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Let's look at the number of loyal listeners some are claiming Rush has.
The number 20 million gets tossed around a lot. It first appears in print in a 'Billboard' interview of a Kit Carson, supposed to be Rush's Chief of Staff, as the number of listeners in 1993. Does it seem odd to anyone that number has not changed since?
There is no realistic way to verify that number, the syndication company doesn't release and data and the patchwork of stations doesn't make independent verification easy. It isn't in the best interest of Rush and co to release the data only if the real numbers doesn't support the 20 million claim as what Rush can charge depends on the number of ears he can bring to the table.
Now what is counted as a listener? The answer might surprise you. A listener is someone who listens to the program for at least 2 minutes during a 15 minute segment. So one person can be 4 listeners if the radio is on for an hour! The magic of radio!
Radio insiders are highly skeptical of the raw numbers and their rule of thumb is divide by 10. That means Rush's 20 million most likely is around 2 million IF there ever were 20 million.
According to Rush himself he has not seen any numbers since January so how does he claim the increase of listeners? Easy, he has cheerleaders who pulled it from the sky! Someone says it so it must be true.
I can understand when 'conservatives' grumble about the lamestream media not verifying a story, but this was so easy to debunk.
The number 20 million gets tossed around a lot. It first appears in print in a 'Billboard' interview of a Kit Carson, supposed to be Rush's Chief of Staff, as the number of listeners in 1993. Does it seem odd to anyone that number has not changed since?
There is no realistic way to verify that number, the syndication company doesn't release and data and the patchwork of stations doesn't make independent verification easy. It isn't in the best interest of Rush and co to release the data only if the real numbers doesn't support the 20 million claim as what Rush can charge depends on the number of ears he can bring to the table.
Now what is counted as a listener? The answer might surprise you. A listener is someone who listens to the program for at least 2 minutes during a 15 minute segment. So one person can be 4 listeners if the radio is on for an hour! The magic of radio!
Radio insiders are highly skeptical of the raw numbers and their rule of thumb is divide by 10. That means Rush's 20 million most likely is around 2 million IF there ever were 20 million.
According to Rush himself he has not seen any numbers since January so how does he claim the increase of listeners? Easy, he has cheerleaders who pulled it from the sky! Someone says it so it must be true.
I can understand when 'conservatives' grumble about the lamestream media not verifying a story, but this was so easy to debunk.