Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh's grandfather, Rush Limbaugh Sr., was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner, member of the Missouri House of Representatives in the 1930s, and longtime president of the Missouri Historical Society.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations from 1988 until his death in 2021.

Limbaugh was born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to parents Rush Hudson Limbaugh II and Mildred Carolyn (Armstrong) Limbaugh.

He and his younger brother David were born into the prominent political Limbaugh family; his father was a lawyer and a United States fighter pilot who served in the China Burma India Theater of World War II.

His mother was from Searcy, Arkansas.

The name "Rush" was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of a family member, Edna Rush.

Limbaugh was partly of German ancestry.

The family includes many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother; his uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr., was a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

His cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., is a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Bush.

In 1969 Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School, where he played football and was a Boys State delegate.

At age 16 he worked his first radio job at KGMO, a local radio station.

He used the airname Rusty Sharpe having found "Sharpe" in a telephone book.

Limbaugh later cited Chicago DJ Larry Lujack as a major influence on him, saying Lujack was "the only person I ever copied."

In deference to his parents' desire that he attend college, he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University but dropped out after two semesters.

According to his mother, "he flunked everything [...] he just didn't seem interested in anything except radio."

Biographer Zev Chafets asserts that Limbaugh's life was in large part dedicated to gaining his father's respect.

In February 1971, after dropping out of college, the 20-year-old Limbaugh accepted an offer to DJ at WIXZ, a Top 40 station in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.

He adopted the airname "Bachelor Jeff" Christie and worked afternoons before moving to morning drive.

The station's general manager compared Limbaugh's style at this time to "early Imus".

In 1973, after eighteen months at WIXZ, Limbaugh was fired from the station due to "personality conflict" with the program director.

He then started a nighttime position at KQV in Pittsburgh, succeeding Jim Quinn.

In late 1974, Limbaugh was dismissed after new management put pressure on the program director to fire him.

Limbaugh recalled the general manager telling him that he would never land success as an air personality and suggested a career in radio sales.

After rejecting his only offer at the time, a position in Neenah, Wisconsin, Limbaugh returned to living with his parents in Cape Girardeau.

During this time, he became a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In 1975, Limbaugh began an afternoon show at the Top 40 station KUDL in Kansas City, Missouri.

He soon became the host of a public affairs talk program that aired on weekend mornings which allowed him to develop his style and present more controversial ideas.

In 1977, he was let go from the station but remained in Kansas City to start an evening show at KFIX.

The stint was short-lived, however, and disagreements with management led to his dismissal weeks later.

By this time, Limbaugh had become disillusioned with radio and felt pressure to pursue a different career.

He looked back on himself as "a moderate failure [...] as a deejay".

In 1979, he accepted a part-time role in group sales for the Kansas City Royals baseball team which developed into a full-time position as director of group sales and special events.

He worked from the Royals Stadium.

Limbaugh became one of the most prominent conservative voices in the United States during the 1990s and hosted a national television show from 1992 to 1996.

Limbaugh also wrote seven books; his first two, The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993), made The New York Times Best Seller list.

Limbaugh garnered controversy from his statements on race, LGBT matters, feminism, sexual consent, and climate change.

In 1993, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and in 1998 the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

He was among the most highly paid figures in American radio history; in 2018 Forbes listed his earnings at $84.5 million.

In December 2019, Talkers Magazine estimated that Limbaugh's show attracted a cumulative weekly audience of 15.5 million listeners to become the most-listened-to radio show in the United States.

During the 2020 State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.