Airhead America A Success?--Updated!
That's what
this article in the Wall Street Journal (!) says. Of course, the news pages of the WSJ are not as reliably conservative as the editorial pages, and the article strikes an occasional cheerleading tone and uses questionable statistics like this:
In New York, Ms. Rhodes is tied with conservative Sean Hannity for the talk-show host that listeners spent the most time with each week in the fall season, according to Arbitron. Ms. Rhodes points out that she reached that level after just a few months of national exposure, and without the television show and book Mr. Hannity has to boost his public profile.
Obvious question: What do they mean by the term "listeners spent the most time with each week"? They don't mean that Rhodes' audience was the same size as that of Hannity, just that the folks who listen to Rhodes listen religiously (or should I say irreligiously?).
Update: Okay, I read the comment about Rhodes' audience again and it's even goofier than it seems. Basically the writer is saying that on average, Rhodes' audience members spent X hours a week listening to her, and that Hannity's audience members spent the same X hours a week listening to him. What's so goofy about that? Well, Hannity is on for three hours a day, five days a week for a total of 15 hours, while Rhodes is on for four hours a day, five days a week for a total of 20 hours. In other words, Rhodes' audience members listen to 25% less of her show on average per week than Sean Hannity's audience members listen to his show.
