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"I like radio, but for myself, the commercials were finally the end of radio as I knew it."

Pretty much the only radio I listen to is the local sports radio channel, and I am amazed how many commercials they run. I'd guess that about 75% of the time I turn on the radio, there is a commercial playing. And the commercial breaks sometimes seem to extend for 5-7 minutes. I don't know what the facts are, but it seems that commercials consume about 50% of the air time.

I'd guess that about 75% of the time I turn on the radio, there is a commercial playing. And the commercial breaks sometimes seem to extend for 5-7 minutes.

You try selling time on this station to a sober client.

Herb Tarlek, WKRP in Cincinnati, 1978

It used to be 4 breaks an hour each ~4 minutes long. Now it’s 3 breaks an hour each 6-7 minutes long. Some might run 2 breaks an hour but in sold out conditions they can run 10 OR MORE minutes each!

Broadcast radio is a dying medium. Technology is bypassing it much as it bypassed the telegraph and land line telephones. Rush Limbaugh and his imitators revived AM broadcasting in the 1990s. The age of the leading conservative talkers (Hannity, Beck, and Levin are in their 50s; Limbaugh in his 60s; Savage and Bennett in their 70s) indicates that the current era of conservative talk radio will go away in 10-15 years. As for demographics, radio listenership is declining in all formats, and is nearly nonexistent among those born after 1985. NPR and the liberal networks are in the same sinking ship as conservative talk radio. In 2030, Limbaugh and Levin will likely be off the airwaves, but so will All Things Considered and Larry King.

Blogs and social networking are the future not only of conservative communication, but leftist as well. In another 15 years yet another medium may come to the forefront.