Posted on 08/01/2018 6:26:11 PM PDT by vannrox
In honor of the Rush Limbaugh Show reaching 30 years old today, I would like Freepers to post and collect their memories. Memories of when they first listened to the Rush Limbaugh Show, and why you kept on listening to it.
I'll start...
It was 1993. Bill Clinton was elected and he was on television, and the radio discussing his budget. He was talking about all the great plans that he had to remove man from space, end the "boondoggle" of the "Freedom " space station, and mothball the space shuttles so the money could be used "for the children". He was promoting what a great boom to the American worker that NAFTA and extended relations with China would be. He talked about how he was going to restore ethics to Washington, DC.
Every show and every radio station was gushing with praise for this man. It was sickening. The women looked like they were fawning and near fainting near him. The men was nodding vigorously and everyone was talking in excited tones about how America will lead the world by undoing Reaganism.
There was only one man who had a contrary view. That was Rush Limbaugh.
So while the rest of America praised the new America led by Clinton, and was looking forward to the new trade agreements with NAFTA and China, I was huddled in my living room, listening to Rush on the radio on a dark and stormy West Virginia night. Only Rush gave voice to how I felt.
Certainly, I was familiar with conservative / libertarian talk radio. Boston has had it since at least the late sixties. E.g., Jerry Williams and David Brudnoy. But Rush represented something new — coast to coast daytime political talk radio.
Another show from way back that I remember is when KMOX in St. Louis picked up his show. Being from that general area, the pride and happiness in his voice to get on that “blowtorch” was fun to listen to. Was really happy for him.
Reminds me of when Rush took a condom and put it on his golden EIB mike. I'd almost forgotten that until I read your comment. I couldn't stop laughing.
Its a roll of the dice but you gotta teach em the rules!
I was in my car in a bank drive-thru, and I tuned to WIBC here in Indy and heard the animal rights update. the song Born Free playing with gunshots being heard. I said to myself this guy is good, I gotta keep listening. early 90s.
The kitchen manager at the hotel had Rush on every day. Was flipping the remote at home and recognized his voice. Enjoyed the TV show, and that was my start...
I was fascinated! "How can he say these things?" and "That can't be true" and "I never read that." So when Rush mentioned he got his information off this new thing called the Internet with services like 'Compuserve' and 'Prodigy', I knew I would have to verify.
I dove into these services (dial up) and found that sure enough, the way the local media (like the Hartford Courant) was twisting the gist of the story, and I found out that the broadcast media was even worse. Two addictions were born; one to the Internet and one to Rush Limbaugh. Rush has now grown up to be able to be heard on WTIC and many surrounding stations as well as on the Internet. I have all his original books, and even a few of his TV show on tape, but the local station would never play the show at the same time, and it was difficult to catch. My grandkids are growing up with the Rush Revere books, and are little 'ditto heads'.
I heard him on his very first day on national radio on KFI in Los Angeles. He said what I was thinking. It was a revelation to hear somebody actually talk about conservative principles.
Late 1980s and I am visiting a friend in MN. We are pheasant hunting and took a break for lunch. Sitting in his truck he says “You have to hear this guy” and he turns on the radio. I have been a listener ever since.
Laughing at your story!
Cool!
Jackson, Tennessee, is a bastion of liberal Democrats and the TV station, WBBJ, put Rush on at 12:30 at night. My fiance and I would stay up late to watch his show. He was like a breath of fresh air considering that we didn’t have cable and could only get the alphabet outlet news. I missed the TV show when it went off the air.
August 1990 during the first gulf war.
Pretty easy to remember as I have as working at KHTR/KQQQ in Pullman, WA when the owners wife came in and said youve got to hear this guy we added to the AM side. And the rest, as they say, is history.
(Shhhhh, dont tell Larry Elder how I started listening to his show.... it would be wrong.....) I was already a new Rush listener, and used to listen to John and Ken on the way to grad school. And I picked up one of those free newspapers you see around LA at the stores, and threw it on my kitchen table when I got home. It fluttered down, back side up. Im putting away the stuff, glance at the table, and see this hot guy smiling up at me. I go closer to see who this was. What? This guy is on the radio?? So of course I had to give him a listen. And got so hooked. Used to call in, email, met him a couple times. Hes so smart and brave and right and funny. Id be super embarrassed to admit it was his looks that originally got me in. Sheesh.
I was in Japan and posting to a Tokyo BBS. Suddenly the depraved leftards started calling me a “Limbot.” I had no idea what they were talking about, but they were convinced that I must be his “disciple.”
Some guy was posting transcripts of Limbaugh’s show, so I started reading those, then AFRTS started playing one hour of his show. I don’t think he ever disagreed with me on anything until Rubio.
It seems to me that he has abandoned the fight against the forced legitimization of sodomy.
1986 KFBK Sacramento.
I joke that I was a regular caller...who was usually left on hold. Actually I did make it all the way through to on the air at least 3 or 4 times in the first couple years. Bo Snerdly would talk to me right up until I was on. Great guy.
Once Rush went national I tried to call a few times...Fugetaboutit. Perpetual busy signal.
Oddly, it was November 5, 2008, the day that he famously said that he hoped Obama would fail. I was actually driving home from Las Vegas having spent Election Day there monitoring polling sites on behalf of the Democratic Party. I was basking in the glow of Obama’s victory, and probably stopped on Rush flipping through the dial, maybe thinking that I would get to experience a sweet bit of schadenfreude. The irony, I know. Been listening to him ever since!
Sometime back in the nineties, I was out for lunch, and the restaurant sound system began blaring "My City Was Gone" with exceptionally good audio quality. But my hopes were dashed when Chrissy Hynde's vocals came on (Rush always fades the song down before that point). I looked at the clock, and, sure enough, it was 12:15, not 12:06.
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