Roosevelt's radio audiences averaged 18 percent during peacetime, and 58 percent during the war.
The fireside chats attracted more listeners than the most popular radio shows, which were heard by 30–35 percent of the radio audience.
Roosevelt's fireside chat of December 29, 1940 was heard by 59 percent of radio listeners.
His address of May 27, 1941, was heard by 70 percent of the radio audience.

An estimated 62,100,000 people heard Roosevelt's fireside chat December 9, 1941—two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor—attaining a Hooper rating of 79, the record high for a Presidential address.
Approximately 61,365,000 adults tuned on February 23, 1942, for FDR's next fireside chat, in which he outlined the principal purposes of the war.
In advance of the address Roosevelt asked citizens to have a world map in front of them as they listened to him speak. "
I'm going to speak about strange places that many of them never heard of—places that are now the battleground for civilization," he told his speechwriters. "
I want to explain to the people something about geography—what our problem is and what the overall strategy of the war has to be. …
If they understand the problem and what we are driving at, I am sure that they can take any kind of bad news right on the chin."
Sales of new maps and atlases were unprecedented, while many people retrieved old commercial maps from storage and pinned them up on their walls.
The New York Times called the speech "one of the greatest of Roosevelt's career".

Novelist Saul Bellow recalled hearing a fireside chat while walking in Chicago one summer evening. "
The blight hadn't yet carried off the elms, and under them drivers had pulled over, parking bumper to bumper, and turned on their radios to hear Roosevelt.
They had rolled down the windows and opened the car doors.
Everywhere the same voice, its odd Eastern accent, which in anyone else would have irritated Midwesterners.
You could follow without missing a single word as you strolled by.
You felt joined to these unknown drivers, men and women smoking their cigarettes in silence, not so much considering the President's words as affirming the rightness of his tone and taking assurance from it."

This level of intimacy with politics made people feel as if they too were part of the administration's decision-making process and many soon felt that they knew Roosevelt personally.
Most importantly, they grew to trust him.
The conventional press grew to love Roosevelt because they too had gained unprecedented access to the goings-on of government.
Roosevelt's radio audiences averaged 18 percent during peacetime, and 58 percent during the war. The fireside chats attracted more listeners than the most popular radio shows, which were heard by 30–35 percent of the radio audience. Roosevelt's fireside chat of December 29, 1940 was heard by 59 percent of radio listeners. His address of May 27, 1941, was heard by 70 percent of the radio audience.
An estimated 62,100,000 people heard Roosevelt's fireside chat December 9, 1941—two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor—attaining a Hooper rating of 79, the record high for a Presidential address. Approximately 61,365,000 adults tuned on February 23, 1942, for FDR's next fireside chat, in which he outlined the principal purposes of the war. In advance of the address Roosevelt asked citizens to have a world map in front of them as they listened to him speak. "I'm going to speak about strange places that many of them never heard of—places that are now the battleground for civilization," he told his speechwriters. "I want to explain to the people something about geography—what our problem is and what the overall strategy of the war has to be. … If they understand the problem and what we are driving at, I am sure that they can take any kind of bad news right on the chin." Sales of new maps and atlases were unprecedented, while many people retrieved old commercial maps from storage and pinned them up on their walls. The New York Times called the speech "one of the greatest of Roosevelt's career".
Novelist Saul Bellow recalled hearing a fireside chat while walking in Chicago one summer evening. "The blight hadn't yet carried off the elms, and under them drivers had pulled over, parking bumper to bumper, and turned on their radios to hear Roosevelt. They had rolled down the windows and opened the car doors. Everywhere the same voice, its odd Eastern accent, which in anyone else would have irritated Midwesterners. You could follow without missing a single word as you strolled by. You felt joined to these unknown drivers, men and women smoking their cigarettes in silence, not so much considering the President's words as affirming the rightness of his tone and taking assurance from it."
This level of intimacy with politics made people feel as if they too were part of the administration's decision-making process and many soon felt that they knew Roosevelt personally. Most importantly, they grew to trust him. The conventional press grew to love Roosevelt because they too had gained unprecedented access to the goings-on of government.
Fireside chats