Conservative radio titan Limbaugh dies at 70
Broadcaster became a key player in right wing
Rush Limbaugh’s vast influence on conservative broadcasting, public policy and the Republican Party was rivaled by few.
Rush Limbaugh, the talk titan who made right-wing radio financially viable in American media and himself a Republican kingmaker, died Wednesday after he revealed in 2020 that his lung cancer was terminal. He was 70.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Kathryn, at the beginning of Limbaugh’s radio show, from which he’s been absent for almost two weeks.
A longtime cigar smoker, Limbaugh succumbed to cancer after battling drug addiction and loss of hearing earlier in his career (he was deaf by the end and broadcast his daily show in spite of it).
A staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, Limbaugh was among the most prominent enablers of his failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
After a mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, provoking outraged sputtering from Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives alike, Limbaugh stood out in dismissing the controversy.
“We’re supposed to be horrified by the protesters,” Limbaugh scoffed on his program Jan. 7. “There’s a lot of people out there calling for the end of violence ... lot of conservatives, social media, who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable regardless of the circumstances . ... I am glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual tea-party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord, didn’t feel that way.”
Love him or loathe him, few would deny that Limbaugh was one of the most influential commercial broadcasters, if not the most influential, in American history, said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers trade magazine.
Harrison said Limbaugh’s legacy – his impact on public policy, culture and GOP politicians from the presidency on down – remains unmatched.
“Limbaugh’s radio talent and dedication to the medium are unparalleled in the modern talk industry,” he said. “At a time when the very future of radio and its talent pool could very much be on the wane in terms of cultural relevance and prestige, he raised it to a level of importance on a par with the most influential media platforms and players of our time.”
Journalist Ze’ev Chafets, who wrote the 2010 biography “Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One,” said Limbaugh was one of the top two or three most important figures in Republican politics in the 1990s.
“The reason is his show was heard in every congressional district in the country, and certainly every state, by a huge number of Republicans who almost entirely made up his audience,” Chafets said. “He was able, at a granular level, to affect elections. The year Newt Gingrich became speaker of the House (1994), he gave Limbaugh an honorary membership in (the Republican caucus in) Congress because of his influence.”
“Coastal Americans” who didn’t listen to Limbaugh had no idea of his “gravitational pull” because they underestimated his talents and his smarts, at least initially, Chafets said.
“They didn’t understand because they thought he was a carnival barker talking to rubes,” Chafets said. “He talked about issues, not gossip. His show (consisted of) three-hour monologues without notes and included minute details about arcane matters that most talk show hosts could not do.”
He was original, funny and adept at assembling key elements of broadcasting to produce entertaining and compelling radio, Harrison said.
“He was a consummate pro, and even people who disagreed with him politically, most who are honest will tell you what a great broadcaster he (was),” Harrison said. “Because he used so many elements of great radio: pacing, his voice, satire, sound effects. The flow and feel of his show was very appealing in his use of sound and broadcast principles.”
Limbaugh’s show was the most listened-to talk radio broadcast in the USA, bringing a cumulative weekly audience of about 15.5 million listeners at his peak, according to Talkers’ tracking.
His was a life and career of wild success pockmarked by controversies and health calamities, including years of chronic back pain and unsuccessful surgery, leading to long-term prescription opioid addiction and 30 days in rehab in 2003.
In 2006, he was criminally investigated and arrested for alleged “doctor shopping” to obtain multiple prescriptions in Florida, a charge dropped after a plea agreement and his promise to continue addiction treatment (although Limbaugh maintained his innocence).
In 2001, he announced he had gone deaf over three months for unknown reasons, although his doctors said it could have been from years of drug addiction. He had cochlear implants to restore some of his hearing.
Then lung cancer struck. On Oct. 20, he told listeners his cancer was terminal. “You measure a happy life against whatever medication it takes. And at some point, you decide, you know, this medication may be working, but I hate the way I feel every day,” Limbaugh said on the air. “I’m not there yet. But it is part and parcel of this.
“It’s tough to realize that the days where I do not think I’m under a death sentence are over.”
His listeners were shocked when he revealed his diagnosis on his show in February 2020. “This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory for me. I’ve known this moment is coming in the program . ... I’m sure that you all know by now that I really don’t like talking about myself and I don’t like making things about me,” Limbaugh said. “I like this program to be about you and the things that matter to all of us.”
But, he said, he knew he had to explain what was going on because listeners would be curious if he wasn’t at his usual post every day.
A day later, he was y moved when President Trump, his friend and Florida neighbor, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a State of the Union address.
Attending as one of Trump’s “special guests,” Limbaugh sat in the House gallery next to first lady Melania Trump, who put the medal around his neck.
“In recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people a day that you speak to and that you inspire, and all of the incredible work that you do for charity, I’m proud to announce tonight that you will receive our nation’s highest civilian honor,” Trump said to applause in the chamber.
In May, Limbaugh candidly updated his listeners on his health. “I vowed not to be a cancer patient on the radio. I vowed to shield as much of that from the daily program as I can,” Limbaugh said before talking about his third wave of treatment. “I have to tell you, it’s kicking my ass.” He said the treatments left him “virtually worthless” and “virtually useless.”
Then came his grim assessment in October. “Some days are harder than others,” he said. “I do get fatigued now. I do get very, very tired now. I’m not gonna mislead you about that. But I am extremely grateful to be able to come here to the studio and to maintain as much normalcy as possible – and it’s still true.”
The day before Christmas 2020, on his final show of the year, he told listeners he hadn’t expected to make it past October, let alone into December. “And yet here I am and today, got some problems, but I’m feeling pretty good today. … God knows how important this program is for me today,” he said, thanking listeners.
Born on Jan. 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Rush Hudson Limbaugh III came from a line of conservative Republicans that included lawyers, judges and ambassadors. His family looked askance at his early yen – while still in grammar school – to become a radio star.
“I said, ‘Pop, I love this. I know I’m great at it. I’m gonna get even better,’” Limbaugh told interviewers later.
Limbaugh maintained his position as the king of talk radio while fending off multiple flaps over controversial things he said on the air, about racial and ethnic minorities, feminism, environmentalism and President Barack Obama.
He played the song “Barack the Magic Negro” (set to the tune of “Puff, the Magic Dragon”) to depict Obama as someone who “makes guilty whites feel good” and is “black, but not authentically.”
Most of the controversies rolled off him, except for Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who testified in Congress in 2012 in support of mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh mocked her as a “slut” and a “prostitute.”
“That was the most damaging thing he ever did,” Harrison said. The outcry that followed kicked off boycotts by major sponsors of talk radio, even though Limbaugh issued a rare apology for “insulting word choices.”