Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity is an American television and radio host, author, and conservative political commentator. He hosts a nationally syndicated talk radio show named The Sean Hannity Show that airs throughout the United States.


Sean Patrick Hannity was born on December 30, 1961, in New York City, New York. His ancestors migrated from Ireland to the United States and his parents were first-generation Irish-Americans. Sean is the only son of Lillian and Hugh Hannity and has three sisters. He was brought up in Franklin Square, a socially conservative, working class neighborhood in New York. During his middle school years Sean attended Sacred Heart Seminary in Hempstead, New York. His father, Hugh, allowed Sean to take his first shooting lesson at the age of eleven, inspiring a love of guns that Sean has to this day. Sean attended St. Pius X preparatory Seminary in Uniondale, New York, during his high school years where he often cut classes to smoke cigarettes. Hannity says of the experience: “I just wasn’t that interested in school. It bored me to tears.” Instead, Hannity turned to radio for his lessons, from early morning to late at night he would listen to local right-wing broadcasters like Bob Grant and Barry Farber.  Bob Grant is known as the commentator who stated, in 1991, that the United States was being taken over by “millions of subhumanoids, savages, who really would feel more at home careening along the sands of the Kalahari.”  Sean Hannity later dropped out of Adelphi University and New York University after two years and started a wallpaper and design business.

Sean hosted his first talk radio show in 1989 as a volunteer broadcaster for a college radio station at the University of California Santa Barbara, while also working as general contractor. The show comprised forty hours of air time and appeared weekly on KCSB, but did not last out the year before being canceled by the radio station’s manager.

After leaving KSCB, Hannity placed an ad in a radio publication presenting him as the most talked about college radio host in the United States. Then he was hired by WVVN radio station in Athens, Alabama to be the afternoon talk show host. In 1992 he moved from Huntsville to Atlanta where he worked for WGST radio. He left WGST for New York and WABC took him as substitute for the afternoon drive time host on Christmas evening. Hannity worked at WABC in New York until 2013. Hannity’s radio program was another political show depicting the conservative point of view, opinion and ideology connected to current affairs and politicians. The famous ‘The Sean Hannity Show’ started national syndication in September, 2010, on more than 500 stations nationwide.

In 1996, Hannity was hired by FOX and became the co-host of the show “Hannity & Colmes”, an American political style television program that aired on the Fox News Channel. During the program, Hannity presented the conservative point of view while Colmes provided a more liberal point of view. According to the critics, the program seemed to highlight the conservative viewpoint of Hannity rather than Colmes’ liberal viewpoint. In 2007, Hannity started, “Hannity’s America on Fox News”, a new Sunday night TV show.

Hannity signed a 25 million dollar 5 year contract extension with the channel ABC Radio (and now Citadel Media) in the year 2004 and it continued till 2009. The talented star was signed for a contract of $100 million in the summers of 2008 after ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Communications in 2007.

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Clear Channel Communications signed a group wide 3-year extension in 2007 with Sean Hannity on more than 80 stations. The largest stations included in the group were KFYI Phoenix, KTRH Houston, WKRC Cincinnati, WPGB Pittsburgh, WFLA Tampa, WOOD Grand Rapids, WOAI San Antonio and WREC Memphis.

Hannity is author of three books. His first two books were published through ‘Regan books’ and reached the New York Times best seller list. The third book was also a bestseller from The New York Times list.

Hannity says of his career, “I’m a journalist, but I’m an advocacy journalist, or an opinion journalist.” He goes on to say “I want to give my audiences the best shows possible.” These shows generally revolve around Hannity’s nostalgia for a conservative America that he feels is falling by the wayside. Hannity strongly supports the military and law enforcement and has a strong disdain for mainstream reporters whom he refers to as “disgustingly biased, ideological and corrupt.” 

Since the last presidential election, Hannity has become infamous for his unyielding support for the agenda of President Donald Trump. Recently, during the Senate hearings for Supreme Court Justice Nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sean Hannity labeled the Democrats as vicious politicians who “have been against Brett Kavanaugh publicly from the day that he was announced." Hannity went on to say "When you see Democrats demanding more and more investigations, you have to remember this one clear point and this is what matters tonight, this is all about politics. It's now about power. It is not about the truth.”

Hannity continued to attack Democrats, saying that they were "Calling him [Kavanaugh} evil, accusing him of being a serial rapist, a sexual predator, a violent drunk, a liar, a perjurer, much more. Classic character assassination of a man who has served his country and has been in the spotlight now for almost 40 years without a single whiff of misconduct until 15 days ago," Hannity continued. "We better get this as a country right. Because a collective rush to judgment, getting rid of all presumption of innocence and due process, it is a clear and present danger to all of you, to every American." This is not the first time Hannity has embraced conspiracy theories, in 2011, he aired an interview with Donald Trump that seemed to support the idea that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. As Hannity’s ties with the President strengthen, Hannity is often accused of playing to an audience of one; Donald Trump.

And it appears that the most powerful man in the world seems to trust Sean Hannity’s words in a way that no other man in power has entrusted a television or radio show host personality.  Trump says of Hannity, “You have been so great. And I’m very proud of you.”

Last Modified: Jul 3, 2020


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