As a long-time talk radio listener, I strongly disagree with any claim that Rush Limbaugh transformed the format

From the Editor—

I grew up on talk radio. “For those of you in Rio Linda” (to borrow a phrase), let’s start that clock ticking with start in the public school system, late 1960s. [1,2]

More to the point of this writing, it means that I was listening to talkers on the AM broadcast band for some time before Rush Limbaugh started his radio career, long before he took root on the West Coast near the end of the second term for Ronald Reagan as President. [3-7]

By coin flip, I’ll credit my Granny Reeves with earliest memories. Her most trusted radio was a Bakelite model that housed glowing vacuum tubes, literally crackling out voices from afar. It did so twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in an upstairs bedroom [8,9]

Across town, Grandma Deaton had a more modern, “transistor radio” (credit to my dad, no doubt). Situated in her kitchen, it was reliably pressed into service before any rooster crowed, to be heard until clicked-off when supper was served. [10,11]

That was how I was introduced to talk radio.

I never knew Grandma to stray from WHIO out of Dayton Ohio. Her top priority was weather, then news, followed a distant third by Paul Harvey. In and amongst all that, “you can count on someone to come on with something to say,” she used to tell me. [12-14]

Two of those someones for me were Larry King and Jim Bohannon. Although very different in approach, both made extremely thoughtful presentations of content. By the time I was in high school, involved in extracurriculars that seldom got me home before dark, these talk radio programs helped extend my connection to intelligent life as I caught up on homework and projects that presumably “normal” people were completing by more reasonable hours. [15-17]

During the months leading up to our launch of D² Enterprises in 1983, the more general gave way to particulars of business, via Bruce Williams on Ann Arbor affiliate WAAM. More than anyone else, he taught me how to be an entreprenuer. [18-21]

Shortly before he himself passed away, I learned that Mr Williams had been asked by his network to assess the potential of a then-still-Sacramento-based Rush Limbaugh. After a week together, the senior talker predicted that Mr Limbaugh would never last on the national scene.

Southeast Michigan has a lot to brag about in terms of home-grown talent as well. As my own establishment was taking root in the old Hoover Universal offices on Monroe Street, fellow University of Michigan alumni Lucy Ann Lance was emerging as a powerhouse. And there was no doubt in my mind that David Newman had the potential for great success in syndication. [22-27]

To the question at hand, then: Did Rush Limbaugh transform talk radio?

“This whole damn industry would be dead [without him],” asserted Mark Levin during a phone call to the Sean Hannity program in February of last year. He went on to say that “Limbaugh is one of few people in history who have truly ‘changed the world.'” [28-30]

For whatever reason, I remember exactly where I was when I first heard Rush Limbaugh — pulling out of the parking lot behind Bell’s Diner, near Stadium Hardware, in my grey 1987 Cutlass Ciera S coupe. I’d just come from a meeting with principals of an advertising agency located on the second floor of that building. Lunch at the distinctive, then-still-popular Sze-Chuan West next door was often a part of those get-togethers, but not that day. Hence the serendipitous opportunity for the Delco in my Oldmobile to make aforementioned introductions.

The program in question was on WAAM, before it migrated over to WJR. And back then when Mr Limbaugh was interviewed by area personalities by way of introducing the show, he himself made concerted efforts to emphasize that he was foremost and primarily an “entertainer,” with all that we heard of him a carefully crafted “shtick.” [31]

Even in those days there were almost never any guests; callers were few-and-far-between. “The purpose of callers,” he frequently insisted, was nothing more than “to make the host look good.” Performance-art, then. But nary argument to be found for the core of having changed greater radio format. “Zip, zero, nada.” [32]

Despite having been twice eligible to have done so, Rush Limbaugh never voted for Ronald Reagan to serve as President of the United States. During that same period of his life, however, Mr Limbaugh was “a regular” among “a bunch of young guys … [who’d] get together for touch football games every Thursday afternoon in the fall and softball games every Saturday morning in the spring,” as Rick Gosselin recalled this past February for Sports Illustrated. [33,34]

Rush was the assistant marketing director for the Kansas City Royals at the time. He was not a great athlete but was a regular for both sports each week ….

If it was five degrees on a Thursday afternoon in December and only four guys showed up to play football, Limbaugh would always be one of them. His paycheck came from baseball but he loved football. And he loved the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Every week he’d show up wearing an authentic Steelers jersey with the name ‘Limbaugh’ emblazoned across the back. He had both the home black and road white jerseys ….

“Knowing Rush, I’m not sure those five Marconi Awards meant as much to him as … one touchdown catch” that Mr Gosselin witnessed the broadcaster make in 1983. [35,36]

I agree. I hadn’t read this particular story until preparing to quote it as I have above. But I have long felt that the fundamental passion for Rush Limbaugh was sports, that it was easiest for him to run any question through a rubric of scoring points, gaining advantage in an inevitable zero-sum game. [37]

In order for one side to win, another side would necessarily have to lose. In this case, the “teams” are divided by political interests. Rather than a sportscaster, then, that would have made him a politicaster. Maybe that’s a new type of program. But nowhere near having redefined the talk format — let alone saving it, nor broadcasting via amplitude modulation. Industry data doesn’t support any such claim. Neither does the CUE in my XTS Vsport. [38-41]

And what would I say to my grandmothers, both of whom I loved very much, were they here today, inquiring, importantly, about the current status of their favorite medium?

Rest assured that the signals are now clearer than ever.

References

1. “Let’s talk about that: The enduring impact and history of talk radio” Stewart Hodgson, Radio Fidelity.
2. “For Those of You in Rio Linda, Rush Limbaugh has Died at 70 years old” (February 17, 2021) The Rio Linda Messenger.
3. “The History of Radio Technology” Mary Bellis (May 11, 2019) Thought Co.
4. “History of Commercial Radio” (October 26, 2020) United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
5. “Rush Limbaugh: Biography (1951-2021)” (February 17, 2021) Biography.
6. “Rush Limbaugh” (February 17, 2021) Britannica.
7. “Ronald Reagan” The White House.
8. “Leo Hendrick Baekeland and the Invention of Bakelite” (November 9, 1993) American Chemical Society (ACS).
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10. “1955 Chrysler Philco Transistor Radio” Unique Cars and Parts (January 2, 2019) YouTube.
11. “The Transistor: a 1953 documentary, anticipating its coming impact on technology” AT&T Tech Channel (April 7, 2015) YouTube.
12. WHIO TV 7 (home page).
13. “Harvey, Paul (1918–2009)” Leah Pratt, Oklahoma Historical Society.
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18. “Remembering Bruce Williams: Evenings Fit His Lifestyle” Mike Kinosian (February 11, 2019) Talkers magazine.
19. WAAM Talk 1600 (home page).
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22. “Public comment at April 1, 2019 Saline City Council Meeting renewed focus on 232 Monroe Street remediation” Dell Deaton (April 3, 2019) Saline Journal.
23. “Aerial Photograph of Saline Die Cast Facility on Monroe Street in 1985” Dell Deaton (October 24, 2017) Saline Journal.
24. Lucy Ann Lance Show (home page).
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26. “COVID-19 Survivor Stories: Lucy Ann Lance | Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan” Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (October 16, 2020) YouTube.
27. “Status of David Newman, WJR Talk Show Host ’70s Thru ’01? …” (March 17 to April 14, 2010) DetroitYes!
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31. News Talk 760 AM WJR (home page).
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33. “Al Franken vs Rush Limbaugh” David Skinner (March 25, 2004) Washington Examiner.
34. “Remembering Rush Limbaugh the football player” Rick Gosselin (February 21, 2021) Sports Illustrated.
35. “Marconi Radio Awards” NAB: National Association of Broadcasters.
36. “How Marconi’s Wireless Tech Helped Save Titanic Passengers” Jeremy Hsu (April 13, 2012) NBC News.
37. “Rush Limbaugh Resigns” (October 2, 2003) CBS News.
38. “Rush Limbaugh Saved More Than Radio” Tamar Alexia Fleishman (February 18, 2021) Newsmax.
39. “‘Rush single-handedly saved AM radio’: Central Pa talk show hosts remember Limbaugh” Daniel Urie (February 17, 2021) Penn Live | Patriot News.
40. “Talkers Estimetrix: Most-Listened-To Talk Show Hosts in America” (2020) Talkers.
41. “2014 Cadillac CUE and LCD Instrument Cluster Review” Alex on Autos (April 4, 2013) YouTube.