Dana Loesch

Dana Loesch

Loesch in February 2011.
Born Dana Eaton[1]
(1978-09-28) September 28, 1978[2][3]
Residence Dallas, Texas[4]
Education Fox High School, Arnold, Missouri
Occupation Radio host, television host, author, public speaker, political analyst
Employer TheBlaze, Radio America
Spouse(s) Chris Loesch
Children 2 boys[3]
Website http://www.danaradio.com

Dana Loesch (pronounced DAY-nə LASH, née Eaton, born September 28, 1978) is an American conservative talk radio host and television host at TheBlaze and author. Loesch has appeared as a political commentator on television networks such as Fox News, CNN, CBS, ABC, and HBO.

Early life

Loesch was raised by her mother, Gale, in an extended family of Southern Baptists. She graduated from Fox High School in Arnold, Missouri. She later attended St. Louis Community College at Meramec before transferring to Webster University to study journalism on scholarship.[5] Following a pregnancy, Loesch dropped out of college and married, having her first child when she was 21.[6] She grew up as a Democrat, a point of contention early in her marriage to Chris, a staunch Republican. However, she veered sharply to the right after the September 11 attacks. Loesch and her husband homeschooled two children together.[3]

Career

After leaving Webster University, Loesch began writing for St. Louis Magazine, doing investigative news articles and began her website "Mamalogues". Dana allowed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to run with "Mamalogues" as a weekly column, which won Loesch the Riverfront Times' "Best Newspaper Columnist St. Louis 2007".[7] Loesch started hosting her radio show in 2008 which is now a nationally syndicated, daily program "The Dana Show: The Conservative Alternative" on Radio America from flagship station KFTK-FM in St. Louis, Missouri and is also featured on stations around the country.[8] In July 2008 Loesch was chosen as one of St. Louis Business Journal's top 30 Under 30.[9][10][11] She was recognized by the Nielsen ratings as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Mom Bloggers.[12] In October 2010, Loesch was hired to be editor-in-chief of Big Journalism, a conservative website created by Andrew Breitbart.[13] In February 2011, CNN hired Loesch as a political analyst in preparation for its 2012 election coverage.[14]

Loesch co-founded the St. Louis Tea Party in 2009 along with its board president, Bill Hennessy.[15] Loesch left the organization in December 2011.[15]

Loesch was the recipient of Accuracy In Media's Grassroots Journalism award.[16][17] She also guest hosts for other national radio talent such as Glenn Beck and Michael Savage. Loesch was added to Talkers Magazine 's top 100 "heavy hitters" in 2012[18] and was number 33 in 2014.[19] Loesch hosted the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2013.[20]

In December 2012, after the death of founder Andrew Breitbart in March 2012, Loesch sued the parent company of her former employer Breitbart.com. Loesch claimed in court documents that owner and operator Breitbart LLC bound her to "what amounts to indentured servitude in limbo" after she says she was forced to terminate her contract as the result of a hostile working environment.[21]

On Thursday, January 12, 2012, Loesch spoke on her show in defense of U.S. Marines videotaped urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban fighters, commenting that "I'd drop trou and do it, too. That's me though. I want a million cool points for these guys (Marines). Is that harsh to say?"[22]

In May 2013, after a series of public comments back and forth between Loesch and Piers Morgan on Twitter regarding the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby, Morgan vowed to ban Loesch from his show, Piers Morgan Live.[23] Loesch returned to the show in January 2014 after their producers, who were friends, arranged for Loesch and Morgan to work out their differences amicably.[24]

On January 10, 2014, Loesch debuted her new daily TV Show, Dana, on Glenn Beck's TheBlaze TV.

In October 2014, Loesch released Hands Off My Gun: Defeating the Plot to Disarm America.

KFTK-FM in St. Louis, her original radio station, dropped her show in 2016.[25] The show was picked up by WSDZ-AM shortly thereafter.[26]

In the 2016 Republican presidential primary, she endorsed Ted Cruz.[27]

Bibliography

References

  1. Loesch, Dana (August 8, 2008). "Because it's an important issue". Mamalogues.
  2. Loesch, Dana (September 28, 2010). "Another Year". Mamalogues.
  3. 1 2 3 "Patriot Dame: Dana Loesch, Tea Party co-founder and rising star of conservative talk radio, reporting for duty!". Riverfront Times. February 24, 2010.
  4. Hinman, Kristen (February 24, 2010). "Patriot Dame: Dana Loesch, Tea Party co-founder and rising star of conservative talk radio, reporting for duty!". Riverfront Times.
  5. Weinger, Mackenzie (October 7, 2013). "Dana Loesch: Not afraid to fire away". Politico. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. "Best Newspaper Columnist St. Louis 2007 - Dana Loesch". The Riverfront Times. Sep 27, 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. "The Dana Show". Radio America.
  8. "Class of 2008". American City Business Journals. 13 July 2008. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  9. "This year's 30 Under 30 class by the numbers". Biz Journals. Jul 10, 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  10. "Dana Loesch". Biz Journals. Jul 10, 2008. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  11. "Power Mom 50". nielsen online. Nielsen Ratings. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  12. Loesch, Dana (October 11, 2010). "Allow Me to Introduce Myself...". Big Journalism. Archived from the original on October 14, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2010.
  13. "CNN Looks Ahead to 2012 Election Season". cnn.com. February 10, 2011.
  14. 1 2 Garrison, Chad (December 6, 2011). "Dana Loesch Departs St. Louis Tea Party". Riverfront Times.
  15. "Dana Loesch, Sharyl Attkisson to Receive Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Awards at CPAC 2012" (Press release). Accuracy In Media. February 1, 2012.
  16. Byers, Dylan (February 7, 2012). "Loesch, Attkisson to receive AIM awards". Politico.
  17. "The Dana Show". WAAM Talk 1600. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
  18. "Talkers Heavy 100". Talkers Magazine.
  19. "ACU Announces CPAC St. Louis" (Press release). American Conservative Union. May 7, 2013.
  20. Howie, Craig (December 21, 2012). "Dana Loesch sues Breitbart.com LLC". Politico.
  21. "Dana Loesch Would "Drop Trou" and Pee On Dead Taliban". Riverfront Times. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  22. Weinger, Mackenzie (May 22, 2013). "Piers Morgan: Dana Loesch banned from show". Politico.
  23. Weinger, Mackenzie (January 14, 2014). "Dana Loesch returns to Piers Morgan after ban". Politico.
  24. http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/marc-cox-replacing-dana-loesch-on-kftk-radio/article_926b5e25-92f1-57e5-ad46-433782164d5b.html
  25. Holleman, Joe (May 13, 2016). "Conservative radio host Dana Loesch back on STL air". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  26. "Dana Loesch endorses Ted Cruz," Politico, January 26, 2016, retrieved November 28, 2016.

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