You don’t get offered an 8 year, $400 million dollar contract unless you’re already huge. Limbaugh was already hugely popular by then, and had been for more than 10 years. In the mid-90s he had a multi-million dollar necktie brand, for God’s sake!
You’re incredibly wrong on Limbaugh. He was big in the 80s, and utterly massive in the 90s.
He didn’t rise until after 9/11 no goalposts moved. He was known in the 90’s by conservative am radio listeners and had some influence on policy then.
He didn’t get huge until after 9/11, hence the 400-million-dollar contract in 2008.
He wasn’t huge in the 90’s and would have not been able get a similar contract then. He used the hate from 9/11 to blow himself up and have a huge effect on policy that is still harming us today.
You’re just way, way wrong here:
The late Rush Limbaugh’s show was the number-one commercial talk show from 1991 until Limbaugh’s death in February 2021.
No, Rush used the Clinton Presidency to do that.
Yes, he used the 7 years after 9/11/2001 to do this as I said.
He was number one in the country since 1991, you idiot.
From Wikipedia
In December 1990, journalist Lewis Grossberger wrote in The New York Times Magazine that Limbaugh had “more listeners than any other talk show host” and described Limbaugh’s style as “bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian”.[13] Limbaugh’s rising profile coincided with the Gulf War, coupled with a stalwart support for the war effort and relentless ridicule of peace activists. The program was moved to stations with larger audiences, eventually being broadcast on over 650 radio stations nationwide.
By the 1992 United States presidential election, Limbaugh had established himself as an influential political commentator. During the Republican Party presidential primaries, Limbaugh expressed a preference for Pat Buchanan over the incumbent George H. W. Bush, which Buchanan himself attributed to his early success in the primaries. Bush’s campaign subsequently worked to court Limbaugh, culminating with an invitation to stay overnight at the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom. Limbaugh was also given a seat at the president’s box in the Houston Astrodome during the 1992 Republican National Convention, and both President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle appeared on Limbaugh’s program.
He was inducted in the the national radio all of fame in 1993.
By 2001, his influence was already starting to wane in an overly crowded right wing gadfly market to the point that in 2003 he took a stint as a football commentator.
In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, The Way Things Ought to Be, followed by See, I Told You So, the following year. Both titles were number one on The New York Times Best Seller list for 24 weeks
Not really, he didn’t get huge from that, regular people didn’t care about Clinton getting a BJ in the Whitehouse. He’s not getting a 400 million contract off the back of that.
It was his attacks on Bush post 9/11 that started it.
Can’t be a mental exercise, that’s for certain.
Right, it was his attacks on Bush post 9/11 that fueled his number one radio show from 1991 until his death, and his two massive best-selling books in 1992 and 1993.
It’s impressive how you insist you know what’s true in opposition to facts, so consistently.
Until after 9/11. He was known, but remade himself after on the back of 9/11 fear and got huge.
He’s just trolling you guys. He’s not even trying.
Yep, this is just straight trolling.
His influence was starting to wane in 2001, he wasn’t huge. Until 9/11.
You people are just racist against trolls! AmIRight split_p_j?
It’s that 11 days later thingy that gives the trolling away.
I said he was known to am radio listeners, but that was a niche market. So he was at the top of that, but that’s not huge.
Right, the number one radio show for 3 decades is just a “niche market”. Best-selling books topping the NYT list for months are also just a “niche market”, I presume.
He wasn’t huge outside of conservative am radio listeners in the '90’s, the general population never heard of him then. that’s not huge. I hate that everything is parsed like this.
Howard Stern was huge in the 90’s, almost most everyone had heard of him
Limbaugh was not but became that huge after 9/11.