ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SUZANNE SCHAFER

WASHINGTON (AP)—There is little demand for talk shows such as Rush Limbaugh’s on the part of Armed Forces Radio and Television Service viewers, Pentagon officials said Tuesday after two lawmakers asked about military access to the conservative commentator,

‘‘Rush Limbaugh fans may be sad to learn that the latest survey of randomly selected military audience members showed that, at least for the Rush Limbaugh TV show, only 0.02 percent of them wanted it,’‘ Pentagon spokeswoman Kathleen deLaski told reporters.

‘‘I don’t think this is so much a swipe at Rush Limbaugh; it’s more of an issue of the interest in talk radio in general on our broadcast service,’‘ she said.

Ms. deLaski had been asked about questions raised by Rep. Robert Dornan, R-Calif., and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., about the military’s access to Limbaugh’s radio and television broadcasts.

The AFRTS system broadcasts news, sports, and other entertainment programs by television and radio to more than 100 countries where U.S. military forces are based.

DeLaski said Pentagon officials had looked into the possibility of carrying Limbaugh’s radio show, but that its three-hour length made its broadcast difficult.

‘‘Apparently only 3.9 percent asked for any talk radio show at all. … The interest is sports and music, overwhelmingly,’‘ Ms. deLaski said.

In a letter to Sen. Warner released by the Pentagon, Clifford Bernath, deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, said the distributor of Limbaugh’s radio show ‘‘is not interested in providing a shorter version at this time’‘ and that AFRTS does not have time for any extended radio talk programs.

The system ‘‘does provide shorter length commentary programs that represent a wide spectrum of opinions,’‘ Bernath wrote.

The Pentagon will re-evaluate its decision not to carry Limbaugh ‘‘if we can find a program that reasonably balances his point of view’‘ or if a one-hour version of Limbaugh’s radio program could be combined with one-hour versions of four other national talk programs such as ‘‘Larry King,’‘ or ‘‘Jim Bohannon’‘ so that the network could carry a Monday through Friday sampler of talk radio shows, Bernath said.