Talkers Magazine rolls out the Heavy Hundred

Now, I don't necessarily take as gospel this annual ranking of talk show hosts. I often wonder about the exact accuracy of it all. And I have always suspected that quite a bit of it had been pulled out of thin air.

Nonetheless, Talkers Magazine, which writes about the talk radio industry as a whole, has come out with its annual ranking of the Top 100 talk radio hosts in America for 2009, a.k.a the Heavy Hundred (plus 150 other names).

In their own words, the rankings are compiled by the editorial staff, and include several criteria, which they admit is 'a combination of hard and soft factors.' They include (in alphabetical order), courage, effort, impact, longevity, potential, ratings, recognition, revenue, service, talent and uniqueness. In short, almost how I come up with my own personal annual list. So it's not all scientific, and subject to much dispute and scrutiny.

Nonetheless, it is what it is, and a lot of people put a lot of faith in it.

Some notable names which many of you may be interested in...

10. Thom Hartmann
16. Alan Colmes
18. Ed Schultz
23. Lionel
30. Stephanie Miller
46. Rachel Maddow
48. Randi Rhodes
100. Leslie Marshall

And... bubbling under (in alphabetical order)...

Alex Bennett
Ron Kuby
Mike Malloy
Ron Reagan

So, there you go. Not the way I'd rank them, but again, it is what it is.

Perhaps that's why I don't really put much stock in Talkers Magazine's surveys. It's certainly not the gospel.