It has been said that the talk radio market is fickle. But this announcement from the office of progressive talker Ed Schultz suggests he’s someone who will be around for awhile:
The Ed Schultz Show is proud to announce that we have reached 3.25 million listeners. The latest numbers make Ed Schultz the most listened to Progressive radio host yet again. This news follows Ed coming in at #5 on Talkers Magazine’s Heavy 100 and Radio & Records nominating Ed for syndicated personality of the year.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Ed Schultz now has as many listeners as Bill O’Reilly.
And, indeed, this link to Talkers Magazine shows the breakdown. Schultz is in the 7th place category with O’Reilly and several others. The closest other progressive talkers are in 11th place — Randi Rhodes and Stephanie Miller.
What’s going on? As someone who travels extensively in my other incarnation (yesterday I drove 360 miles doing 3 shows in two counties on a trip that lasted 12 hours) I listen to a LOT of talk radio, of all political persuasions. Anyone who likes to talk a lot and has opinions can fill talk show time. BUT not ALL talk show hosts are top rate broadcasters.
Schultz (like his nemesis Rush Limbaugh on the right) is an excellent broadcaster. The pace of his show is quick. He offers a lot of variety. And unlike some other talkers, he’ll let callers who angrily disagree with him have a decent amount of airtime to argue with him. But the key with Schultz is less him being left, or right, or center left or center right.
The key is that he knows how to use the radio, has a well-produced show, jumps on top of breaking stories and is not Johnny One Note. In other words: Schultz would get lots of listeners if he was a conservative talker or just a interview show. He is a BROADCAST talent who offers listeners and advertisers a solid product. If some progressive talkers fall by the wayside in coming years, it’s likely that Schultz (who is not part of Air America) will remain standing.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.