In 1975, Limbaugh began an afternoon show at the Top 40 station KUDL in Kansas City, Missouri. During this time, he became a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After rejecting his only offer at the time, a position in Neenah, Wisconsin, Limbaugh returned to living with his parents in Cape Girardeau. Limbaugh recalled the general manager telling him that he would never land success as an air personality and suggested a career in radio sales. In late 1974, Limbaugh was dismissed after new management put pressure on the program director to fire him. He then started a nighttime position at KQV in Pittsburgh, succeeding Jim Quinn. In 1973, after eighteen months at WIXZ, Limbaugh was fired from the station due to 'personality conflict' with the program director. The station's general manager compared Limbaugh's style at this time to 'early Imus'. He adopted the airname 'Bachelor Jeff' Christie and worked afternoons before moving to morning drive. 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. 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.

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. He used the airname Rusty Sharpe having found 'Sharpe' in a telephone book. At age 16 he worked his first radio job at KGMO, a local radio station. In 1969 Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School, where he played football and was a Boys State delegate. 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. Limbaugh Jr., is a judge in the same court, appointed by George W. Limbaugh Sr., was a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The family includes many lawyers, including his grandfather, father and brother his uncle, Stephen N. The name 'Rush' was originally chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of a family member, Edna Rush. 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. Limbaugh was born on January 12, 1951, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to parents Rush Hudson Limbaugh II and Mildred Carolyn ( née Armstrong) Limbaugh. During the 2020 State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1993, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame and in 1998 the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. Limbaugh garnered controversy from his statements on race, LGBT matters, feminism, sexual consent, and climate change.

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

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. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( / ˈ l ɪ m b ɔː/ LIM-baw Janu– 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.

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