Arguably the most popular figure on talk radio over the past 30 years, conservative host Rush Limbaugh has died after a battle with lung cancer.
He was 70.
Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, announced the news on her husband’s long-running syndicated radio show.
Limbaugh learned he had Stage 4 lung cancer in January 2020 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Donald Trump at the State of the Union address days later.
The Rush Limbaugh Show debuted 33 years ago on national syndication across just 56 radio stations, and grew to be the most listened-to radio show in the country, airing on more than 600 stations. According to the show’s website, up to 27 million people tune in on a weekly basis.
Limbaugh was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago in 1993, and was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998.
In his final radio broadcast of 2020, Limbaugh thanked his listeners and supporters, saying at the time that he had outlived his prognosis.
“I wasn’t expected to be alive today,” he said. “I wasn’t expected to make it to October, and then to November, and then to December. And yet, here I am, and today, got some problems, but I’m feeling pretty good today.”