Mike Gallagher (b. April 7 1960, Dayton, Ohio) is a popular conservative American radio talk show host. He is, according to Talkers Magazine estimates, the 8th most listened-to radio talk show host in the United States. Mike spent a large portion of the 1980s as morning sportscaster and weatherman at WKEF Television in Dayton, Ohio, and served for a brief time as host of As Schools Match Wits, a local high school trivia quiz show. (His trademark ending for his sportscasts was "As far as sports go, that's as far as I go.") His first radio job was also in Dayton, at WAVI-AM. WABC-AM, at the time being the nation's most listened-to talk radio station, hired Mike for a two year stint in 1996. Mike was hired by WFBC-AM (Now WORD-AM) in the early 90's as a local host. Mike met his wife Denise while in Greenville. The Mike Gallagher Show was launched nationally in 1998 with 12 radio stations and is now heard on nearly 200. He is a Fox News Channel Contributor making frequent appearances on many of the Fox News Channel programs especially Hannity and Colmes filling in for Sean Hannity. In the summer of 2006, he authored Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America (William Morrow), which became a New York Times bestseller (#27 on the extended bestseller list). On October 6 2006 Gallagher convinced the controversial Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church to appear on air with an hour of air time in exchange for not picketing a funeral for the Amish victims of a school shooting near Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Initially, Gallagher offered the organization money to not picket the funeral. With this gesture being accused of being blood money, the syndicated radio host gave the church an hour to appear on air. The Amish funerals went on peacefully after the contract signed with WBC stipulated a $500,000 fine if there were picketers anywhere near the funerals.[1] Following plans by the Westboro Church to protest funerals of vicitims of the Virginia Tech massacre, Gallagher offered the group three hours of airtime in exchange for an agreement not to protest these funerals. The WBC was the in-studio guests of Gallagher's program for its entirety on April 24, 2007.[2] Gallagher's program is syndicated by the Salem Radio Network and airs live from 9 AM to 12 noon. A separate live and local program for KSKY in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex airs live from 7 to 9 AM.
References
- ^ 'Insane' picketers cancel Amish funeral protest, The Age, October 5, 2006
- ^ [1]
Bibliography
- Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America, 2005 (ISBN 0-06-073798-0)
