H.O.R.N. or

[Enigma]

First, to deal with the nonsense....

I think it's due to the very nature of liberalism itself. Conservatives tend to want to discuss and refine their ideas. Liberals, on the other hand, avoid ideas in favor of ideologies. There's only so many ways of saying, "abortion good, war bad."

This is all just silly, but just to point out, I'm a liberal who thinks abortion is bad. I just don't think it should be illegal. But lets not get off topic...

We'll see how little liberals care about conservative talk radio when they start curbing the right to free speech by resurrecting the "Fairness Doctrine".

Long on disdain, short on common sense.

Now, Steamwake...First of all, besmirch, great word. To soil.

Also, your question is a very good one. One theory has the vast majority of large media conglomerates in radio leaning right. (see stats below). But, the problem with that theory is that even when there is a liberal media outlet (see: Air America) they don't draw the listeners that the righties do. I've often wondered if it's the Howard Stern effect. In his movie, his program director tells the station manager that %50 of his audience loves him and always want to hear what he says next. However, the other 50% that say they hate him, but continue to listen, and provide the same reasons. They want to hear what he says next.

The sway of elections in our country dispells any idea that the US is just so massivly conservative that there is no room for liberal radio. Basically, lots of theories, and no real answers. I don't mind though. I wouldn't sit around on my ass listening to lefty hate mongers. They would be no better than the scum broadcasting from the right....

• 91% of the programming (2,570 hours per weekday) was hosted by the conservatives, 9% (254 hours) by the progressives.

• 92% of the stations (236 of the 257) broadast no progressive talk radio programming at all.

• Broken down according to station ownership, the numbers are as follows: Clear Channel (145 stations): 86% conservative. Citadel (23 stations): 100% conservative. Cumulus (31 stations): 100% conservative. Salem (28 stations): 100% conservative. CBS (30 stations): 74%. One owner, CBS, stands out from the rest politically, but still shows a 3:1 conservative-to-progressive ratio.

• In some markets (most notably, New York and Chicago), the ratio is close to 1:1. In others (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, it’s 100% conservative or very close to it.)