Sean Hannity

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Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity at King of Prussia Mall (2004)
Born December 30, 1961 (1961-12-30) (age 46)
New York City, New York
Nationality American
Education high school graduate
Occupation radio/television host, political commentator & author
Employer Citadel Broadcasting, Fox News Channel
Known for political commentary
Political party Conservative Party of New York
Religious beliefs Roman Catholic
Spouse(s) Jill Rhodes Hannity
Parents Hugh J. and Lillian F. Hannity
Website
Hannity.com

Sean Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American radio and television host, conservative political commentator, and author. His nationally-syndicated radio program, The Sean Hannity Show, airs throughout the United States on ABC Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts two television shows on Fox News Channel: Hannity & Colmes and Hannity's America. Besides his broadcasting career, Hannity is a successful author, having written two New York Times bestselling books.[1][2]

Contents

Early life

Hannity is the son of Hugh J. and Lillian F. Hannity. Both his paternal and maternal grandparents emigrated from Ireland. He has two sisters, Joanne S. Hannity and Therese (Hannity) Grisham. He grew up in Franklin Square, New York. During the late 1980s, Hannity worked in construction in Santa Barbara, California and also as a bartender.[3] He has lived in Roswell, Georgia; Athens, Alabama; Lloyd Harbor, New York; and Santa Barbara, California. He married Jill Rhodes, a columnist for The Huntsville Times, on January 9, 1993. They have two children. Hannity holds both Irish and U.S. citizenship.

Education

Hannity graduated in 1980 from St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary high school, located in Uniondale, New York. Described as "an indifferent student",[4] Hannity dropped out of New York University for financial reasons and later decided to pursue a radio career.[3] In 2005, Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty University awarded him an honorary degree.[5]

Professional life

Hannity in a radio and television interview with Vice President of the US Dick Cheney
Hannity in a radio and television interview with Vice President of the US Dick Cheney

Hannity hosted his first talk radio show in 1989 at the volunteer college station at UC Santa Barbara, KCSB-FM, while working as a general contractor. The show aired for 40 hours of air time;[6] Hannity has since called the show "terrible."[7] Hannity's weekly show on KCSB was canceled after less than a year when management charged him with "discriminating against gays and lesbians." This was after two shows featuring the book The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts about AIDS by Gene Antonio. The station later reversed its decision to dismiss Hannity due in part to a campaign conducted by the Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Hannity decided against returning to KCSB.[8]

After leaving KCSB, Hannity placed an ad in radio publications presenting himself as "the most talked about college radio host in America." Radio station WVNN in Athens, Alabama (part of the Huntsville market) then hired him to be the afternoon talk show host.[6] From Huntsville, he moved to WGST in Atlanta in 1992, filling the slot vacated by Neal Boortz, who had moved to competing station WSB. In September 1996 Fox News co-founder Roger Ailes hired the then relatively unknown Hannity to host a television program under the working title Hannity and LTBD ("liberal to be determined").[9] Alan Colmes was then hired to co-host and the show debuted as Hannity & Colmes.

Later that year Hannity left WGST for New York, where WABC had him substitute for their afternoon drive time host during Christmas week. In January 1997, WABC put Hannity on the air full-time, giving him the late night time slot. WABC then moved Hannity to the same drive time slot he had filled temporarily a little more than a year earlier. Hannity has been on WABC's afternoon time slot since January 1998.[10]

He has been vocally critical of and has drawn criticism from liberal groups such as Media Matters for America.[11]

In 2005, Fortune included Hannity in the article "25 People We Envy Most (Lucky Hall of Fame Getting Paid to Mouth Off)" [12]

As the No. 2 radio talk-show host in America, Hannity signed a five year contract in July 2008 said to be worth "about $100 million." [13]

Conservative Cal Thomas and liberal Bob Beckel, in their book Common Ground, describe Hannity as a leader of the pack among broadcasting political polarizers, which following James Q. Wilson they define as those who have "an intense commitment to a candidate, a culture, or an ideology that sets people in one group definitively apart from people in another, rival group."[14]

Television

Hannity is a co-host of Hannity & Colmes, an American political "point-counterpoint"-style television program on the Fox News Channel featuring Hannity and Alan Colmes as co-hosts. Hannity presents the conservative point of view with Colmes providing the liberal viewpoint. Hannity has had on air clashes with show guests such as Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer of Human Life International, who challenged Hannity on his public dissent from the Catholic Church on the issue of contraception.[15][16] Hannity has stated that if the Catholic Church were to excommunicate him over the issue, he would join Jerry Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church, the church associated with Liberty University, who awarded Hannity his honorary bachelor degree.[17]

In January 2007, Hannity began a new Sunday night television show on Fox News, Hannity's America.

Radio

Hannity's radio program is a conservative political talk show that features Hannity's opinions and ideology related to current issues and politicians. The Sean Hannity Show began national syndication on September 10, 2001 on over 500 stations nationwide. As of spring 2006, the program is heard by over 12.5 million listeners a week.[18] In 2004, Hannity signed a $25 million five-year contract extension with ABC Radio to continue the show through 2009.[19] The program was made available via Armed Forces Radio Network in 2006. In June 2007, ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Communications.

In January 2007, Clear Channel Communications signed a groupwide three-year extension with Hannity on over 80 stations. The largest stations in the group deal included KTRH Houston, KFYI Phoenix, WPGB Pittsburgh, WKRC Cincinnati, WOOD Grand Rapids, WFLA Tampa, WOAI San Antonio, WLAC Nashville, and WREC Memphis.[20]

The opening theme music for the Sean Hannity Show is "Independence Day" by Martina McBride followed by "O Fortuna" (from Carmina Burana) by Carl Orff, followed by "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

Books

Hannity is the author of two books, Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Ideas in Politics, Media, and Life and Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism published through ReganBooks. Both books reached the nonfiction New York Times bestseller list. The second book quickly went to number one and stayed there for five consecutive weeks.[4][21] Hannity has stated that he is too busy to read many books,[4] and dictated a lot of his own two books into a tape recorder while driving in to do his radio show.[22]

Freedom Concerts

Hannity has hosted country music-themed Freedom Concerts since 2003, billed to help benefit the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund, a charity created by Oliver North to provide college scholarships to children with a parent severely disabled or killed in military action. Appearing artists have included Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Lee Greenwood, LeAnn Rimes, Montgomery Gentry, Darryl Worley, Charlie Daniels, Larry the Cable Guy, and Michael W. Smith.

The Freedom Concerts were held annually in the Northern Star Arena at the Six Flags Great Adventure Amusement Park in Jackson, New Jersey through 2006. In 2007, the annual concert was expanded to a summer series held at locations across the United States, culminating with the September 11 event at Great Adventure marking the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.[23]

Speakers at the September 11, 2007 concert included Oliver North, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani and several conservative talk show hosts from WABC Radio.

Hannidate

Hannity's Internet dating service, called "Hannidate," matches conservative or Republican-leaning singles, straight and gay. Begun in 2005, it is described as a "place where people of like conservative minds can come together to meet."[24][25]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "BEST SELLERS: September 22, 2002", New York Times (2002-09-22). Retrieved on 2007-12-14. 
  2. ^ "BEST SELLERS: April 4, 2004", New York Times (2004-04-04). Retrieved on 2008-07-26. 
  3. ^ a b Kurtz, Howard (January 14, 2002). "Radio's New Right-Fielder", Washington Post. Retrieved on 2006-11-04. 
  4. ^ a b c Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2005.
  5. ^ Champion - Article - Liberty University
  6. ^ a b Sean Hannity's bio
  7. ^ CBS: 'Hannitization' Of America
  8. ^ An Aggressive Conservative vs. a "Liberal to be Determined"
  9. ^ Alan Colmes
  10. ^ 77 WABC Personality Sean Hannity, retrieved December 28, 2007.
  11. ^ Media Matters for America
  12. ^ 25 People we envy Most: Lucky Hall of Fame Getting Paid to Mouth Off. Fortune Magazine. October 17, 2005
  13. ^ Sean Hannity Strikes Dual Syndie Deal. "MediaWeek.Com". July 21, 2008,
  14. ^ Thomas, Cal and Bob Beckel (2007). Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That Is Destroying America. William Morrow (HarperCollins), New York, p. 3-6.
  15. ^ YouTube - Hannity's Gospel
  16. ^ McCain, Robert Stacy "Hannity at Odds with Catholic Doctrine" Washington Times, March 14, 2007
  17. ^ Royal, Robert. "Sean and Rudy's excellent adventures in moral theology." National Catholic Reporter; March 30, 2007, Vol. 43 Issue 22, p19-19, 2/3p.
  18. ^ TALKERS Magazine: The top talk radio audiences
  19. ^ "Sean Hannity Profile", WSGW 760 (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-18. 
  20. ^ Coyle, Sanda."Clear Channel Radio Renews Sean Hannity Through 2010", Clear Channel Radio, September 28, 2006.
  21. ^ http://affiliates.abcradionetworks.com/abcradio/seanhannitybio.pdf
  22. ^ Poniewozik, James. "Sean Hannity". Time, 0040781X, November 11, 2002, Vol. 160, Issue 20.
  23. ^ Cotter, Kelly-Jane. [September 11, 2001 attacks "LET FREEDOM SING"], Asbury Park Press, September 7, 2007.
  24. ^ Hannidate website
  25. ^ Concord Monitor, December 4, 2006. "Hannity's other side comes out on web: Fox News host fosters gay male hookups"

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