The New York Times reports that Fred Thompson, the “Law & Order” star turned presidential candidate, “will begin hosting a two-hour show in March, as the syndicator Westwood One is expected to announce this week. Thompson’s show would take the place of Mr. O’Reilly’s.”

As the NYT piece also notes, following eight years of “playing defense for President Bush, the conservatives who dominate talk radio are back on offense.” This despite the fact that ‘lagging questions about the business remain. A sharp advertising downturn is limiting revenue for stations. And some hosts are worrying about the relevance of talk radio in a digital age.”

Nonetheless, as the Times accurately notes, radio “still acts as a national megaphone for influential voices. This year, news talk ranked as the most popular radio format in the United States, surpassing country music for the first time ever.”

Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly has confirmed previous rumors that he will give up his shock jock radio program to devote more time to his Fox News cable show ‘The O’Reilly Factor.”

O’Reilly says he can no longer continue his syndicated radio show because he has “just run out of hours in the week.”

That’s okay, Bill — I was far too busy to listen anyway!

Right wing talker Michael Medved ponders the future of conservative talk radio for USA Today, asking “Will talk radio get wake-up call?” His conclusion that “Appealing to the right-wing fringe is no way to build a political movement” sounds right to me!

Here’s a link to the latest–some say the greatest–conversation between Rory and progressive talker Peter B. Collins. Peter B. is now on air on the EAST COAST for the first time – in Boston on WWZN 1510 AM, live 6-9pm EST Mon-Fri. He is one of our favorite and most talented progressive talk show hosts, and we’re pleased to see him expanding into the East as part of an effort to level the distribution playing field in news-and-opinion talk radio, which still – as per Shock Jocks - is still more than 90% conservative!