in my car going to get something to eat at lunchtime, almost dint go back to work, brought a radio to work next dayDo not think that Rush won't see your entries. He slums here on FR. He really does.
I was searching around the dial looking for news of Desert Storm and ran across him.
Listened almost every day after that with a brief break when he went deaf.
He was hard to listen to until the got his cochlear implants.
I went back until his remark about Rubio being a deep throated conservative.
Only listen occasionally now if I happen to be in the car.
During the Clarence Thomas Hearings, driving Cross Country... I couldn’t get enough of his show, I’d keep searching until I found it again.
I did not know I was a Conservative, he just spoke like I thought and no one else did.
Been hooked on AM Radio ever since
I first heard him in 1988, and was immediately captivated, as were my two teenage sons. It might have been before 1988, because he was still in California poking fun at Rio Lindo.
Oh, and yes, he is still on air.
Desert Storm...driving home from work. Don’t know how I found him on the car radio, but I did. My first thought was...Hey...this guy is saying things I feel and believe in. If I was in an area at work where I could listen to Rush, I did. Been retired since 2003, and believe it or not, I have less time now to do the things I’d like. Now I only get to listen to Rush when I’m in my car, but since I usually don’t head out on errands until after 3 p.m., I frequently miss him. Hannity’s on the radio by then, and I’m not crazy about him.
First began listening: 1991
Stopped listening: 2016
Congrats on 30 years, Rush.
Late 1988, or early 1989 working in Hawthorne, CA, just scanned the AM dial and picked up Rush. He became a regular 9AM companion to my programming tasks. DBrow(x), DBrow(y)
I remember way, way back thinking, “Who let this guy on the radio?” because he actually makes sense. I thought Deep State would have his license revoked and/or the licenses of any radio station broadcasting him. Glad I was wrong.
I caught his TV program a few times. IIRC, it was on a UHF channel around 10:30 pm Saturday. That was in the early 1990s.
Then, it went off the air.
Later, I heard him occasionally on radio.
I have been a semi-regular listener for the last 15 years via streaming on the Internet.
I lived in Europe at the time, and only got USA news from the local news or CNN International, or the International Herald Tribune. I wasn’t political, so I just sucked in the lefty viewpoint of these news orgs. But my life was changing as I had just had a baby. I was also laid off and living happily home with my baby on unemployment at 90% of my salary. It felt so unfair.
And I had read about this shock jock Rush Limbaugh. A monster. A blood spitting, flame throwing liar who spewed hate over the airwaves daily back in the states. Every morning I would watch the previous day’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, on the NBC international channel. One night he had Limbaugh as his guest. I was SHOCKED to see he was a normal guy, funny, full of common sense, got on great with Jay. What??
So when I moved back home I couldn’t wait to give him a listen. He was great. Those Clinton parodies just slayed me. I was hooked, listened every chance I could. And my politics changed. I do have to give Rush credit.
And yes, I know Rush hung out here. He quoted my posts verbatim at least 3 times when I was actually listening. Used my jokes as his. And I was nothing but flattered.
Was listening to him in Sacramento, 1530 KFBK, before he went national.
My first exposure to Rush Limbaugh was not hearing him on the radio, but seeing him on TV. I had a friend (a fellow conservative) who I frequently discussed politics with. He told me a few times:’ There’s this guy on the radio named Rush Limbaugh. You should listen to his show. I think you’d like him.” I said yeah, I’ll have to check him out sometime. One day I was at the gym, and they had a TV on the wall showing the Phil Donahue Show. Donahue announced that his guest was Rush Limbaugh, so I started paying attention. He asked Rush how he felt about women serving in the military. Rush responded that he was not only in favor of it, but then outlined his proposal for “The All-American Amazon Army.” Of course, Donahue and his audience were going nuts, and Rush was loving every minute of it. I’ve been a listener ever since.
I seem to recall WCHS didn't add his 3rd hour when he went to 3 hours whenever that was. So I would listen to WRVC in Huntington, WV, albeit very scratchy AM, because they picked up his 3rd hour.
My favorite show, and I taped it because I knew it would be a good one, was the morning after the election in 1994, when the Rs took the House of Reps. After 40 (50?) some years of D control, I never thought I'd see the day. I need to go dig that one up. Good times.
mom listened to Rush in 1988 regularly on AM 640 KFI (Los Angeles) in our kitchen, and the show would come blaring into my bedroom. I started casually istening on my own around 1989, but it was the C-SPAN simulcast June 1st, 1990 that made me a regular. That coupled with the 10 pm full replay each night on Sacramento’s KFBK AM 1530 (barely audible at times, with all of the original demented political commercials) got me hooked on his alternative viewpoint of what was really happening in DC, and being daily reported by mainstream media. Mega Dittos, Happy 30th Maha Rushie, El Rushbo & Rush Limbaugh!
C-SPAN Simulcast June 1, 1990:
https://cs.pn/2LTPxGy
in my car going to get something to eat at lunchtime, almost dint go back to work, brought a radio to work next day 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.
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.