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That's not a valid point. Those shows would never have made it had they not been subsidized across the nation. They owe their all of their success to having operated at a loss, covered by you and me, until they became accepted as the "norm".

What you're really saying is that "commercial success" is the only success that matters. Well, that's one point of view, I suppose -- but it's clearly not the only one, nor is it even important when one is talking about political influence. Derbyshire's point is that, as an intellectual component of propagating a political point of view, NPR's offerings are much more effective than those of conservative talk radio.

The FACT is that the two NPR shows have audience numbers comparable to Limbaugh's -- which for radio is "success" in the most meaningful sense. I would also suggest to you that the NPR shows are simply better than Limbaugh's or Hannity's. They have better content, a much broader range of topics, discussion, and points of view, and much greater depth.

If you've ever sat through the excruciating pain of listening to Hannity attempt to debate an intelligent liberal, you'll understand the qualitative difference between conservative talk radio and the NPR offerings. I'll give sean credit for trying, though. Limbaugh never even has guests -- who, after all, would just get in the way of his own opinions.

Given that we're talking about political influence here, your focus on commercial success

The comparison of audience size is misleading. Rush reaches 14 mil DAILY. Whereas NPR’s shows are WEEKLY.

Hannity never claims to be an intellectual.

Besides, the conservative message has to be in plain english. If you are going to win national elections, the average american MUST understand your positions and what you represent.

Buckley was a great conservative thinker and writer, but the average joe needed a dictionary to understand what he was saying. “Highbrow” conservative discourse and hyper-intellectual conservative theory goes right over the head of the people who spend most of their time working their asses off to pay the bills and take care of their kids.

Conservatives need to influence the working american. Not just the intellectual.

You're skirting the bottom line issue. I could make polka wildly successful if I poured hundreds of millions of public dollars into putting it on every "public" radio station across the county. If you force feed it long enough, people will get used to it and it will become "successful".

On an even playing field, NPR would fail. Period.

And by the way, I can't stand Rush or Hannity or any of those goofballs. I find them annoying. The only conservative radio host I can listen to is Praeger.