Talk radio is a programming format that encompasses a wide range of topics, such as health, finance, religion, politics, community issues and sports. Listener call-in and interview shows enjoy considerable popularity. The personality of the host is the key ingredient to talk radio’s popularity.

There has been an explosion in talk radio since the 1980s due to the need by AM radio for programming and technological advances made possible by satellite transmission, drastically reducing costs of traditional telephone lines. Early talk radio was primarily overnight programming, such as with Larry Kïng Live and Talk Net in the 1980s. Later successes include Howard Stern, conservative anti-gay activist, the controversial conservative Rush Limbaugh, psychologist Dr Laura Schlesinger and former Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy. In 1997, 588 radio stations reported a talk format and 1,008 reported a news/talk format.