Why does liberal radio fail

James Heidbreder. Mark Lloyd. Paul Woodhull. Ben Scott. Josh Silver. Derek Turner. You Might Also Like. Stanley McChrystal, above, has set the Washington media establishment afire. Jul 1, Eric Alterman. Chafets and Limbaugh: An Army of 1. Latest Stories. Duran and Olivia McAuley Nov 10, More ».

Sign Up Now No Thanks. Become a member and go ad-free! Support Our Journalism. Privacy Policy. This Week's Issue. Do Not Sell My Info. All rights reserved. Limbaugh's success has paved the way for a legion of other conservative radio personalities at the local and national levels. Six years after the founding of Air America, conservatives continue to rule the radio airwaves.

Even Air America's biggest stars, like Franken and Rachel Maddow, never approached the audience numbers of talk radio's leading conservative hosts. Conservative talk radio listeners have an average age of Meanwhile, the 65 and over bracket is the Republican party's strongest demographic. Younger and typically more liberal individuals are not as likely to listen to talk radio.

Another problem is the existence of NPR, which produces, on the whole, better and more varied programming than Air America ever did. NPR exudes an understated but very real leftward tilt. Ultimately, they offered consumers of left-leaning radio more appealing options than Air America did.

To find a young audience, you have to turn to television, which offers the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. As recently as , Stewart's audience had a median age of 36, although it has now crept up to Talk radio is a tough gig. You have to sustain three hours of conversation, five days a week, in defense of your ideas.

Conservatives like to say that liberals aren't successful on the radio simply because their ideas don't hold up. Radio trends older. Liberals trend younger.