For a fourth straight year, porn-star-friendly Howard Stern is the most popular talk radio personality with Internet searchers, ahead of Rush Limbaugh, The Bob & Tom Show, Art Bell, and Sean Hannity, according to a top twenty survey by Terra Lycos.
Trailing those five, beginning with sixth place, are Michael Savage, Tom Joyner, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Mancow in the Morning, and Al Franken. The rest of the top twenty, in descending order, are Paul Harvey, Tom Leykis, Bill O'Reilly, Larry King, Clark Howard, The Opie and Anthony Show, Glen Beck, George Noory, Jim Rome, and Lionel.
Stern's recent controversies with the Federal Communications Commission may have had as much to do with his sustained search popularity as his show itself, according to "The Lycos 50" writer Dean Tsouvalis. "Stern's searches have been consistent all year," he said, "but after his press conference vowing to fight the FCC, creating a 'radio jihad' with Clear Channel, and announcing he is not off to satellite radio just yet, his online popularity has doubled over last year.
Opie & Anthony stayed in the top 20 despite being bounced off the air two years ago, following the stunt they set up involving a couple having sex on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Now, however, they're moving to satellite radio: The pair has signed up with XM, which is said to have about 2.1 million subscribers.
On the Terra Lycos survey, Savage showed the largest search activity bump, while Bob & Tom, Franken, Leykis, Beck, and Lionel made the list for the first time and mainstays like Don Imus, Don and Mike, Laura Ingraham, and Click and Clack dropped off the list.
The survey showed search results from January through the end of July.
