Which qualities made Sean Hannity successful as a national talk radio host?

Persistence and a deep understanding of the audience he was speaking to. Back in the 1990s, when talk radio was still finding its feet after the Fairness Doctrine was scrapped, Hannity figured out that a host needed to be a relentless advocate for a point of view, not just a commentator. He built his show around a very clear, uncompromising partisan identity that gave listeners a sense of community and confirmation, which is a tactic as old as the fireside chats, but he updated it for the cable news era.