Today’s guests on “Reliable Sources” whined that the sudden attention given to what blowhard/obnoxious hosts say on talk radio is unfair. Blame the Internet, they said.

Radioman Michael Harrison said it’s that pesky Internet’s fault for blaring the host’s words to people never intended to hear them. These mainstream people get offended and then try to “intimidate” mainstream advertisers into dropping support for controversial shows.

The real problem is advertisers want to have their cake and eat it, too. Media programming is increasingly segmented to niche audiences, but not to niche advertisers. Well, that’s an increasingly impossible balancing act.

Here’s a word of warning to advertisers: Don’t expect to be able to buy commercial time on Rush Limbaugh’s show and retain Democratic consumers. That’s not going to fly in the near future. Don’t expect to buy ad time on raunchy XM programming and still convince evangelicals to buy your wares.

Niche programming needs niche advertisers who can withstand the inevitable criticism. Without that level of commitment to a program by advertisers, the show will wither. More importantly, it deserves to whither.

This is economics at its best, people.