Sean Hannity Sits Atop The World At Fox News

In a profile of Sean Hannity, Forbes reports Hannity was a Fox News Channel original, hired by network chief Roger Ailes in 1996 to be the conservative counterpoint to Alan Colmes on Hannity & Colmes. When Colmes left the network in 2009, the show became Hannity, which turned into a fixture of one of the most successful and enduring prime-time lineups in modern television history.

Sean Hannity

Ratings data released Tuesday by Nielsen show that Hannity has cemented his position as the most powerful man in cable news, marking four consecutive months in first place — both in terms of total viewers (with an average audience in July of 3.4 million) and among adults 25-54, the demographic group most coveted by advertisers, where Hannity led with 635,000 viewers. Hannity’s ratings in July were so dominant, he led all of basic cable, even beating the 30th anniversary edition of Discovery’s ratings goliath Shark Week.

With his rise to the top — and his presumed access to President Trump — the critics of Fox News have focused on Hannity, dissecting his show nightly and even investigating how he’s invested his money. Hannity insists his focus remains on his shows — Hannity on TV and The Sean Hannity Show, his syndicated radio show, which airs on 570 stations across the country and reaches 14 million listeners every week. It’s Hannity’s 30th year as a radio host, and he just unseated Rush Limbaugh as the most influential talk show host in radio.

Hannity’s audience knows well the two decades Hannity spent living check-to-check as a bartender and contractor, framing houses, laying tile and hanging wallpaper. His first foray into talk radio was as a guy in his 20s, standing on a ladder listening to talk radio in Rhode Island and calling in to talk politics. “That’s what drives me,” Hannity says. He identifies with guys up on those ladders, now calling in to his show. “That’s who I am. I fight politically because the politics of the country impacts their lives.”

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