Rush Limbaugh to be succeeded by Clay Travis and Buck Sexton

It literally takes two men to fill Rush Limbaugh’s shoes.

Conservative pundits Clay Travis and Buck Sexton will take over the Premiere Networks afternoon spot left open when Limbaugh died in February following a long battle with lung cancer.

Travis, a host on Fox Sports Radio, will continue working that gig while moving into his new one. Sexton, who hosts the three-hour “The Buck Sexton Show,” filled in for Limbaugh on occasion.

Buck Sexton (left) and Clay Travis

While taking over for one of the most powerful names in right-wing media won’t be easy, both broadcasters expressed excitement over that challenge on Twitter Thursday.

“I could not be more excited to step onto the biggest platform in radio with my fantastic co-host, Clay Travis,” Sexton tweeted. “We’re going to do a show that will make Rush listeners proud and bring a new generation of audience to the table.”

Travis concurred.

“Big news: I’ll be joining @BuckSexton in Rush Limbaugh’s 12-3 et radio time slot starting June 21st. I can’t wait to get rolling,” he tweeted.

Travis added that this would be the final week of Outkick AM sports radio, which he sold to Fox Corp.

When Limbaugh died, his audience of roughly 20 million followers in 650 markets was believed to be among the largest on radio. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former president Donald Trump, who appeared as a guest on “The Rush Limbaugh Show.”

The nationally syndicated program moving into Limbaugh’s noon to 3 p.m. time slot will be called “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” when it starts late next month.

iHeart Media president Julie Talbott called the shake-up an evolution of what Limbaugh began broadcasting 50-years ago.

“We’re not going to replace Rush Limbaugh, we’re going to have an evolution of the show with fresh voices — those that grew up on Rush and admired him,” she told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story.

That report also said Travis and Sexton will address daily news stories and politics as well as fielding listeners’ calls in good humor. It also notes that show producers think their new hosts’ younger voices may bring something new to time slot that was dominated by the 70-year-old Limbaugh. Travis is 42 and Sexton is 39.

Premiere Networks will reportedly shop “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” to affiliate stations and expects it to open to several hundred markets as well as being offered as a podcast.

“The Dan Bongino Show,” hosted by frequent Fox News contributor Dan Bongino, began airing Monday on Cumulus Media Inc.’s Westwood One’s 122 affiliates that carried Limbaugh’s show. That includes New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Bongino’s first guest was Trump, who’d called Limbaugh a “Legend” after his death.

Limbaugh, who signed off the planet for good on Feb. 17, 2021, said during his final show of 2020 that he was grateful to have extended his battle with lung cancer as long as he did.

“Because I have outlived the diagnosis, I’ve been able to receive and hear and process some of the most wonderful, nice things about me that I might not have ever heard had I not gotten sick,” Limbaugh said. “How many people who pass away never hear the eulogies, never hear the thank-yous?”

Despite being labeled by critics as a bigot and a conspiracy theorist, Limbaugh’s accolades included his 1993 induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame and his 1998 induction into the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame.