A little over a year ago, Glenn Beck was just one of so many conservative national radio talk show hosts as far as Tucson listeners were concerned. His show was ranked No. 32 in the local ratings among programs on talk radio stations.

And that was when his show aired in morning drive, considered prime time in radio.

But then this summer, his show switched stations joining the line-up on KNST 790-AM that also includes Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. And even though Beck now airs in the afternoon as a six-hour delayed broadcast, he’s got nearly six times the number of listeners and is the No. 9-ranked show in the market.

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In the meantime, Beck’s old station, Citadel’s the Source KCUB 1290-AM, has seen its morning ratings improve 50 percent with Dan Patrick as part of a new all-sports format.   

That’s the biggest change in the market, according to an analysis of Arbitron radio ratings. A year ago, we calculated the top political talkers just before the election using ratings that had been taken during the spring. This year, due a number of program changes including Beck’s, we used the summer ratings that were released after the elections.

Limbaugh continues to rule as the top-rated talk show in Tucson and Hannity still has a strong following. And locally, Jon Justice on the Truth KQTH 104.1-FM is the top-rated local talk show. But what also stands out in these numbers is the popularity of National Public Radio programming on KUAZ 89.1-FM/1550-AM.

Half of the 10 highest rated programs on talk stations are on the University of Arizona-owned station. Clear Channel’s KNST has four in the top 10 and Justice’s show is the only show to make the top 10 on Journal Broadcast Group’s the Truth.

These are the top-rated talk shows on Tucson radio. Space limitations prevent us from running the entire list in print but it is online at www.AzBiz.com.

These are rankings of programs airing on these stations:

• ESPN Radio The Fan KFNN 1490-AM, owned by the Journal Broadcast Group

• KNST 790-AM, owned by Clear Channel Communications

• KUAZ 89.1-FM/1550-AM, owned by the University of Arizona’s Arizona Public Media

• The Jolt KJLL 1330-AM, independently-owned by Hudson Communications

• The Source KCUB 1290-AM, owned by Citadel Broadcasting

• The Truth KQTH 104.1-FM owned by the Journal Broadcast Group

• The Voice KVOI 1030-AM, owned by Good News Communications

The shows are ranked by their average number of listeners per quarter hour. The number to the right is the cumulative total number of different persons who tuned to a program for at least five minutes.

The times are the current air times. Many shows aired an hour earlier when the ratings were taken during Daylight Saving Time.

Here are the rankings:

1. Rush Limbaugh, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., KNST 15,500 41,300

2. Morning Edition, 6 a.m.-9 a.m. KUAZ 8,900 50,500

3. Sean Hannity, 1-4 p.m., KNST  8,000 35,400

4. All Things Considered, 3:30-6:30 p.m., KUAZ 7,600 53,900

5. Diane Rehm, 9-11 a.m., KUAZ 7,000 31,400

6. Talk of the Nation, noon-2 p.m., KUAZ 7,000 35,700

7. Jon Justice, 6-9 a.m., KQTH 6,900 27,900

8. Jim Parisi*, 6-9 a.m., KNST 6,400 29,700

9. Glenn Beck, 4-7 p.m., KNST 6,200 29,500

10. Fresh Air, 11 a.m.-noon, KUAZ 5,600 23,700

11. Michael Savage, 4-7 p.m., KQTH 5,500 27,000

12. Marketplace, 3-3:30 p.m., KUAZ 5,300 21,200

13. Laura Ingraham, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., KQTH 5,100 21,000 

14. Neal Boortz, 9-11 a.m., KQTH 5,100 16,400

15. The World, 2-3 p.m., KUAZ 5,000 22,600 

16. Jerry Doyle, 2-4 p.m., KQTH 4,700 20,100

17. Marketplace, 6:30-7 p.m., KUAZ 4,000 17,500

18. Mark Levin, 7-10 p.m., KQTH 2,300 9,100

19. Dennis Miller*, KVOI 2,200 5,800

20. Wall Street Journal Report, 5-6 a.m., KNST 2,000 6,000

21. Dr. Laura Schlessinger, noon-3 p.m., KJLL 1,800 10,500

22. Dave Ramsey, 7-8 p.m., KNST 1,800 9,600

23. Michael Savage, 8-10 p.m., KNST 1,500 10,100

24. George Noory Coast to Coast, 10 p.m. - 5 a.m., KNST 1,500 5,200

25. Dan Patrick, 6-10 a.m., KCUB 1,400 9,300

26. Michael Medved, 1-4 p.m., KVOI 1,400 6,600

27. Stephanie Miller, 7-10 a.m., KJLL 1,300 5,600

28. America’s Morning News, 5-6 a.m., KQTH 1,300 5,300

29. Glenn Parker, 4-6 p.m., KCUB 1,200 7,400

30. Jim Rome, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., KCUB 1,200 6,500

31. Ed Schultz, 10 a.m.-noon, KJLL  1,000 3,100

32. Wake Up Tucson with Joe Higgins and Chris DeSimone, 6-8 a.m., KVOI 1,000 2,200

33. Colin Cowherd, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., KFFN 900 6,900

34. John C. Scott, 3 p.m.-5 p.m., KJLL 900 5,100

35. Clark Howard, 10 p.m.-1 a.m., KQTH 900 2,700

36. Hugh Hewitt, 4-7 p.m., KVOI 800 5,400

37. Jody Oehler, 4-6 p.m., KFFN 700 6,200

38. Mike Gallagher, 1-4 a.m., KQTH 700 1,100

39. Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, 6-10 a.m., KFFN 600 7,300

40. Scott Van Pelt, 2-4 p.m., KFFN 500 5,000

41. Dennis Prager, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., KVOI 500 3,500

42. Chris Myers and Steve Hartman, 1-4 p.m., KCUB 400 3,800

43. Thom Hartman, 8-10 p.m., KJLL 400 2,300

44. Don Imus, 4-7 a.m., KJLL 300 2,100

45. Tony Bruno, 8-11 p.m., KCUB 300 4,400

46. Petros Papadakis and Matt “Money” Smith, 6-8 p.m., KCUB 300 1,600

47. Alan Colmes, 1-3 a.m., KJLL 300 600

48. Steve Czaban, 4-6 a.m., KCUB 200 1,500

49. Lou Dobbs, 6-8 p.m., KJLL 100 2,400

50. Rusty Humphries*, KVOI 100 1,500

51. John Gibson, 10 p.m.-midnight, KVOI 100 900

52. J.T. The Brick, 11 p.m.-4 a.m., KCUB  100 700

53. Phil Hendrie, 11 p.m.-1 a.m., KJLL 100 600

*Just to show that radio is a constantly changing environment, Jim Parisi has since left KNST and, as of today (Nov. 30) is hosting  a show on KVOI from 8 a.m.-10 a.m., replacing Dennis Miller’s show, which now airs from 7-10 p.m. in place of the Rusty Humphries show, which no longer airs on KVOI. 

Contact David Hatfield at dhatfield@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4237.

Inside Tucson Media appears weekly.