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.
The very first time I heard him I was in a college parking lot, sitting in my car and I heard him faintly on an AM radio talk radio station about 100 miles away. I tried tuning in a few times but reception was poor because of the distance. I did note right away he was outspoken compared with the usual things that you would hear on talk radio. This had to have been in 1989 or 1990. I made a mental note to see if his program would be carried locally and finally in a year or two it was. I remember Rush would sometimes perform “caller abortions.”
ANYONE remember KFI Radio in LA?
Tom Daschel
Back in August of 1988, self employed and working from home.....my 10 year old son came home all excited about a radio show he had just heard. He said “mom...there’s a guy on the radio that thinks just like us. You’ve got to listen.” :-))
Around 1990, “Up, Up and Away” (as the background music) for `Condom Update.’”.
Who was this brash guy saying “condom” out loud? I’d never even heard the word spoken before then. I was a little upset.
In those days, I worked Tues. - Sat, and I was out at 3 p.m. on a Summer day.
Turned on the radio, Boston 68, WRKO. I heard this guy talking, and he said something like....’for those of you on Welfare, who are just waking up...’
I laughed because it was a Saturday and I had been up for 11 hours already.
That was it. He sounded gay to me, but I laughed. Found him again later the next week. That was probably in 1989 or 90, but I cannot say for certain.
Must have been a tape, because it was not a weekday.
I saw him being interviewed on 60 Minutes in, I believe, 1988. My dad had just died and Inthought boy would he love this guy. I started to listen to Rush and have been a fan ever since.
It was around 1990, about the time of Desert Shield.
I was working alone in a building in Richmond, Va.
I found an old radio and turned it on. I found out I could only get am stations.
As I slowly turned the dial I heard the theme from the movie Born Free only it was punctuated by shotgun blasts. I thought I had found some sort of comedy station.
Rush came on and was joking about PETA pitching a fit about NZ paying a bounty on all wild rabbits killed.
It seems wild rabbits had overrun the country because there were no natural predators there.
He ripped PETA a good one with humor and facts.
Since then I’ve listened to him whenever I can.
Turned a few friends on to him too.
It was November 15, 1989. I was working for Boeing in Huntsville, AL, and I was in a training class in Madison (just west of Huntsville).
During lunch, I west out to the truck to catch the weather report, as the weather was a bit dicey. I tuned to WVNN, AM 770, out of nearby Athens, AL, and heard Rush for the first time. Two thoughts immediately came to mind; first was, “Wow, this guy thinks just like I do.” My second thought was, “He’s going to wind up in the gulag someday.” I immediately became a faithful listener, and remained so for years. I’m still an occasional listener, but life and work are too busy for me to tune in every day. It’s difficult to quantify the impact he’s had on this country, but I’m certain that he has extended the lifespan of our Republic and has made the world a better place.
I remember the date because, later that afternoon, an F4 tornado heavily damaged Huntsville and the surrounding area, resulting in 21 fatalities.
I remember listening to Rush while Reagan was still president.
I must have picked up on the show very shortly after it went on the air, perhaps a week or two in.
He was on KFI Los Angeles at the time, and it was a super-station that could be heard from around Ventura to about Carlsbad, and east to San Bernadino.
It was great to realize we had Reagan in the White House, and Rush promoting his and other Conservative policies at the time.
We had two other Conservatives on the air in those days, George Putnam and Ray Briem.
Those were great times.
Trump is doing it all over again, and Rush is supporting him better than the Republican Congress, that’s for sure.
I first heard Rush sometime in 1988. Previously I had heard about him in the news. Then right after the top of the hour I heard the theme music. Simply based on the style and attitude of the theme music I knew this must be the Rush Limbaugh people are talking about. It was strange. For some reason he had not even announced his name but I knew who he was.
I was in ministry and got a call to a church near Sacratomato in 1984 I it was not long before I found him on KPFK and listened avidly so I was pleased when he went National. I had no idea he would be such a big deal but there were no national conservative talk shows 30 years ago. God Bless him for hanging in there
Up and a way... In my beautiful balloon...
Per Rush
...guy called my program and complained that he couldn’t afford a subscription to The Limbaugh Letter and asked me for a free subscription, and back then I wasn’t in the practice of giving things away like I am today. I told the guy… His name was Dan. I said, “Dan, do a bake sale. Do a bake sale. How long would it take? You can do a bake sale in 10 minutes and raise the 24 bucks needed to buy a subscription.”
Heard Rush the first time in 1991 after a 20-year absence from the US (worked and lived in the ME in the oil industry). Felt immediately attracted to his program and listen to it whenever possible.
I used to listen to him every day when he was on the radio in Sacramento Ca.
Almost the exact time I tuned in, he was on WLEE at the time before he became big enough for WRVA to pick him up.
September 12, 2001. I was on a United flight the day before and suspected that my casual approach to news and politics wasn’t going to cut it going forward...
That was when New Zealand had the bounty on wild rabbits and PETA and the animal rights bunch were going ape over it?
That was the first time I heard him.
He was the King of Trolls.
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