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Sean Hannity

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Sean Hannity
Occupation(s)Television personality/host, Talk radio host & Author
SpouseJill Hannity

Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961, in New York City, New York) is an American conservative talk radio host, a co-host of Fox News Channel's program Hannity & Colmes, the host of the Fox News weekend program Hannity's America, and the author of two books. Hannity is of Irish descent, and a practicing Roman Catholic.[1]

Early life

Hannity is the son of Hugh J. and Lillian F. Hannity , both children of Irish immigrants. His paternal grandparents immigrated from County Down and his maternal grandparents from County Cork. He has two sisters, Joanne S. Hannity and Therese Grisham (Hannity). 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.[2] 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, Patrick and Merri.

Education

Hannity attended St. Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale in Long Island, graduating in 1980. He dropped out of New York University and decided to pursue a radio career.[2] He has received an honorary degree from Liberty University (2005).[3][4][5]

Current professional life

Sean Hannity is currently a nationally syndicated radio talk show host broadcasting from flagship station WABC (AM) in New York City, co-host of Hannity & Colmes, a Fox News political debate program, and host of Hannity's America, also on Fox News.

Radio

Further information: The Sean Hannity Show

Sean Hannity got his first talk radio show in 1987 at KCSB-FM, the volunteer college station at UC Santa Barbara. After airing for 40 hours of air time,[6] Hannity's weekly show was cancelled in 1989, when KCSB management charged him with "discriminating against gays and lesbians" after two shows featuring the book The AIDS Coverup: The Real and Alarming Facts about AIDS by Gene Antonio. The station 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.[7]

In 1988, Hannity placed an ad in radio publications presenting himself as "the most talked about college radio host in America," and WVNN in Athens, Alabama (part of the Huntsville market) hired him to be the afternoon talk show host.[6] From Huntsville, he moved to WGST in Atlanta, filling the slot vacated by Neal Boortz, who had moved to competing station WSB. In September 1996 Roger Ailes, founder of the Fox News Channel, hired the then relatively unknown Hannity to co-host the television program Hannity & Colmes with Alan Colmes.

Hannity's radio program is a conservative political talk show focusing on current issues and politicians. The show is frequently critical of, and has drawn criticism from, the Democratic Party. David Wade, a John Kerry spokesman, said during the 2004 Presidential election regarding the term carpet bombing, "If the term hasn't found its way into print, its distortions certainly have. From Rush Limbaugh to Sean Hannity to Laura Ingraham to Saxby Chambliss to the R.N.C., you can't turn on a TV or pick up a radio without seeing a systematic and coordinated attack on John Kerry."[8] Hannity also draws praise from conservative politicians: "He has a great personality, and the tone counts for a lot," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn. "He's willing to ask questions and challenge the assumptions that many in the mainstream news media are not."[9]

The Sean Hannity Show began national syndication September 10, 2001 on over 500 stations nationwide. As of spring 2006, the program is heard by over 12.5 million listeners a week.[10] In 2004, Hannity signed a $25 million five-year contract extension with ABC Radio to continue the show through 2009.[11] The program was made available via Armed Forces Radio Network in 2006.

Hannity and Colmes

Hannity is the executive producer of Hannity & Colmes, an American political debate television program on the Fox News Channel featuring Hannity and Alan Colmes as co-hosts. Presenting the conservative point of view Hannity frequently engages in heated debates with guests of the opposing viewpoints.

Hannity's America

In January 2007, Hannity began a new Sunday night television show on Fox News Channel called Hannity's America. The show is on Sundays at 9:00pm. This show follows a much more investigative style than is on Hannity & Colmes. This show also features Hannity's opinions only.

Film

In the 2005 documentary film This Divided State, Hannity is shown speaking to the students of Utah Valley State College and members of the surrounding community. He had been invited to speak on campus to balance filmmaker Michael Moore, who had been invited to speak on campus two weeks before the 2004 presidential election. Hannity also appeared as a newscaster in the 1998 thriller The Siege.

Hannidate

Since 2005, Hannity has run a dating service on his website, called "Hannidate," matching conservative or Republican-leaning singles. The stated purpose of Hannidate is to create a "place where people of like conservative minds can come together to meet."[12][13]

Controversy and criticism

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sean Hannity.

Over the years, Hannity's political beliefs and activities have been criticized by individuals and organizations with differing opinions. A few notable examples include:

  • Media watchdog group Media Matters for America has been consistently critical of remarks Sean Hannity has made on his television and radio shows.[14]
  • Frank Rich, a columnist for the New York Times' editorial page, criticized Hannity and Dick Morris for using the American flag on their book covers, saying they "use the Stars and Stripes as a merchandising tool for their own self-aggrandizingly patriotic screeds cashing in on their TV celebrity."[15]
  • In an interview with Salon Magazine in February 2003, self-proclaimed feminist columnist Camille Paglia mentioned Sean Hannity's name in a column about political commentators. She said, "I'm frightened by what I'm hearing these days from commentators like Sean Hannity, whose program I listen to when I'm driving home from school … These days I can't believe what I'm hearing, the gung-ho passion for war, the lofty sense of moral certitude, the complete obliviousness to the world outside our borders. How many people has Hannity known who aren't Americans? Has he ever been anywhere in the world? His knowledge of world history and culture seems thin at best. This is increasingly our problem as a nation – we can't see beyond ourselves. It shows the abject failure of public education."[16]


See also

Books

  • Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism (ReganBooks, 2004) ISBN 0-06-058251-0
  • Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Against Liberalism (ReganBooks, 2002) ISBN 0-06-051455-8

References

  1. ^ NNDB biography
  2. ^ a b Kurtz, Howard (January 14, 2002). "Radio's New Right-Fielder". Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  3. ^ Inspirational speeches given at 2 college graduations
  4. ^ Sean Hannity Biography
  5. ^ "Conservative voice box Hannity gets more talk time"
  6. ^ a b Sean Hannity's bio
  7. ^ http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1158
  8. ^ Kerry Speaks to New York, Talks Back to Washington.
  9. ^ HARD HITTER: Angry man Hannity a big draw at the Garden. Houston Chronicle. Sept. 2, 2004
  10. ^ TALKERS Magazine: The top talk radio audiences
  11. ^ "Sean Hannity Profile". WSGW 760. 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  12. ^ Hannidate website
  13. ^ Concord Monitor, 12/4/06. "Hannity's other side comes out on web: Fox News host fosters gay male hookups"
  14. ^ Media Matters for America
  15. ^ Had Enough Of the Flag Yet?
  16. ^ The Salon Interview: Camille Paglia
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