Rush Limbaugh gets $400 million deal

Talk was never cheap for Rush Limbaugh, but now it is getting a lot more expensive.

The AM-radio host will be paid about $400 million to continue serving up his daily dose of conservative patter through 2016. His $50-million-a-year paycheck represents a raise of about $14.4 million a year over his present contract, which was paying him $285 million over eight years and was set to expire in 2009.

The lucrative agreement between Limbaugh and Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio Networks of Los Angeles is the second-largest ever for a radio personality, ranking behind only Howard Stern's five-year contract with Sirius Satellite Radio in 2004 that was valued at more than $500 million in stock and cash.

After almost 20 years in national syndication, Limbaugh, 57, remains the most popular personality on talk radio, as well as an influential voice among conservatives. His program commands a weekly audience of nearly 20 million listeners on 600 stations, according to Premiere, which markets his program to stations and advertisers.

Limbaugh said he would earn about $38 million annually under the deal, in addition to a "nine-figure" signing bonus.

"I'm not retiring until every American agrees with me," Limbaugh, 57, said on his radio program Wednesday.

The deal amounts to a major bet by Clear Channel that Limbaugh's brand of conservative talk will prosper well into the next decade.