Changes

Limbaugh started young. By the age of seventeen, he was already a dedicated disc jockey, hosting a radio show in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  He dropped out of college after his freshman year to pursue work full-time as a DJ, and got his big break in 1984, when KFBK in Sacramento hired him to host a talk show that reveled in controversy about conservative politics. His program was widely syndicated and by 1994 he was the number one talk-show host in the country. In 2001, he re-negotiated his contract for eight more years, for $285 million, a radio record. Surgery overcame a disease that left him nearly deaf in 2001.

Limbaugh started young. By the age of seventeen, he was already a dedicated disc jockey, hosting a radio show in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  He dropped out of college after his freshman year to pursue work full-time as a DJ, and got his big break in 1984, when KFBK in Sacramento hired him to host a talk show that reveled in controversy about conservative politics. His program was widely syndicated and by 1994 he was the number one talk-show host in the country. In 2001, he re-negotiated his contract for eight more years, for $285 million, a radio record. Surgery overcame a disease that left him nearly deaf in 2001.

Limbaugh hosts a radio show famed for its incisive criticism of the follies of liberalism. He is often at odds with liberal activist [[Al Franken]], who wrote a book entitled ''"Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot". Limbaugh habitually refers to [[feminists]] who support [[abortion]] as ''feminazis'' and to his own self as having "talent on loan from God".  Sensitive about his own schooling, he ridicules the college educated as the "Arts & Croissant Crowd."  

Limbaugh hosts a radio show famed for its incisive criticism of the follies of liberalism. He is often at odds with liberal activist [[Al Franken]], who counterattacked with a book entitled ''"Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot''. Limbaugh habitually refers to [[feminists]] who support [[abortion]] as ''feminazis'' and to his own self as having "talent on loan from God".  Sensitive about his own schooling, he ridicules the college educated as the "Arts & Croissant Crowd."  

Limbaugh's style has been credited with "reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered by many to have been a catalyst for the [[Republican Party]]'s 1994 Congressional victories"<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10813FA3B5D0C708EDDAB0894DE494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fL%2fLimbaugh%2c%20Rush Radio Talk Show Host Fears For True Conservatism's Fate], New York Times</ref>.

Limbaugh's style has been credited with "reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered by many to have been a catalyst for the [[Republican Party]]'s 1994 Congressional victories"<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10813FA3B5D0C708EDDAB0894DE494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fL%2fLimbaugh%2c%20Rush Radio Talk Show Host Fears For True Conservatism's Fate], New York Times</ref>.

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele called Limbaugh an "entertainer" whose comments were "incendiary" and "ugly," and Limbaugh counterattacked Steele's fitness to run the party.  A Gallup poll in May 2009 on who was the main voice of the GOP found Limbaugh leading the pack at 13%, with Steele trailing at 1%.

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele called Limbaugh an "entertainer" whose comments were "incendiary" and "ugly," and Limbaugh counterattacked Steele's fitness to run the party.  A Gallup poll in May 2009 on who was the main voice of the GOP found Limbaugh leading the pack at 13%, with Steele trailing at 1%.

==Audience==

==Audience==

Conservative Republicans are in his audience, but educational attainment, family income, and race do not predict who listens. Listening to Limbaugh is significantly correlated with public affairs information.  He is not merely an entertainer and people who listen to him regularly are very well informed on public affairs.  However, his radio audience is smaller than the TV audiences of  conservative commentators [[Bill O'Reilly]] and [[Sean Hannity]].<ref> Stephen Earl Bennett, " Who Listens to Rush Limbaugh's Radio Program and the Relationship Between Listening to Limbaugh and Knowledge of Public Affairs, 1994-2006," ''Journal of Radio & Audio Media,'' May 2009, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p66-82, in [[EBSCO]]</ref>  

Conservative Republicans are in his audience, but educational attainment, family income, and race do not predict who listens. Listening to Limbaugh is significantly correlated with public affairs information.  He is not merely an entertainer and people who listen to him regularly are very well informed on public affairs.  However, his radio audience is smaller than the TV audiences of  conservative commentators [[Bill O'Reilly]] and [[Sean Hannity]].<ref> Stephen Earl Bennett, " Who Listens to Rush Limbaugh's Radio Program and the Relationship Between Listening to Limbaugh and Knowledge of Public Affairs, 1994-2006," ''Journal of Radio & Audio Media,'' May 2009, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p66-82, in [[EBSCO]]</ref>