Most Influential Figure in History of Broadcasting – Rush Limbaugh Essay Example
Most Influential Figure in History of Broadcasting – Rush Limbaugh Essay Example

Most Influential Figure in History of Broadcasting – Rush Limbaugh Essay Example

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  • Pages: 11 (2909 words)
  • Published: April 22, 2017
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There are many dedicated and enthusiastic personalities in the history of broadcasting who have meaningfully contributed towards the rise and development of broadcasting. When it comes to choosing the most influential personality of broadcasting, what should be the criteria? Is that the achievements in the field that counts most or it require some thing more than that. While taking in account the achievements, someone among the pioneers of broadcasting could be the choice but being an “influential figure” need to go beyond that.

It should be someone who has not only worked well in the broadcast world but also admire the people and make some changes in their thinking, life style and decisions. Such figure is American broadcaster Rush Limbaugh who has given an excellence to broadcasting and has greatly influenced the field through his remarkable acco

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mplishments. Why Rush Limbaugh? Rush Limbaugh has a great contribution towards the American broadcasting which make him great influential personality of this world. He give a new soul to radio broadcasting and he is also being given the credit for boosting the AM broadcasting..

His contributions are recognized not only at professional level but also at public level. At professional level he has a distinctive record of receiving 4 times, the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year (given by the National Association of Broadcasters). No one else have gratitude of getting this award four times. He has also honored with several other awards by professional organizations and also being listed in the top broadcasters in many authentic ratings.

Rush Limbaugh is not just a radio program host but he is a way of life for more than 1

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million listeners and when he comes in TV shows, he started admiring people even more. People not only listen what he is saying, but they are also concerned about what he is wearing, what he is doing and what message he is giving to them. Rush used to wear neckties in his TV talk shows and people get crazy about those ties and when he launched the series of his designed tie, the sale goes over five million dollars.

In early 90s he used to have a cigar in his hand and people like to talk with him about his preferences and experiences regarding cigar, that’s why the popular magazine “Cigar Aficionado” get him associated with them, in order to promote the activities related to cigar. He also worked for the “Leukemia & Lymphoma Society” and arranged a telethon for collecting funds, and the influence of people towards his personality resulted in collection of a massive amount between of $100,000 to $499,999 in just five years. These things prove that how much influence he has on the lives, life styles and decision making of people.

All these fact make the point that Rush really deserves the title of most influential personality of broadcasting because his achievements are not limited to his talk shows but he goes beyond that. No other broadcast personality has gain such popularity and none of them has this much influence over the lives and lifestyles of people. About Rush Limbaugh and his Achievements He is well known for the most popular talk show of US “The Rush Limbaugh” show”. He entered in the field in 1967 as a music program host from radio

station of his hometown Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

He was a teenager at that time, since then he has been associated with different radio stations, hosted various talk shows and proved himself as most popular and outspoken talk show host. He used the stage name of Rusty Sharpe and Jeff Christy for himself while hosting music programs at radio stations. He also got fame as a great opponent of former U. S President Bill Clinton. Influenced by his father, Rush was a big supporter of conservative movement and this conservation was greatly reflected in his shows. He expressed about his philosophy in “The World Street Journal” in 2005, he said that “I love being a conservative.

We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals”. He also coined the term "femi-nazis," for liberal feminists. Limbaugh is considered as one of the most recognized talk show hosts in the nation and at the same time he is also one of the most controversial figures of broadcast world. “The Rush Limbaugh Show” gave rise to his fame and popularity. In 1990s he entered television as TV talk show host and keep on acquiring fame and popularity.

He became the highest paid radio host in 2001 when he signed radio contract worth $ 285. “National Association of Broadcasters” honored him with “Marconi Radio Award” for “Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year” in 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2005. In 2002 he was ranked as “Greatest radio talk show host of all time” by the

industry’s leading “Talker Magazine”. He was also awarded the 1st Annual “William F. Buckley, Jr. Award” for Media Excellence, by the “Media Research Center”. “NewsMax. com” magazine also listed him as “The most influential host in the nation”.

In the year 2007, he was also nominated for “The Noble Peace Prize” in 2007. Rush Limbaugh’s full name is Rush Hudson Limbaugh III. He was born on 12th of January 1951 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Rush Limbaugh got his education from the Southeast Missouri State University. Though he was eligible for war services at Vietnam but he was disallowed on medical grounds. Rush Limbaugh faced lot of ups and downs in his married life. He married three times but none of his wife settled with her for long time. Rush Limbaugh has no children from any marriage.

In the beginning of his career he moved from his homeland towards Pennsylvania where he joined the WIXZ radio station and listed him among Top 40 music DJs. He used the stage name “Jeff Christy” for himself during this job. For some years he keep on switching from one radio station to another and finally in 1979 he settled down in Kansas City, Missouri and become the director of promotion for the Royals Baseball team of Kansan City. After five year absence from radio Rush Limbaugh came back in the broadcast world and hosted a talk show at KFBK radio station of California In 1984.

He took charge of this job by replacing Morton Downey. In this talk show Rush was allowed to convey harsh, attack oriented commentary very openly, as the program was famous due to these attributes. Rush started this

job and started expressing conservative ideology but he mixed up these views with “preachy pop-psychology”. This style contributed for great success of Rush’s program and people start liking his way of expressing ideas very much. In the upcoming years Rush succeeded in making his identity as a popular broadcaster.

He also drew the attention of ABD Radio president towards his performance and then in 1988 he moved towards New York and associated himself with the talk-format station WABC-AM. His program from this radio station started to achieve outstanding success and popularity and he keep on gaining large number of audience for his talk show, also the broadcasting was spread over 650 radio stations. He was also introduced in the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1994 Congress honored him with an award of "honorary member of Congress" in appreciation for his supportive services during that era.

He is also well-known for his versatile hosting in the talk shows. During the Gulf War, Rush reached to a higher level of popularity when he started working for Ted Koppel as a guest commentator. He started his sport casting career in 2000 when he joined the radio station ABC for their “Monday Night Football broadcast team. In July 2003 he joined ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown show for weekly analysis. He was expected to deliver comments that could become the public voice but he gave some controversial comments about a NFL highest paid player McNabb.

He comments that “The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team

that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team” (ESPN 28th September, 2006) Later on, this player leaded his teams towards achieving high goals and in the same year in October, Rush resigned from ESPN. Most-Talked-About Radio Show in the World- “The Rush Limbaugh Show” In late 70s music was shifted to FM as a result there were big changes in the programming of AM stations.

Rush’s program “The Rush Limbaugh Show” was on aired in August 1988 for the first time. The show was syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, which was a subsidiary of radio corporation “Clear Channel Communications”. The show greatly contributed in the transforming of AM radio station. This show acquired the largest number of listeners and soon it became the most popular and most listening radio talk show of United States. The number of audience for this show was much higher than audience of any other TV or Radio talk show. (Arbitron ratings 2005).

It is projected that about 20 million people listen to Limbaugh's show daily. The talk show faced controversies when on 23rd October 2006, Limbaugh used a DittoCam” for web subscriber and through this camera he showed the visitors of the site, the skin problem of actor “Michael J. Fox”, suffering from “Parkinson's disease”. But in the coming days he apologized for this act in his program and said that "Okay. I need to apologize. I was wrong” (Wikipedia Encyclopedia) Entry in Television World Rush Limbaugh entered television as a guest host of a late night show “The Pat Sajak Show” on 30th March 1990.

Later in 1993 he was appeared in “The Late Show with David Letterman” then in 1995

he was seen in the film “Forget Paris” of Billy Crystal. His got the image of a typical conservation talk show host and this image is often used in movies and TV shows. In an episode of “The Simpsons” his image was portrayed as a conservative talk radio host named “Birch Barlow”. Limbaugh started a half-hour show produced by Roger Ailes in which several topics of his radio shows were discussed and taped in front of live audience. He remained associated with this show from 1992 to 1996.

Rush Limbaugh used to wear distinctive and unique neckties in his TV shows. These neckties drew the public attention and people started expressing their interests about these. This response from public gave an idea to Rush for launching a series of neckties. The neckties were designed by his wife Marta. They got extraordinary public response from public in the beginning and the sales of neckties exceeded over five million dollars in the first year however later there was decline in the demand for these neckties. Rush Limbaugh Troubled with Hearing Problem

The listeners of Rush Limbaugh talk show observed that there has been a change in the voice and world delivery of Rush since August 2001. In October 2001 Limbaugh admitted that he has got a completely deaf left ear and the right year is also facing subsequent hearing loss. The doctors told that deafness was caused by an “autoimmune disease”. Rush Limbaugh went through the “cochlear implant surgery” in December 2001. This surgery restored his hearing ability at some extend and people observed that the voice and dialogue delivery of Rush came back to normal style after this

surgery.

Some of the medical experts claimed that his hearing lost was probably caused by his use of opioids, such as OxyContin and hydrocodone. However on 27th February 2007, he appeared in the program of BBC “No Triumph, No Tragedy” and rejected the perceptions that his deafness was caused by the overuse of medicines. He explained that his immune system was getting some problems which finally resulted in the attack and distortion of his inner eras. Rush then employed a full time secretary who makes noted of everything said around him. This way he keep himself informed with whatever going on around him. Rush’s Projects Apart From Talk Shows

Along with keeping himself busy in talk shows, Rush Limbaugh also worked on some other projects like publication of his books, launch of website and EIB Cure-a-Thon. In 1992 the first book of Rush Limbaugh was published under the name “The Way Things Ought to be”. His second book “See, I Told You So” was published in 1993. Both of his books became the New York Best Seller books, especially his first book remained on the Best Seller Book List for 24 weeks. Rush launches his website “www. rushlimbaugh. com” in July 2000. The website includes the short overviews of current talk shows of Limbaugh and headlines from his daily radio programs.

Initially it was just a text commentary and transcript-only website that allowed the visitors to read about the contents of his programs. Several changes were made in the website in December 2000. A fully interactive store was also introduced in the website in 2002. The store offers the products marketed by Rush including signature line of golf

apparel, sporting equipment and novelties. The “Podcact” feature was also added to the website that offers the subscriber of Rush 24/7 to download the audio and video of Rush daily shows directly to their iPods.

Rush Limbaugh also participated in the arrangements of an annual fundraising telethon for the “Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This telethon was called “EIB Cure-a-Thon" and the annual report of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stated that the personality of Rush Limbaugh has contributed to collect a massive amount between of $100,000 to $499,999 in five years from 2000 to 2005. in 2006 an amount of $250,000 was claimed to be donated to the society by Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh and the Cigar Craze The cigar craze was gaining momentum in US in the early 90s. Rush Limbaugh also used to have a cigar in his hand when he appeared in his shows.

In the year 2004 Rush communicated about his adaptation of cigar, in a popular magazine “Cigar Aficionado”. He also started participating in other events related to cigar like “The Big Smoke” which was hosted by the magazine for the whole year. Rush Limbaugh also associated himself with many cigar auctions. He started to talk with public about his interest in cigars; he told them about his preferences and also gave listeners some recommendations about cigars. He expressed his views about cigar as “"I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment to life. " (News Day 1990)

Controversies Surrounding Rush Limbaugh Rush Limbaugh enjoys lot of fame and popularity in public however throughout his career he has been surrounded by several controversies. His accuracy has been questioned several times by

some progressive groups and individuals. A media related organization FEAR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) charged that Rush Limbaugh very often spreads disinformation in public. In its issue “Extra” published in 1994, there was a long list of inaccurate comments given by Rush Limbaugh. They also proved it by giving the correct vision about those issues.

A web-based research and information center “Media Matters for America” also criticize him a lot. It is expressed in the website that “Limbaugh regularly feeds his audience a diet of falsehoods, misstatements, distortions, invective, and childish put-downs in service of the conservative movement”. In March 2007, the host of MSNBC's Countdown Keith Olbermann named Rush Limbaugh as “Worst Person in the World” for some of his false comments in his shows. Limbaugh has also been charged for false propagation of numerous rumors and conspiracy theories about the Clinton family.

He claimed untruthfully that the wife of President Clinton, Hillary was involved in the 1993 suicide of deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster. In the year 2003 Rush Limbaugh was investigated for the illegal use of drugs including OxyContin and hydrocodone. He admits that he is addict of some painkillers. This gave start to investigation weather he has violated the “Florida's Doctor Shopping Laws” launched by “Palm Beach State Attorney”. The private medical record of Limbaugh was seized during the investigations which give rise to privacy issues. However after two years the Assistant State Attorney “James L.

Martz” requested court to investigate the Limbaugh physician about the issue. This request was opposed by the attorney of Limbaugh on patient privacy rights basis and the court prohibited the state for investigating Limbaugh physician. On

28th of April 2006, an arrest warrant was issued and Rush Limbaugh and his attorney Roy Black were sent to the Palm Beach County Jail. He was released within few hours after against bail of $3,000. Rush affirmed that there was lack of evidence against him. In his radio and TV programs Rush used to condemn the illegal use of drugs and he always say that the lawbreaker must be sent to jail.

Later in his radio program he admitted that he has been using drugs and now he is addicted to the painkillers. He told that he started using these painkillers due to severe back pain which was increased after a botched surgery. He also told that he is going to have inpatient treatment of 30 days. He addressed the people through his talk show and said that "I need to tell you today that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication. " Rush also said that that he is "not making any excuses" and that he is "no role model. " (CNN)

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