The Evolution of Talk Radio

When cable showed up, we went from three networks to a couple dozen. ESPN makes billions of dollars because they figured out that sports is a show that writes itself. And so the editorializing of Fox incorrectly called Fox News is about finding five percent of the audience. That's all they need. Five million people watch Fox. But five million people is enough to change the culture. It's enough to change an election. So what talk show hosts on radio have discovered is that it doesn't pay to be Terry Gross. The way you build an audience is by standing for one point of view or another. People like being in their filter bubble.