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Mike's Biography |
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Mike Gallagher's road to being the 6th most listened-to radio talk
show host in the country (Talkers Magazine) began in 1978 as a 17-year-old
high school senior in Dayton, Ohio. Mike talked his way into an on-air
shift at WAVI-AM in his Ohio hometown and has been talking on the
radio and television ever since. Mike's broadcasting career has taken
him from Dayton to WFBC-AM in Greenville, South Carolina (now WORD-AM)
where his ratings and revenue success led to his eventual promotion
to station manager. He was also host of the popular "Tiger Tailgate
Show" on the Clemson Football Radio Network. From there, he became
the afternoon drive-time leader in Albany, New York on upstate powerhouse
WGY-AM.
From Albany, it was just a short drive south to the nation's number one market, New York City, where Mike enjoyed a two year stint as morning drive host on WABC-AM, the nation's most listened-to talk radio station. In 1998, The Mike Gallagher Show was launched nationally with 12 radio stations. Today, Talkers Magazine reports that he's the sixth most listened-to talk radio host in America with over 3.75 million weekly listeners in top ten markets like Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Houston, and Philadelphia as well as cities all over the country, and is the 8th most recognized talk radio personality in America (The Benchmark Company). Mike has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, and Forbes.
Besides his talk radio duties, Mike is equally comfortable in front of television cameras, too. He's a Fox News Channel Contributor making frequent appearances on all of the Fox News Channel programs as well as occasionally guest hosting one of the talk shows on the cable news giant. In addition to his busy broadcasting career, he's also added "author" to his resume as he recently wrote his first book, which became a New York Times Bestseller, "Surrounded by Idiots -- Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America", published by William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins.
In addition to being wildly popular with listeners, Mike is enormously respected by his peers in the radio industry. At the start of 2006, he was chosen by the radio and music industry trade magazine Radio and Records as one of the nominees for "Nationally Syndicated Personality of the Year" in the talk radio category. In the same year, Talkers Magazine ranked Mike the 8th most influential talk host in America, from a field of some 4,500. For 11 consecutive years, Mike has been included in Talkers Magazine's prestigious "Heavy Hundred" List, a compilation of the 100 most popular talk radio hosts in the country. Mike's syndicator, Salem Radio Network, is based in Irving, Texas (near Dallas) and his show's offices and studios are in Irving as well as the world-famous Empire State Building in New York City.
Mike's proudest achievement is his family. On the morning of June 29, 2008, the love of his life, his wife Denise, died at home after a valiant and dignified year-long battle with endometrial cancer. She passed away the day before her 52nd birthday. Mike was holding her when she died, their four boys -- Bryan, Trevor, Matthew, and Micah -- all present as well, which is just how Denise wanted it. Two of the Gallagher sons live in South Carolina, and the other two live near Mike, which is a great comfort to him. As he promised to Denise, Mike is sleeping each night with beloved beagle Buster and puggle Rory, who constantly shadowed her every move but now seem quite content to take care of him.
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