I thought his first syndicator/employer was EFM Media. And his first "network" was an available satellite feed from ABC Radio, where he did his show, plus a WABC local show, when he was based in NYC.
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Rush Limbaugh has told his audience he has lung cancer
- Thread starter FreddyE1977
- Start date
I thought his first syndicator/employer was EFM Media. And his first "network" was an available satellite feed from ABC Radio, where he did his show, plus a WABC local show, when he was based in NYC.
Yes, EFM media was the name of the legal entity (for Edward F. McLaughlin, who is probably the sales executive David spoke with), which was eventually acquired by Jacor in the late 90s. "EIB" was just a public-facing brand.
The satellite time in the beginning was leased from ABC Radio, who was McLaughlin's former employer.
Here's a good profile of McLaughlin, written as an obituary: https://bayarearadio.org/ed-mclaughlin-dies
The satellite time in the beginning was leased from ABC Radio, who was McLaughlin's former employer.
Here's a good profile of McLaughlin, written as an obituary: https://bayarearadio.org/ed-mclaughlin-dies
A great book about the early years of the Rush Limbaugh Show, Ed McLaughlin and even how McLaughlin kept Paul Harvey at ABC in the 80s, is this unauthorized biography by Paul Colford in the 1990s. https://www.amazon.com/Rush-Limbaugh-Story-Unauthorized-Biography/dp/0312099061
The original "Talkradio 890" scheduled Rush as a fill while they were filling out the schedule. He caught on.
See PTBoardOp's post. The public name of the network was different than the corporation they founded.
Rush started being in talk radio back in Sacramento back in the Mid 1980's on KFBK-AM when he replaced Morton Downey Jr. Sacramento spot.
https://www.playlistresearch.com/sacramentoradio.htm
Yes Sacramento was one of the places where Rush got his start as the talk host we have known for nearly 36 years.
https://www.playlistresearch.com/sacramentoradio.htm
Yes Sacramento was one of the places where Rush got his start as the talk host we have known for nearly 36 years.
Sacramento has always been close to Rush's heart. He refers to it as his "adopted hometown."
Very true David.
Rush occasionally gets asked why he's never put his show on satellite radio like may of his competitors. He says it's because he wanted to be loyal to the 600+ radio stations that have been loyal to him all these years.
Michael Savage is another who's never allowed satellite near his show, also citing loyalty to the AMs that carry him. It would be a real test of my convictions if he were in Rush's situation today, so far as not wishing cancer on him goes....
Oddly enough, lung cancer took out Morton Downey, Jr. The longtime cigarette smoker who'd puff smoke in the face of someone he wished to "rile up" became firmly entrenched in the anti-smoking camp.
This sounds somewhat trivial given the news, but I wonder if this will change El Rushbo's opinion on cigars?
Cigar aficionados are getting rarer and rarer...I at least respected his opinion on cigars, not usually politics.
It's not. My mother lived six days after her diagnosis.
Pretty much always the same, at least since he's been national.
In the early days of the show he relied a lot more on comedy bits.
Now it's almost entirely composed of his commentary.
But is he playing a character or is that who he is.
Interesting commentary here by Eric Rhodes, publisher of Radio Ink:
https://radioink.com/2020/02/04/the-rush-factor-torpedoes-aimed-at-radio/
He talks about a lot of the issues others have brought up in this thread. The one thing he mentioned has to do with Paul Harvey and how ABC should have prepared someone to replace him. As I said in my comments earlier in this thread, there is no replacement for a legend. Jay Leno did not replace Johnny Carson. They were two very different people and had different styles. They tried to make it a smooth transition, but it wasn't. Same with Paul Harvey. The way Paul saw it, he was training his son to replace him. Paul Jr. was a regular fill-in. That's not how ABC saw it. Fred Thomson filled in for a while. Gil Gross was named to replace him in 2009, but only lasted a short time. We'll likely see the same thing with Rush. There is no replacement for Rush. You can't train someone to replace him. Just as there was no replacement for Howard Stern. You can expect a lot of the same thing when its time for Rush to hand over his mic.
https://radioink.com/2020/02/04/the-rush-factor-torpedoes-aimed-at-radio/
He talks about a lot of the issues others have brought up in this thread. The one thing he mentioned has to do with Paul Harvey and how ABC should have prepared someone to replace him. As I said in my comments earlier in this thread, there is no replacement for a legend. Jay Leno did not replace Johnny Carson. They were two very different people and had different styles. They tried to make it a smooth transition, but it wasn't. Same with Paul Harvey. The way Paul saw it, he was training his son to replace him. Paul Jr. was a regular fill-in. That's not how ABC saw it. Fred Thomson filled in for a while. Gil Gross was named to replace him in 2009, but only lasted a short time. We'll likely see the same thing with Rush. There is no replacement for Rush. You can't train someone to replace him. Just as there was no replacement for Howard Stern. You can expect a lot of the same thing when its time for Rush to hand over his mic.
Rush walked the talk. He aligned with only Conservative friends and colleagues. Not to combine metaphors, but he knew what side his bread was buttered, and drank his own Koolaid. Besides his radio show, Rush has been very active behind the scenes with GOP leaders.
I think the show was better before he started believing his own press and party leaders about being a kingmaker. The night in the Bush I White House seemingly changed everything. It's been insufferable since he became a full-in Trump synchophant--but still not as all-in as Hannity
Rush came on the scene in a rather unique set of circumstances that can't be duplicated. There's just no saying when lightnng will strike. (You could say the same thing about Drake-formatted top 40 radio, or the birth of Progressive Rock. If Vietnam had ended in 1965, there may not have been rock and roll as we came to know it in the late 60s.
The 15-minute Paul Harvey commentary was tough for stations to schedule around, especially if they were also carrying Rush. They had to invent a noon news block and delay Limbaugh, or bail out of Glenn Beck or whoever was on 9-12noon early (I believe Beck had a hard break for that purpose). Mike Huckabee tried to be the new Paul Harvey (I think he also subbed) but that didn't quite work.
Now that younger folks are getting their talk from podcasts, how much shelf life does conservative talk radio have, especially without its biggest, if fading, star.
Last year, WOWO suddenly lost its morning host, Charley Butcher, at the age of 59. They weren't ready.
The 15-minute Paul Harvey commentary was tough for stations to schedule around, especially if they were also carrying Rush. They had to invent a noon news block and delay Limbaugh, or bail out of Glenn Beck or whoever was on 9-12noon early (I believe Beck had a hard break for that purpose). Mike Huckabee tried to be the new Paul Harvey (I think he also subbed) but that didn't quite work.
Now that younger folks are getting their talk from podcasts, how much shelf life does conservative talk radio have, especially without its biggest, if fading, star.
Last year, WOWO suddenly lost its morning host, Charley Butcher, at the age of 59. They weren't ready.
Unless you know someone personally how can you ever determine that?
I know a guy that he and I are mutual friends with a very loud, brash, outspoken sports personality here in Pittsburgh. I once asked him "That's all just an act for the cameras, right? I mean he can't really be like that in his day-to-day life, can he?"
My friend was quiet for awhile, appeared to think about it a bit. Finally he said "actually what you see is sort of like his real personality on steroids".
Which is frankly a horrific thought.
I do know that radio people here in Pittsburgh who worked with Limbaugh when he was a young DJ
recall that he was a genuinely kind and decent individual.
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