His show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, and as of 2005 (according to Arbitron ratings surveys) its audience was estimated at between 14 and 20 million listeners per week, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States. Such high ratings have been a consistent hallmark of his show.[2] [3]

The Rush Limbaugh Show has been largely credited for the large shift in AM broadcasting to a news-talk format after an audience decline in the 1970s.

Limbaugh was the 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2005 recipient of the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year, given by the National Association of Broadcasters, joining the syndicated Bob & Tom Show as the only other four-time winner of a Marconi award. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2002, industry publication Talkers magazine ranked him as the greatest radio talk show host of all time.[4] Although Limbaugh's audience is not monolithic, he does attract the highest percentage (56%) of hard news consumers relative to all other television and radio programs in the United States. [5]
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Limbaugh began his career in radio as a teenager in 1967 [6] in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri using the name Rusty Sharpe. His father had once owned the radio station where Limbaugh started his career. Limbaugh always spoke of his parents with great warmth and affection. He dedicated his first book to them, writing: "Your love and kindness made me the terrific guy I am." Limbaugh's father had wanted Rush to be a lawyer, and was initially skeptical about his son's choice of a career. However, he supported his son in his endeavors. During the first Persian Gulf War, Limbaugh's father watched him do a commentary and was impressed by his delivery. He called him and asked "Where did you learn to talk like that?" Rush said simply "I learned it from you, Dad." Young Rush was also very close to his grandfather who was a prominent attorney, practiced law well into his nineties, and lived to the age of 103.

He attended Southeast Missouri State University for one year where, ironically, he flunked two speech courses, then dropped out. This would have normally made him eligible for the draft, but he was classified 1-Y due to an undisclosed medical problem.[7] Limbaugh stated that he was not drafted because a physical found that he had an "inoperable pilonidal cyst" and "a football knee from high school." [8]

Limbaugh was first married on September 24, 1977 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City. They were married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau. In March 1980, Roxy McNeely filed for divorce, citing "incompatibility". They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.

In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. She left him in December 1988 and their divorce was finalized in 1990. She remarried the following year.

In 1990, Limbaugh met Marta Fitzgerald, a married 35-year-old aerobics instructor, when she contacted him via the Compuserve online service. After Fitzgerald divorced her third husband, the two were married on May 27, 1994 at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The ceremony was officiated by Thomas himself. Also in attendance at the wedding were William Bennett, James Carville, and Mary Matalin.

On June 11, 2004, Limbaugh announced that he was separating from Fitzgerald. On air, he stated, "Marta has consented to my request for a divorce, and we have mutually agreed to seek an amicable separation. As I said, it's a personal matter and I want to keep it that way. I don't intend to say any more about this on the air." An article in the Palm Beach Post claimed that this third divorce was a result of his addiction to prescription pain medication.

In August 2004, Limbaugh was reported to be dating CNN television personality Daryn Kagan. Kagan and Limbaugh reportedly broke up in February 2006.