Rush Limbaugh died on Wednesday after a 12-month battle with lung cancer, his wife Kathryn announced He started his radio career in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, his hometown where he got a job aged 16 at the local station that his father co-owned He bounced around local stations in the 70s and 80s before going national in New York in 1988 Limbaugh, a prolific conservative with controversial views, was loathed in NYC so moved to Florida That is where he grew his radio show and public image to become a beloved Republican President Ronald Reagan wrote to him to call him the 'voice of American conservatism' in 1992