effectively admits the same truth. Yet while women may have different preference for men when it comes to radio, that doesn’t mean that women are absent from the current radio lineup. Far from an exclusive boys’ club, several prominent female radio talk-show hosts command considerable audiences. Laura Ingraham, an accomplished lawyer who clerked for Justice Thomas, has become a conservative media powerhouse. Her national syndicated show appears on 340 stations across the country, drawing audiences in the millions. She regularly ranks in the top-five most widely heard radio talk shows. Laura Schlessinger’s bitingly honest advice show (in which she “preaches, teaches, and nags about morals, values and ethics”) commands an equally large audience. Tammy Bruce — a women who defies a conventional label as a gay, pro-choice, gun-owning, Bush supporter, and self-described feminist — has an increasingly influential nationally syndicated show. And of course, women don’t just listen to female hosts. There are plenty of women among Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity’s millions of devoted listeners. Yet none of these shows represents the views of Gloria Steinem, Rosie O’Donnell, and Jane Fonda. None of them are hosted by liberals. Air America was supposed to fill that niche, but is rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy. Greenstone Media can hope that Air America will flounder and leave a hole in the market for left-of-center women. Yet Greenstone may also find that the market is already at work and there simply is not much of a market for liberal radio shows (at least so long as the government financed NPR soaks up much of the prospective audience). Steinem insists the programming won’t be all politics and will respect different points of view, but it is hard to imagine many conservative women will tune in. Time — and the ratings — will tell. – Carrie Lukas is the vice president for policy and economics at the Independent Women’s Forum and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex, and Feminism.