Talk radio's Hannity closes in on Limbaugh as fiery conservativism strikes a chord

Crain's New York Business ^

[chasio649]

I agree...Sean is too vanilla and nothing original...he does about as well as i would with the facts and info...sometimes he seems to just be towing the line...not much new ground is covered by him. O'Relly is much quicker on his feet and he has to do the whole show by himself...i am sure O'reilly barely has time to dig down on a story but he does quite well.

[chasio649]

yep

[chasio649]

yep

[Jorge]

The left loves to cite Rush at 15 million viewers. He consistantly pulls 20 million.

I'm glad somebody else caught this.
They are desperate to diminish Rush's influence.

[Alberta's Child]

It's also interesting to note that this article neglected to mention Hannity's first position at WABC. He actually started in the 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM slot -- and what is most interesting about this is that he had a far better show back then. It must be something about the time slot -- there are fewer commercial breaks, and none of those tiresome traffic reports, news flashes, etc.

Hannity moved to the 3:00 to 6:00 PM time slot when Bob Grant was fired back in the mid-1990s. Grant ended up on WOR, and it's worth noting that neither one of them comes close to matching Grant's old ratings on WABC -- it looks like they've pretty much split Grant's old WABC audience between them.

[7 x 77]

"O'Reilly made his fame the same way."

I don't think I'd point to O'Reilly as someone who takes on all comers. When Billy gets to one of those frequent stretches of road he can't negotiate, he bails by cutting off his adversary with a, "Well, I disagree, now I'd like to talk about . . . "

[ladyinred]

"When you appeal, as he does, to the most base human instincts-fear, anxiety and anger-and you exploit those, you unfortunately have a winning formula in media today," says Jack Myers, publisher of The Myers Report, a media industry newsletter.

Who is he talking about? Sheen? Carter? Clinton? Clooney? Rather? :-)

[chasio649]

He has about 7 minutes per segment of his show...he can't get too bogged down on one point....geeez...i am so thankful there is someone like O'Reilly on TV...i can remember when Ted Kopell was it!

[faithincowboys]

I think Rush is a control guy and I don't blame him. His show speaks for itself. Everytime he does tv they try to make him look bad. now with the implant, i don't know how good he would be with a live show. also, hannity got blown away the other day on his radio show by donahue. dennis miller is the only person i've seen destroy donahue. everybody seems to suffer from vulva-envy around phil. o'reilly is a jerk who just wants ink--the way he went after lynne cheney the other night was disgraceful. it wasn't that he was tough, he was unfair. bill is mildly conservative on tv just because it is better for his career.
his political hero is bobby kennedy, jeez.

[7 x 77]

Everybody, I think we need to be careful here. If we talk much about Sean's shortcomings, he'll stop being the Free Republic's friend.

[WKB]

The left loves to cite Rush at 15 million viewers.

Shows how little they know. We know Rush hasn't been on TV in years.

[7 x 77]

"geeez"

I thought it was "Jeez", but I'm just guessing. I thought it might be a substitute for "Jesus".

[chasio649]

Man...you should have your own show...soooo quick on your feet!

[Contra]

Sean follows Rush and it is Rush's lead in that helps Sean. People just stay tuned in to hear Sean after Rush. Granted, Sean is keeping the listeners tuned in but Rush's lead in is definitely helping Sean.

[Alberta's Child]

Good point.

I hope he doesn't take all of this too personally. I've just been honest in my assessment, that's all.

I've been a New York talk radio junkie since those long nights as an undergraduate in engineering school, and I could talk about this topic forever. LOL.

[7 x 77]

Sorry to offend. Excuse me while I tiptoe around.

[_Jim]

I wish Rush would do the same ...

Uhhh .., he *moves* libs and those who disagree with him to the front of the line -

- how much could he do?

Start actively calling libs at their homes?

[longrider]

I like Hannity and I listen to him about every day.But he isn't in a class with Rush and never will be. As much as I disagree with Colmes on everything he's got to say. He is a better debater than Hannity and just so that you will know, I'm to the right of Goldwater.

[chasio649]

Does anyone remember Ol' Rush bashing Bush senior and then getting the call to come stay a night in the Lincoln bedroom? After that he was quite the boot licker...been done with him since then...also Rush always makes all these grand predictions and when they never come true...he just fails to mentions them take a call on them...remember Hillary wasn't suppose to even run for the senate seat..

[speekinout]

I prefer Sean to Rush. Sean has interviews with Libs and goes toe-to-toe. Rush just responds to quotes - the Libs don't get a chance to respond. What Sean does is harder.
And, BTW, Rush sometimes does not know what he's talking about. He wouldn't always be able to stand up to an opponent.