All of his many fans were shocked and saddened to hear that Rush Limbaugh had lost his battle with cancer. His loyal listeners all have their own stories about what Rush meant to them. Mine might be a little different than others, having been with the program from very early on.
I landed in the Washington, DC area in 1987 and my wife joined me upon our marriage the next year. My political views were typically conservative for a young hick from the heartland. I was actually stunned to encounter the pervasive liberal mindset among the east coast snobs, which only served to galvanize my conservative politics. As you might imagine, talk radio was popular “inside the Beltway.” Around 1988, my wife discovered a conservative radio talk show host named Bob Kwesell, who was a strident and bombastic right winger. We became big fans.
The fall of 1989 marked the debut of WNTR on Washington talk radio. This was the flagship radio station of a new conservative talk show network sponsored by TV preacher Pat Robertson, who had made an abortive run for the presidency just the previous year. The lineup on the station included the aforementioned Bob Kwesell, who was lured over, which in turn drew us into the new network’s audience. Another show was “Battleline” a political point-counterpoint program in which Pat Korten, a former official in the Reagan administration, did daily warfare with Barry Lynd, an ACLU lawyer. It was very amusing and informative.
One radio host on WNTR was this character by the unlikely name of Rush Limbaugh. Deb and I were both immediately put off by his arrogant, braggadocious demeanor. The afternoon show was replayed during the evening so I continued to listen since there was nothing better on the dial. But we both eventually understood that this was just a shtick and that Rush brought a very interesting and insightful approach to the news. Besides, I LOVED the program’s intro, “My City Was Gone,” by The Pretenders, a popular song by the band from nearby Akron, Ohio. And then there were the “Updates” which were hilarious. Liberals don’t like to laugh and like even less being the objects of laughter. Rush employed this skill like no other, demolishing liberalism with humor, unlike the general crankiness of other conservative radio hosts.
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In the fall of 1989, Rush was on a roll with his “Homeless Update,” intro’ed to the tune of “Ain’t Got No Home” by Clarence “Frogman” Henry. Mitch Snyder was a homeless activist in Washington, DC infamous for his theatrics. He once wheeled up a dump truck to the apron of the Bush 41 White House and dumped a load of sand, where each grain purportedly represented a homeless person in America. Rush skewered his faulty logic and generally mocked Mitch day after day. One day Mitch committed suicide and Rush announced on the show that “Mitch Snyder has assumed room temperature.”
Another of Rush’s frequent targets was black-tivist Jesse Jackson, who Rush always called “Thee REVEREND Jackson” in familiar mocking tones. (What is Jesse “the reverend” of anyway?) This daily ridicule garnered Rush instant scorn from the liberal elites in DC and soon from “all across thee fruited plane.” Rush read off paper sheets that he crinkled into the microphone, held in his “formerly nicotine-stained fingers.” But the show was growing, carried on only maybe 100 stations when we first tuned in. America was still discovering the program.
I “went back to Ohio” for Christmas ‘89 and was telling all my right-wing buddies about the Rush Limbaugh Program. People were quite dismissive since the show had not yet debuted on WWWE in Cleveland and no one could catch my enthusiasm. These same people came back to me later, saying “You have to check out this Rush Limbaugh program! You’d love it!” And then I was like, “Oh, you mean the same Rush Limbaugh program I was telling YOU about?” Rush’s rocket ride upwards had taken off.
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One memorable segment of the early show was the “Gay Community Update” where Rush would report on topics such as mishaps involving hamsters and the like that befell various members of said community. (The show at the time was NOT for families!) The intro song was “You Don’t Own Me” by Klaus Nomi, a German flamer, an 80s remake of the Leslie Gore song from the early 60s. Deb and I were amazed that Rush could get away with saying such things on the radio. As it turned out, he could not, as explained below.
In one “Gay Community Update” from that period, Rush reported how GLAAD, an 80s gay activist group, had disrupted a mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City officiated by John Cardinal O’Connor. Among other things, they desecrated the altar and spat on the communion host – a BIG no-no in Catholicism. Rush expounded at length on how these enraged activists were NOT “gay” and were NOT “glad.” It was scathing.
In March, 1990, Rush had an opportunity to guest host “The Pat Sajak Show.” I believe it was his first attempt at TV. It was a disaster. The mostly-liberal audience in Hollywood turned on him and heckled him to the point where the show could not continue. The hecklers included ACT-UP, another gay activist group focused on AIDS, the “coronavirus scare” of the 80s that especially propagated among homosexuals. The ACT-UP hecklers vowed to follow Rush around everywhere he went and disrupt everything he did.
And then Rush was gone! It turned out that WNTR was sub-distributing “The Rush Limbaugh Program” though its network and Rush wanted direct distribution on his own network. So the show was off the air in the Washington, DC. WNTR and that network folded soon thereafter since Rush was their big draw. Rush eventually turned up on another DC station but to this day we never did hear about the fallout from the Pat Sajak gig. Rumor had it that Rush cut some sort of deal with ACT-UP and they agreed to stop harassing him. And when he turned up back on the air, Rush never did another “Gay Community Update” ever again.
Rush finally got picked up in Cleveland, Ohio on AM1100. We were home visiting and I tried to share the show with my mom. But it just so happened to be that famous day where Rush was haranguing about “women farding in the car.” This obscure word “fard” means “to apply cosmetics.” Rush had a ball with the obvious play on words and all the angry and outraged women calling into the show. It was another hilarious segment. But my prim-and-proper mother was NOT amused. She REFUSED to listen to Rush ever again and went to her grave with a negative view of him, even though she might have agreed with most of his views.
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One feature of the early program was Rush having his family on the show. Rush’s mom would often call in. Unlike Rush himself, she was a Missourian with a prominent southern accent. Rush admitted that when he often started his show by saying “Hah…. How’re YEW?” that he was imitating his mom.
Several times Rush had on his show his then-102 year old grandfather “Pops,” Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr., of which Rush himself was the third in the line. Pops was sharp as a tack past the century mark, offering his reflections from the “horse and buggy days” up to current events. It was fascinating radio. Pops was a prominent lawyer in Missouri and the patriarch of the Limbaugh legal family which included several lawyers, judges and even a justice of the Missouri Supreme Court.
In time, the listeners learned that Rush was the black sheep of the Limbaugh legal family, the ne’er do well namesake who forsook the guaranteed path of success in law to pursue a flaky career in radio. Our hero, Rush Hudson Limbaugh, III, was a big disappointment to his father, prominent lawyer Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Jr., the son of Pops. But his dad became a believer once Rush, III’s show became a big hit. He reportedly said about his son, “where did he get all this?” to which Rush replied on-air, “I got it from you, Dad.”
Rush’s dad died at Christmastime in the early days, just as the show was rising in popularity. Rush related how he was on the plane to his dad’s funeral, looking out the window at the clouds while listening to the sad version of “Silent Night” by Mannheim Steamroller. That band’s Christmas album owed much of its popularity to the airplay it received on Rush’s show. And every time I hear that song, I imagine Rush on that plane. Rush and his dad and Pops are now together. By pursuing his dream and finding wild success in radio, Rush redeemed himself in the eyes of his father. And, as Rush would say, to the tune of Sinatra, “I did it my way.”
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Rush had so many great moments, including the Gulf War, the Clinton years, and everything that happened thereafter. One day Rush abruptly claimed to support Bill Clinton. After a shocking monologue where he expounded on his change of heart, he took an hour of angry and disappointed calls from frustrated listeners. Then, after stringing everyone along, he told another caller that he denied everything, claiming he never said all that. (This was in response to an obvious lie on Slick Willie’s part.) The caller paused for a stunned moment as he realized that Rush was just having fun with the audience to make this point and said, “I love you Rush!” It was this sort of brilliance, “illustrating absurdity by being absurd,” that was Rush’s hallmark.
One notable piece of hilarity was “The Timber Update,” done to the tune of “Lumberjack” by Jackyl, a heavy metal song which included a lead guitar solo played on a chainsaw. Rush used this update to report on Earth First!, an eco-terrorist group that made headlines in the 90s. Since the program was on during my work day, we often listened to the full three hour show during our frequent drives between DC and Cleveland along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. I still think of that lead chainsaw solo every time I pass the onramp from Breezewood. Rural PA is Rush Country and there was no problem catching a radio signal on even the most remote stretches of that road. And I knew where to turn the dial once one station faded out.
Rush regularly announced the growing tally of new stations being added to the EIB Network. Soon he hit 200, then 300, leveling off at 600+. Rush wrote a book, “The Way Things Ought to Be,” which still sits on our bookshelf, right next to the sequel, “See I Told You So,” where he accurately predicted what would unfold if Bill Clinton won the White House. Rush’s career peaked around ’93-’94 when he hosted his own TV show. I taped it on VHS and shared it with my father-in-law, a loyal Rush fan. Unlike most media shows, Rush’s popularity never faded and he stayed on top all these decades since.
Over time, Rush quit doing the Updates. The show became less funny as he matured into insightful political analysis. I listened to it less and less, only catching it when driving at midday. But I happened to catch some key moments along the way. Like the day when he announced his marriage to his third wife, “the lovely and gracious Marta,” the ceremony of which was officiated by Justice Clarence Thomas. I also recall the day when Rush announced his deafness. It seemed the show might have ended right there. I was disappointed with Rush when he and Marta divorced, as when it seemed that his hearing loss might have been due to opioid abuse. Though I quit listening to the show over these incidents and others, I always came crawling back.
Rush took a lot of heat for saying certain indiscreet things over the years. But when you talk over the air to millions of people for 15 hours a week for 30+ years, you’re bound to say some stupid things. If the dumb stuff I say in that period of time were recorded, it would fill a library. I’m sure the same would be true for most of us.
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I heard my last full three hour program this past Christmas, once again driving the PA Turnpike to DC. Rush thanked the audience to the tune of the sad “Silent Night” like he did every year. He confessed that he was losing the battle to cancer and that, whatever the outcome of that, he won’t be doing the show forever – a realistic admission from any man on the threshold of 70. Now I’m wondering what I’ll do from noon to three on any of my remaining future drives along that road.
I, for one, am grateful for the humor and insight gained from listening to “The Rush Limbaugh Program” for over half my life. Who would have ever thought that this entertaining guy on the radio in the late 80s would become a Medal of Freedom recipient, a thought leader of the conservative movement, and a transformative figure in American life? Rush built on the foundation laid by President Reagan and contributed greatly to the rise of Trump and American patriotism in the 21st century. We have to preserve and maintain the important legacy of Rush’s life’s work and ensure American freedom for the generations to come.