Can we add FreeRepublic’s traffic to the list as a way of contrasting?
Let me put it this way: those ratings are peanuts compared to prime time (and even a lot of daytime) series. They’re only reaching about 2-4% of households. I did a comparative analysis two weeks ago, it showed nearly identical numbers for the morning shows and the talk shows (at least for NBC and ABC, CBS lost half of its audience from Sunday Morning to FTN) which says to me they’re just leaving the TV on and not watching, and a lot of the “audience” is a bunch of “soccer moms” who don’t care about this stuff as much as us FReepers do.
If it weren’t for public interest requirements I don’t think it’d even be worth keeping the shows on the air.