The Business of America Isn’t All Business

The interests of many businesspeople lie way beyond the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and CNBC, according to New York-based Jericho Communications.

The survey of the reading, viewing and listening habits of 628 Fortune 1000 and Internet CEOs, investment bankers and stay-at-home moms found that 33% of the top executives could name more members of the new “Survivor” cast than they could President Bush’s cabinet nominees.

Only 6% of the corporate honchos said they watched all three presidential debates, while 21% said they regularly watch “The Simpsons.” The survey also found they were five times as likely to listen to “The Howard Stern Show” than Bloomberg radio.

Thirty-eight percent of the investment bankers said they turned on the television to learn about Mike David, Indiana’s new basketball coach, but only half as many tuned in to watch the coronation of Jeffrey Immelt as General Electric’s new chief executive.

And perhaps a telling indicator of our times: Stay-at-home moms were four times more likely to read the business section of the newspaper than the food section.