Recently with my startup DAR.fm I've gotten into the radio business after more than a decade in the digital music business. One aspect I find surprising is that few people in the radio business have statistics about the business.
I decided to change this with DAR.fm — we're now publishing statistics for every single show. Actual numbers, not percentages of some unknown base. DAR.fm uses this data to rank every show by actual user activity.
A few trends I noticed: Half of the top political shows are from progressive/liberal hosts. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are #1 and #2, but #3 is Rachel Maddow. Also, podcast listenership is dwarfed by traditional radio talent — the top 40 has very few podcast-only shows.
--MR



