Howard Stern is the Most Popular Radio Talk
Personality with Web Users for the Third Straight Year

Terra Lycos, a global Internet network, announced its third annual list of the most popular radio talk show hosts with Web users based on The Lycos 50(TM) (http://50.lycos.com), where Howard Stern has been the most popular for the third straight year.

The Lycos 50 is a weekly list of the most popular people, places and things users are searching for online.

The Top 20 Most Searched Talk Radio Show Hosts, Reflecting Search Activity from January 1 through June 14, 2003 are (numbers in parentheses reflect rank last year):

1) Howard Stern (1)
2) Tom Joyner (5)
3) Rush Limbaugh (4)
4) George Noory (-)
5) Neal Boortz (9)
6) Bill O'Reilly (12)
7) Clark Howard (13)
8) Art Bell (3)
9) Opie and Anthony (2)
10) Dr. Laura (7)
11) Paul Harvey (8)
12) Mancow (11)
13) Sean Hannity (-)
14) Larry King (15)
15) Click and Clack (20)
16) Don Imus (14)
17) Laura Ingraham (19)
18) Don and Mike (10)
19) Jim Rome (6)
20) Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla (-)

Howard Stern continues to be the "King of all Media" online, according to Web users. Last year, Stern was three times as popular as any other radio personality. This year, he generates nearly five times as much search activity as any other talk radio personality or team of radio hosts.

This year's biggest riser is Tom Joyner whose African-American oriented morning show is now heard in more than 120 radio markets across the country.

Joyner jumped from number 11 in 2001, to number five last year and is currently the second most popular radio personality in the country behind Howard Stern.

"One of the other stand-out radio personalities making a big hit with Web users is Neal Boortz," said Aaron Schatz, writer of The Lycos 50. "Boortz is a nationally-syndicated Libertarian host who also writes a popular blog on his show's Web site. Over the past couple of years, Boortz has gone from number 14 to number nine and now stands at number five."

Also on the rise this year in online popularity are right-wing television hosts turned radio hosts, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. In 2002, The Lycos 50 picked Hannity as the rising radio talk star of 2002, as well as consumer advocate Clark Howard. Meanwhile, other radio talk personalities have been slowly fading in online popularity over the past three years including Don Imus, who dropped from number nine in 2001 to number 14 last year and is number 16 on this year's list.

"Other personalities losing popularity with Web users are Don and Mike, Paul Harvey and Dr. Laura," Schatz added. "One big surprise was the drop in search activity for sports radio host Jim Rome, although he still remains the top sports radio personality online. Searches are also down for retired radio personality Art Bell and the off-the-air shock jock team Opie and Anthony, although it's still surprising how many searches we get for Opie and Anthony. And while Bell retired on January 1, 2003, and his show Coast to Coast AM welcomed a new host named George Noory, people still search for Coast to Coast and for Bell."

Unlike last year, no single talk radio personality stands out as someone rising in search popularity to watch over the next year.

Terra Lycos is a global Internet group with a presence in 42 countries in 19 languages. The group, which is the result of Terra Networks S.A.'s acquisition of Lycos, Inc. in October 2000, operates some of the most popular Web sites in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America, and is the largest access provider in Spain and Latin America.

© CONTACTO Magazine

June 28, 2003

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