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30th. Anniversary of The Rush Limbaugh Show, debut August 1, 1988

F

FreddyE1977

Today is the 30th. anniversary of the syndicated debut of The Rush Limbaugh Show.

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he has had a major impact both on the body politic
and on the radio business.

AM radio surely earned another quarter-century on life support after the popularity of his show spurred a surge in talk radio programming. And when his publicizing of the House Post Office Scandal ended up taking down powerful Speaker of the House Jim Wright, it was clear that programs like this would go on to have real political impacts which went far beyond just talking about issues.

One of the oft-cited negatives is that his success spurred a rapid growth in syndicated programming, which was to the detriment of local content and air talent in many markets.

Thoughts?
 
The early Limbaugh affiliates were already carrying Owen Spann from ABC Talkradio. When Spann retired and ABC started wanting out of the daytime talk network business, Ed McLaughlin, who had recently taken over the syndication of the Dr. Dean Edell show, leased the 2 hours Spann was occupying from ABC, as well as doing a sort of trade-out for studio space and facilities with WABC. Really it was only other syndication that was being displaced at the very beginning. I'm sure there were cases where talk show hosts in some markets were displaced, probably more a handful of DJs at full service A/C stations. There already was syndication happening with Bruce Williams, Sally Jesse Rafael and Larry King. The state of AM was such in the mid-80s that there were stations running the audio track of the Merv Griffin TV show. Syndication would have still happened. It's not easy to find and afford a talk show host in Lima, Ohio, let alone 5. In WLS's case, Rush was added to fill a slot while they were rounding out their new local talk lineup in 1989; ratings were good enough for them to keep him.

Limbaugh's detractors will sometimes imply that a powerful cabal of wealthy Republicans sat in a smoke-filled room and plucked Limbaugh out of the relative obscurity of Sacramento to be their propaganda spokesman. The roots of the show were more along the lines of the former ABC executive, McLaughlin, looking for a retirement project, having been told about Limbaugh, not liking him when he first flew out to hear him, but coming around.

This unauthroized biography written in 1993 has a lot of info on the early years, and even McLaughlin's successful attempt to keep Paul Harvey from bolting to another network. https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Story-Unauthorized-Biography/dp/0312099061
 
As Limbaugh points out, daytime talk was a tough road, and that's why ABC wanted out of it. No major station would give up a daytime spot for syndication. Not even ABC owned stations. Limbaugh's success led to Larry King's ill-fated move into daytime.
 
Was there an earlier syndication deal for Rush Limbaugh? The reason I ask is because my Chief Engineer and I made several attempts to persuade our owner to pick up Limbaugh's show but were unsuccessful. Shortly after that, the owner died about a week after his April 26th birthday in 1987. That part is not up for debate.
 
I figured it had to be coming soon. I was still living in a town where Rush was on the local station when the TV station did a report on him and "Rush rooms" at restaurants. I couldn't imagine liking him. Several years later when I couldn't find music to listen to, I turned to a station that happened to be running his show, and he was so polite and nice to the caller (who happened to agree with him). Later I found out he was nicer to liberals than I had once believed. Whenever I couldn't find anything else, I started listening, and I still do because he is so enjoyable to listen to. If a substitute is on, I don't want to hear him. In recent years I've thought his opinions were getting more and more outrageous, but in some ways I guess he's right.
 
People whom he worked with here in Pittsburgh years ago all seem to agree
that he's a nice guy who would go out of his way to help others.
 
The 30th anniversary show was very nice. The President himself called to congratulate Rush. 30 years in national syndication is no easy feat. Quite the achievement. Ironically, the day before marked the very last Bruce Williams newspaper column, which Bruce ended because his syndicator wanted him to take a cut in payment which he said he was only breaking even on at this point. Considering that Bruce was the top talk radio host before Rush and then for two years after the debut highlights how fortunes can change. Bruce had a great show. I wish he was still on the air.
 
I wish I could have heard Trump call in.

I got in the car yesterday and a woman was calling to say she was so upset when Rush wasn't on. Apparently he had trouble with his voice and yesterday he wasn't even sure he would be able to do the whole show, but after an hour, he was fine. He asked the woman if she was afraid she would miss out on news that she wouldn't hear anywhere else, or certain things wouldn't get accomplished or prevented or whatever.
 
I know I am a couple of months late, it does seem weird to think that Rush Limabugh has been hosting his show for 30 years, and I am sure he will keep hosting the show until he decides he no longer wants to do it, or retires from radio. I have never listened to his show as I am very rarely near a radio when his show airs live which will be Noon to 3 PM (eastern time). And I am sure you are right that part of his success is growth in syndicated programming. And I am sure he has to have other radio hosts competing agains his show as well. Is there at least one market in the United States, that his show doesn't air? I could be wrong but I don't think so, like even I'm Michigan his show airs in Detroit and Lansing. You have to wonder what will happened to syndicated programming when either he dies or retires from doing his show. I see he has two home stations one in West Palm Beach, the other a station in New York City even through his recording studio is in West Palm Beach in Florida. According to his show page on Wikipedia he began his radio show in Sacramento, California in 1984, and you were covering the 30th anniversary of his show going national. And I see on his Wikipedia page he is 67 years old, so who bows how long he can go on for, maybe even possibility until he dies.
 
staggmovie said:
I know I am a couple of months late, it does seem weird to think that Rush Limabugh has been hosting his show for 30 years, and I am sure he will keep hosting the show until he decides he no longer wants to do it, or retires from radio. I have never listened to his show as I am very rarely near a radio when his show airs live which will be Noon to 3 PM (eastern time). And I am sure you are right that part of his success is growth in syndicated programming. And I am sure he has to have other radio hosts competing agains his show as well. Is there at least one market in the United States, that his show doesn't air? I could be wrong but I don't think so, like even I'm Michigan his show airs in Detroit and Lansing. You have to wonder what will happened to syndicated programming when either he dies or retires from doing his show. I see he has two home stations one in West Palm Beach, the other a station in New York City even through his recording studio is in West Palm Beach in Florida. According to his show page on Wikipedia he began his radio show in Sacramento, California in 1984, and you were covering the 30th anniversary of his show going national. And I see on his Wikipedia page he is 67 years old, so who bows how long he can go on for, maybe even possibility until he dies.
Click to expand...

I think he's on his last or next to last contract renewal. At some point, the advertisers are going to balk and the return on investment won't be worth it, which should just about finish the format.
 
semoochie said:
I think he's on his last or next to last contract renewal. At some point, the advertisers are going to balk and the return on investment won't be worth it, which should just about finish the format.
Click to expand...

Then again, Don Imus remained on the air until he was 76. It's hard to quit when they keep throwing money at you.
 
TheBigA said:
In most places he's been moved to secondary talk stations, so that's not as big an issue. The transition to other hosts has already begun.
Click to expand...

I didn't know it was that widespread. He's still on KEX. I figure that when he leaves, they'll drop below a one share and that will be the ball game.
 
semoochie said:
I didn't know it was that widespread. He's still on KEX. I figure that when he leaves, they'll drop below a one share and that will be the ball game.
Click to expand...

Still on WTIC Hartford, too. The station won't drop off the map should he leave, because he's the only syndicated daytime host -- the rest are local and have been at TIC for some time. There's no question that his audience is aging and shrinking, though. Used to be that if the Red Sox played a weekday afternoon game (other than Opening Day or playoffs), WTIC wouldn't carry it. In recent seasons, though, those games pre-empt Rush.
 
TheBigA said:
In most places he's been moved to secondary talk stations, so that's not as big an issue. The transition to other hosts has already begun.
Click to expand...

I'm only aware aware of a handful of markets where Rush airs on second-tier talk stations.

So I went looking. Boston and LA are the only top ten markets where that is the case. When you go to the top 20, add Seattle, Phoenix and Minneapolis-St. Paul. 5 of the 20 largest markets is hardly most places.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I'm only aware aware of a handful of markets where Rush airs on second-tier talk stations.

So I went looking. Boston and LA are the only top ten markets where that is the case. When you go to the top 20, add Seattle, Phoenix and Minneapolis-St. Paul. 5 of the 20 largest markets is hardly most places.
Click to expand...

KFYI 550 Phoenix is hardly a second-tier talk station. It's still #1 on Ancient Modulation (KTAR is on FM), which doesn't say much unless one looks at the right wing radio "competition" (KKNT 960, KFNX 1100). It is also the de facto radio home of the Arizona Republican Party, which is solidly in charge in this state, and has been for decades. It's also one of only two stations in Phoenix that comes close to full-market coverage on AM 24/7.
 
Sure. I said that only because KTAR-FM has higher ratings than KFYI. Obviously KFYI is a heritage talker, where Limbaugh has aired for many years, so it might not be fair to include Phoenix on the list of places where Rush has been demoted.
 
Rush has never regularly been on WLW, except for about a week while WKRC (550..maybe using WLWA or WCKY calls)..was carrying the OJ Simpson trial, or when a WLW host was substituting. It's always been first WCKY on 1530 and then WKRC-550, which is still iHeart but runs mostly Premiere syndicated product
 
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