Mike Gallagher is America’s most entertaining conservative, displaying a sense of humor and timing honed over years of local and national radio talk show experience. Gallagher connects with his audience in a very personal way by creating compelling programming targeted at the issues men and women all over America really care about. He has used his program to shine a light of scrutiny on extremist groups and political charlatans. His one-on-one interviews with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other leading conservatives regularly generate national headlines.
And Gallagher doesn’t just jawbone the issues. He regularly takes his audience wherever major stories are happening: from his live broadcast in New York City as jetliners were crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11 to the high school shootings at Columbine, Colo. to reporting from the 2016 Republican National Convention and the mass shooting in Las Vegas. The Mike Gallagher Show is second to none in bringing his radio audiences live reports from the scenes of major events wherever and whenever they happen.
Gallagher’s road to being the eighth most listened-to radio talk show host in the country (Talkers magazine) began in 1978 as a 17-year-old, high school senior in Dayton, Ohio. Gallagher talked his way into an on-air slot at WAVI-AM in his Ohio hometown and has been talking on the radio and TV ever since. Gallagher’s broadcasting career has taken him from Dayton to WFBC-AM in Greenville, S.C., (now WORD-AM) where his ratings and revenue success led to his eventual promotion to station manager. He also was host of the popular “Tiger Tailgate Show” on the Clemson Football Radio Network. From there, he became the afternoon drive-time leader in Albany, N.Y. on upstate powerhouse WGY-AM.
From Albany, it was just a short drive south to the nation’s No. 1 market, New York City, where Gallagher enjoyed a two-year stint as morning drive host on WABC-AM, the nation’s most listened-to talk radio station. In 1998, The Mike Gallagher Show was launched nationally with 12 radio stations. Today, Talkers magazine reports that he’s the ninth most listened-to talk radio host in America with more than 7 million weekly listeners in top 10 markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and Philadelphia as well as cities all over the country, and is the eighth most recognized talk radio personality in America (The Benchmark Company). Gallagher has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, and Forbes.
Besides his talk radio duties, Gallagher is equally comfortable in front of TV cameras, too. He has frequently been seen on the Fox News Channel as a Contributor making appearances on all of the Fox News Channel programs as well as occasionally guest hosting one of the talk shows on the cable news giant. In addition to his busy broadcasting career, he’s a New York Times bestseller, “Surrounded by Idiots — Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America” and “50 Things Liberals Love to Hate.” Gallagher has also appeared on stage and film as an actor, with featured roles in regional theater and on Broadway. He appeared at the Shubert Theater in New York for a guest stint in the Tony Award-winning musical “Memphis” as the White DJ, as well as playing the same role in a number of cities on the national tour. Mike also invested in the Tony award-winning musical “Pippin” both in NYC and the national tour.
In addition to being wildly popular with radio listeners, Gallagher is enormously respected by his peers in the radio industry. At the start of 2006, he was chosen by the radio and music industry trade magazine Radio and Records as one of the nominees for “Nationally Syndicated Personality of the Year” in the talk radio category. Additionally, talkers magazine ranks Gallagher the tenth most influential talk host in America, from a field of 4,500. For many years, Gallagher has been included in Talkers magazine’s prestigious “Heavy Hundred” List, a compilation of the 100 most popular talk radio hosts in the country. The Mike Gallagher Show’s syndicator, Salem Radio Network, is based in Irving, Texas, (near Dallas) and the show’s offices and studios are in both Irving and New York City.
Gallagher’s proudest achievement is his family. On the morning of June 29, 2008, his wife and love of his life, Denise, died at home after a valiant and dignified year-long battle with endometrial cancer. She passed away the day before her 52nd birthday. Gallagher was holding her when she died and their four boys — Bryan, Trevor, Matthew and Micah, were all present as well, which is just how Denise wanted it.
Now in his 20th year of national syndication, the combination of solid conservative values, a fast-paced fun delivery each day, and Gallagher’s first-name basis relationship with leading newsmakers from coast-to-coast make The Mike Gallagher Show one of the most consistently popular programs on national radio.
