A longtime AM radio talk show host here thought it was superfluous for listeners to ask him, "How are you?" In his later years, he would only answer that question once per show. He'd tell any other listeners who asked him how he was that evening, "We've established that..." To his credit, he once started to tell a listener, "We've established that..." and then corrected himself. "Actually, we haven't established that yet," he said. "I'm fine, thank you." Another announcer at the station joked that this host ought to play Santa Claus at some local event. "Don't ask Santa how he is," the announcer groused, pretending to be the longtime host.
Considering that "How are you?" is usually a rhetorical question, I think the longtime host's rule was reasonable. When every other caller asks you that superfluously, it eats up time that could be spent on more compelling show content. When listeners catch on that a host doesn't like being asked that, they'll get to the point of their calls faster.
