I think it was the summer of ‘89 that Rush put in a rule that no female callers were allowed unless they mailed in a picture of themselves and allowed it to be on file in the EIB studio. Then all summer long he would not tell anyone why he was doing this, but allowed people to guess why he was doing it. It went on for weeks if not months.
In the end he finally announced his reason. He wanted to get more female callers to his program. And it worked!
Actually my favorite Rush memory was getting to be a caller in December 1988. It was after Bush had won the election and they had a big picture op at the Statue of Liberty with Regan, Bush and Gorbachev. Rush did a Gorbachev update with the Darth Vader music and I was on after that.
I made some funny comments and he laughed. Not really allowed but I was young so what did I know? This was really early on the national program. I was amazed how many people I knew called me or stopped me in the street to say they had heard me on his show. I realized he was going to be a big deal because I never thought those folks were conservative and listening too.
I remember that. I sent my picture and Mario Snerdly was the screener when I called in.