Johnny Carson had ten times the audience of Jay Leno. Now Jimmy Fallon has even a smaller audience.
Carson wasn't necessary better; he just had more attention when there were only four stations to choose from (not a thousand).
Tribes are smaller now. Back then you had a bigger audience but with only a few microphone. Now everyone has a microphone (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs). Now we can communicate, assemble the tribe and share a connection. Now we have choices to seek remarkable work.