Radio superstar Rush Limbaugh sat down with NBC’s Today show correspondent Jamie Gangel for a two-part, wide-ranging interview beginning Monday morning.
One of the revelations from excerpts we received this afternoon: It’s all about the Benjamins, baby! Limbaugh likes his ratings, and his cash.
Gangel asks Limbaugh “Who are you doing your show for?” And he answers quite honestly:
My audience. For ratings. I will admit it. Let me shock the world right here on NBC. I am doing my show for ratings. I want the largest audience I can get because that’s how I can charge the highest advertising ratings – rates. Which means what else do I want? Money.
This could also be the reason why he’d sit down with an NBC reporter for a lengthy interview, when he’s bashed the network for a perceived liberal bias in the past. Today still draws a larger audience than any other morning show, and listeners Limbaugh certainly wouldn’t mind bringing over to his radio program.
More from Limbaugh, on what he’d say to Pres. Barack Obama if he had the chance:
I’d be honest with him. I’d be, look, the President of the United States is the President of the United States. He’s my President too. I want – you know, I want this country to succeed. And if he invited me up there to chat, I would owe him the dignity and honor of being honest.
A slightly different tune than his usual, “I hope he fails,” remarks, but again, this is NBC.
Limbaugh also talks about his battle with addiction during the interview. “I actually thank God for my addiction, because I learned more about myself in rehab than I would have ever learned otherwise,” he says.
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