The conservative talk-radio host has signed
an estimated $400 million deal with Clear Channel Communications through 2016. Next
month, Rush Limbaugh will celebrate the 20th anniversary of his radio show, “The
Rush Limbaugh Show,” which is broadcast in more than 600 stations.
His $225 million, none-year contract was
due to expire in 2009.
Limbaugh said the deal would bring in $38
million a year and came with a nine-figure signing bonus, according to The New
York Times. Specifics of the pact were no disclosed. A spokesman for the company
said that they “don’t disclose the specific details on any talent agreements.”
“First and foremost I’m a businessman,”
Limbaugh told the New York Times Magazine. The new deal is believed to be the
most lucrative contract in radio since 2004, when Sirius Satellite Radio paid
Howard Stern $500 million for five years, which factored in production, studio
and staff costs. Limbaugh, “the best talent on the air in modern broadcasting,”
as Michael Harrison, the editor of the radio industry publication Talkers
Magazine named him, said his goal is to attract the largest possible audience.
“This is exactly where I want to be, doing
what I was born to do, with an amazing audience and phenomenal support from affiliate
stations and sponsors,” the conservative host said. “I’m having more fun than a
human being should be allowed to have.”
The daily three-hour “The Rush Limbaugh
Show” reaches about 20 million listeners weekly.
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