Limbaugh, Rush (1951–)

RUSH HUDSON Limbaugh III, an undisputed “king” of conservative talk radio, was born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. During his youth, Limbaugh became interested in radio and even was a deejay known as Rusty Limbaugh at a local radio station while still in high school in the late 1960s. Limbaugh's father, a conservative judge and influential member of the local community, had actually owned the station before Rush began his deejay career there.

Following his graduation from high school, Limbaugh was accepted and admitted to Southeast Missouri State College. After only one year at college, Limbaugh dropped out in order to pursue radio. He held a variety of positions across the country at small radio stations until he took a more permanent position as a public relations assistant for the Kansas City Royals baseball team. He stayed with the Royals for five years, then returned to radio in 1983, working at a Kansas City, Kansas, station as a talk show host and commentator. In this position, Limbaugh began to develop his controversial conservative commentary style, but it did not prove to be too appealing to the Kansas City area and his show was canceled after only 10 months on air.

Soon after, however, Limbaugh found a radio station, KFBK in San Diego, California, that was in the middle of a financial mess and in need of something new. He was hired in 1984 and was given a three-hour morning show without constraints on content from the owners. This time, Limbaugh's signature style, which was a mixture of conservative political commentary and harsh satire directed at liberals, took hold and was much more successful than in Kansas City. Shortly thereafter, Limbaugh's show became one of the most popular radio shows in San Diego, quickly becoming a dominant force in market share.

Limbaugh's reputation and ratings began to gain national attention. In 1988, Limbaugh's success was recognized by Edward McLaughlin, founder of the Excellence in Broadcasting Network, also known as Premiere Broadcasting, who offered Limbaugh a radio show in New York City with a national audience. His first few weeks with a national audience were overwhelmingly successful, and Limbaugh was well received by his listeners who were mostly conservative Caucasian males. His listeners loved Limbaugh's approach, which entailed characterizing liberal groups as “feminazis,” “environmental wackos,” and “hustlers for the homeless.” In addition, he soon developed a nickname for his listeners, “dittoheads,” because they always called in to the radio show to “ditto” or approve what he was saying on air.

Only after four years on the national level, Limbaugh became the most popular radio talk show host in the United States. With every show, he continued his quest to reveal the liberal “fallacies” within politics and the media and also continued to use his sharp and what his critics label “unkind” satire. On many of his shows, Limbaugh prefaced his news segments on the AIDS outbreak by playing Dionne Warwick's “I'll Never Love This Way Again” and his stories on homelessness with Clarence Henry's “Ain't Got No Home.”

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