It was supposed to be impossible.
Rush Limbaugh made it happen anyway.
The others owe their gigs to Rush.
The other one they all owe - Rush as well - is Paul Harvey. No talk host, he, but he commanded a large, loyal audience in the heartland of America by delivering a scintillating noon news report.
Ditto!! The others ought to have to pay a royalty.
I constantly hear how shows like Rush’s were not permissible before the Reagan administration change some FCC laws on equal time (outside of election season) or some such history.
As Rush says, he IS equal time. I recall listening to Larry King’s late night radio talk programming (which was followed by Jim Bohanan) from the mid-to-late 80s. These hours (and often the same stations) have now been surrendered to Art Bell and the followons to Coast To Coast (a series of pseudoscience/paranormal/conspiracy programs often so ridiculous I don’t even think the hosts are swallowing any of what they are selling).
Anyway, Larry King’s late night programming had a constant series of liberal columnists, authors, Democrat politicians, etc as the hourly guests. Never was “equal time” given to countering the liberalism arguments. Larry would call callers “dumb” and “stupid” on the air. He carried on this tradition into his daytime challenge to Rush’s daytime show (Larry would even hang up on contrary callers).
I recall first seeing/hearing Rush when he was a guest host for a week on (conservative host’s) Pat Sajek show on CBS (then a challenger to The Tonight Show and Arsenio Hall’s show and maybe even Alan Thicke’s Thick Of The Night). Anyway, late 80s, Rush wasn’t even into syndication much. He was tapped to guest host a week of programming. He was something different from what I was seeing elsewhere in the media (especially in Boston) or hearing on the radio. Act Up had packed his audience and wouldn’t let him speak. Rush had to clear the audience to finish the broadcast/taping. Larry King called it a publicity stunt on his radio show.
Some hosts do this sort of thing well, while others (rolls eyes) do not. < /paraphrased Peter Jennings >
If you missed it, you missed out. Here are the two hours of Rush on Greta Van Susteren Fox Show.
Rush on Greta Hour 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qJPHCQHUs4
Rush on Greta Hour 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDhxdwVR4qU
This is a very good analysis of where the country is and where it is going.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al