

"Top radio" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Top radio and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 February 16 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Sammi Brie (she/her • t • c) 21:06, 16 February 2022 (UTC)