Rush Limbaugh Bio, Wiki
Rush Limbaugh born Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was an American conservative political commentator. He was the host of his show which first aired in 1984, called The Rush Limbaugh Show. The show was nationally syndicated as FM and AM radio stations from the year 1988 until 2021 when he passed away.
Rush Limbaugh Age
Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States on 12th January 1951 and died on 17th February 2021. He passed away in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 70.
Rush Limbaugh Height/Measurements
Limbaugh stood at an approximate height of 5 feet 11 inches.
Rush Limbaugh Education
Limbaugh attended Cape Girardeau Central High School where he graduated in 1969. While in high school, he played football and was also the delegate of the Boy’s State. He later joined Southeast Missouri State University because his parents wanted him to go to college. However, after two semesters, he dropped out.
Rush Limbaugh Career
After dropping out of college, Limbaugh started working at WIXZ in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, as a DJ. He adopted the name Bachelor Jeff Christie and worked mornings after working afternoons. The general manager of the station compared his style to early Imus. After working at the station for 18 months, Limbaugh got fired because of personality conflict with the program director. He then got a job at KQV in Pittsburgh in a nighttime position replacing Jim Quinn. In late 1973, he was dismissed when new management pressured the program director to fire him. Limbaugh remembered the general manger telling him that he would never be successful as an air personality and told to get a career in radio sales.
He rejected the only offer he had at that time, in Neenah, Wisconsin and returned to live with his parents in Cape Girardeau. At this time he became a fan of Pittsburgh Steelers. In 1988, Limbaugh was offered the nationally syndicated 12pm–2pm slot by ABC Radio Network executive Ed McLaughlin to replace Owen Spann. Since many local radio stations at the time did not carry nationally syndicated programming during the day, he also gave Limbaugh another show at WABC-AM in New York City from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. He started his new show at WABC-AM on 4th July 1988 and the first episode focused on the Iran Air Flight 655 shootdown that happened the day before. Limbaugh’s national program debuted the next month on 1st August on 50 stations and after three months, it had expanded to 100 stations.
He started just weeks after the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. His show moved to WABC’s cross-town rival WOR (AM) on 1st January 2014 where it had its final New York outlet. News reports in 2013, said that Cumulus Media, that had several stations carrying Limbaugh’s program in some big markets like Chicago, Dallas, New York, Detroit, and Washington D.C was considering to drop the show. Reportedly, this was because the company believed its advertising revenues had been affected by listeners reaction to his comments. Limbaugh called the GameStop short squeeze, the most fascinating thing in January 2021 to happen in a long time. He said that the elites are bent out of shape and that many average, ordinary users have known how to make themselves billionaires.
His radio show aired every weekday for three hours starting at at noon Eastern Time on both FM and AM radio. The program was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network worldwide. In 1970, radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM due to the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity. Limbaugh was 1st nationally syndicated on the AM radio band in August 1988. The audience of the show increased in the 1990s that even some stations picked it up. By January 2019, almost half of his affiliate stations were on the FM dial. Limbaugh used songs, props, and photos to do an introduction of his monologues on various topics. On his show, the news concerning homeless people was mostly preceded the song Ain’t Got No Home by Clarence “Frogman” Henry.
WBAL in Baltimore was the first major market radio station to drop Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio program in March 2006. The following year, he was named number 1 by TALKERS Magazine in its Heavy Hundred most important talk show hosts. Limbaugh mentioned the EIB Network frequently. Initially his show, was first syndicated and co-owned by the former president of ABC, Edward F. McLaughlin who was the founder of EFM Media in 1988, Limbaugh’s show being his 1st product. McLaughlin sold EFM in 1997 to Jacor Communications which was later bought up by Clear Channel Communications.
In a certain 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, he had 8-year contract at the rate of $31.25 million every year. In the year 2007, he earned $33 million. According to a November 2008 poll by Zogby International, Limbaugh was the the most trusted news personality nationally, with a 12.5 percent poll responses. He signed an eight-year contract worth $400 million with Clear Channel Communications making him the highest-paid broadcaster. On 2nd August 2016, he signed an extension of the contract by four years. When the contract was announced iHeartMedia and Premiere Radio Networks announced that Limbaugh’s show had an audience growth of 18% growth in adults 25–54, 27% growth with 25–54 women and a revenue growth in advertisements of 20% annually.
Limbaugh’s hosting debut was on 30 March 1990 where he was a guest host on Pat Sajak’s CBS late-night talk show called The Pat Sajak Show. He later appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman on 17th December 1993. He also guest starred on Hearts Afire in 1994. The following year, he appeared on Billy Crystal film called Forget Paris then on an episode of The Drew Carey Show in 1998. Limbaugh appeared on The 1/2 Hour News Hour, a Fox News Channel in series 2007 where played the role of the future President of the United States. In the same year, he made a cameo appearance in the episode Blue Harvest of the series Family Guy and later in the episode Excellence in Broadcasting of the same series in 2010.
Rush Limbaugh Net Worth
Throughout his career as a conservative political commentator, Limbaugh was able to accumulate a net worth of $600 Million.
Rush Limbaugh Parents and Siblings
Limbaugh was born and brought up in Cape Girardeau, Missouri by his parents Mildred Carolyn Limbaugh and Rush Hudson Limbaugh II. He has a brother named David. His mum was from Searcy, Arkansas and his father worked as a lawyer and a fighter pilot of the United States. Rush served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. The name Rush draws its origin from his grandfather as it was chosen for him to honor Edna Rush’s maiden name. Edna Rush was a family member.
Rush Limbaugh Wife
Limbaugh had been married 4 times and divorced 3 times and did not have children. His first marriage was to Roxy Maxine McNeely who worked as a sales secretary at WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. The two got married at the Centenary United Methodist Church on 24 September 1977. Maxine filed for divorce in March 1980 reason being incompatibility. The divorce was finalized on 10th July 1980. Limbaugh married his second wife, Michelle Sixta in 1983. Michelle was a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. The couple divorced in 1990 and Michelle remarried the next year.
Limbaugh and Marta Fitzgerald got married on 27 May 1994. Marta was an aerobics instructor who was 35 years old then. The two met in 1990 on the online service CompuServe. Their marriage took place at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice named Clarence Thomas who officiated it. The duo separated on 11th June 2004. He announced their divorce on air and was finalized in December 2004. Limbaugh started a relationship in September 2004 with Daryn Kagan who worked at CNN as a news anchor. However, they broke up in February 2006.
Limbaugh resided in Palm Beach from 1996 to 2021 when he died. He started dating Kathryn Rogers who was a party planner from Florida and it lasted for 3 years. They later got married on 5th June 2010 when Elton John entertained the guests for a fee of $1 million. However, Limbaugh denied the claims saying the figure was not accurate on his radio show on 7th September.
Rush Limbaugh Death
Limbaugh’s last radio broadcast was on 2nd February 2021. During the show, he said that he was not expecting to be alive that day and that he was not expecting to make it to October and then November, and then December. He added that he had some problems but was feeling pretty good that day. He died on 17th February when he was 70 years old. His wife, Kathryn Rogers Limbaugh, said that his death was caused by complications of his lung cancer. Governor Ron DeSantis said that the flags in the state of Florida should be lowered to half-staff on day of his interment. He was buried at the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
Rush Limbaugh Books
- The Way Things Ought to Be – October 1, 1992
- See I Told You So – November 1, 1993
- Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims – October 29, 2013
- Rush Revere and the First Patriots – March 11, 2014
- Rush Revere and the American Revolution – October 28, 2014
- Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner – October 27, 2015
- Rush Revere and the Presidency – November 22, 2016
Rush Limbaugh Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
He was vocal on his social media accounts where he posted frequently. On his Twitter account, he has about 13.2K followers, around 2.3M followers on his Facebook page, and about 21.6K followers on his Instagram account.