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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush Limbaugh Show podcast, and it is wonderful to be here with you, the greatest audience in all of talk radio and audience built person by person by the all time greatest talk show host Rush Limbaugh. It is amazing to be sitting here. Just about a week removed from the terrible news that we got regarding the passing of a legend, an icon and a great friend to so many, even to those who may have never met him or spoken to him, but you felt like you knew him that closely.

And I am so honored to have been asked to come in today following, of course, the the amazing, the amazing, amazing effort and job that Katherine did just yesterday and remembering Rush and talking about their love for each other, his love for her and, of course, his love for this audience.

And it was so touching and such a wonderful and apt tribute for a man that continues to live on and will live on forever.

And the fact of the matter is, folks, this show will continue. This is continuing and will continue for a long, long time. We will continue to remember what it was that Rush did and how many times he was right. He was prescient. He was able to see around the corner. He was able to detect the the next trend and the next angle that was coming our way, both culturally and politically. And so don't don't go anywhere because you are going to want to be here for a very, very long time.

Still to come will be here and Rush will be here. Absolutely. Now, I often get asked, how exactly are you related to the Rush Limbaugh Show? How exactly were you part of the Rush Limbaugh Show?

Well, I was a screener I was the screener of the program going back roughly from late '99, 2000, was trying out in 99. They liked me enough. Rush liked me enough to keep me around it. And from 2000 to very early 2000 six, I was there. I was every day behind the glass from Rush down the line from Rush. I was sitting there taking the calls, talking to so many of you. I probably spoke with so many of you.

And I'm just so happy you don't remember my name or interaction at that time because I might not have put you on. And I certainly don't want to make you feel badly. But it was it was me. I was a screener. And, you know, the funny thing about working on the show, and I know anybody who who's not Rush but but is on the show and has worked on the show, Cookie and and of course, the great Snod Lee and H.R. Kit Carson Maimon Ali, the whole crew that was there.

Don't forget, Coco, all the folks that worked on the show, you know, it was one of these funny kind of realities. We got up every day. We went to the show. We had a lot of fun.

We laughed and laughed and were amazed on a consistent basis by the performance that Rush would do for three hours, bringing the absolute top of the top of the game to everybody out there. But when you'd meet people in private and they say, hey, so what do you do for a living, you kind of envied people to a certain sense.

I'm a school teacher. I'm an insurance salesman, and I do sales. I'm a doctor. I'm a lawyer. Because you could explain that. You can understand that. But if I said, hey, I'm a screener on the Rush Limbaugh Show, maybe I know you're I don't believe that at all. And so I decided I finally had to take the reins and I finally had to beg and plead with the amazing team. Can you please help me show proof of screening, not proof of life, but proof of screening to this audience.

And Cookie went and did this. She put this together. This is going to prove to you once and for all. It starts way back July 17th, 2002, right here on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Rush talking to me.

Now, you don't hear me because you would never hear me coming back from that side of the glass. But this is Rush talking to me over the time that I was in there screening and many times coming up well short. But but I always love to think of those days. And what do you say we take a trip together? Go.

Oh, Mr. Mr. Wonderful. What happened to the guy who was on the hold? Bret Winnable.

The official screener of calls his actual name ladies. And there was Wang Chung Stoodley, but he changed his name. Who's next on this program? Come on, get with it. Wonderful Mr. Winnable Shape two in there. Mr. Wonderful. A gold star for the call screener who normally doesn't know this kind of stuff. Regulations to Brent winnable. Our call screener. He's the proud father of a new baby girl. Jillian Abigail. Winnable was born at eleven fifteen last night.

He's very proud.

He sent me an email note telling me about it, and I wrote him back and I said, well, it's all fine and dandy is great.

Congratulations. But remember, Madonna's parents looked at her the same way. You're looking at your little girl right now. Oh, the memories, the memories, I can't tell you how much it means to be back here behind this Mike and visiting with with this audience because we had so many great times. And over the course of the next almost three hours, we're going to relive so many great times, so many times that Rush had it exactly right on about the politicians, the culture.

And we're going to have some amazing interaction with the audience as well.

And I want to invite you to be a part of this conversation at 800 to eight to to eighty two, one 800 to eight to to eighty eight to one of the most inspiring people in the world, I think any conservative would acknowledge, would be Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan. You know, you think about what President Reagan represented, especially yesterday being the 41st anniversary of our defeating the evil Soviet empire in the miracle on Ice at Lake Placid, at the Olympics in the semifinal round. You think back to to that Cold War and how so many American politicians, you know, were afraid to stand up to the Soviets to take the strong stance on the Soviets. Well, one thing President Reagan had was, was confidence and the ability to call out to us in the heart to reach for better, greater things.

That was Reagan's true gift to to relate to the American experience, the American fabric, the American people, and to inspire millions, billions of people, not just here at home, but around the world, yearning for liberty from the boot heel of the Soviet empire.

Well, I think you put right there with with with Ronald Reagan the inspiration that he was our own Rush Limbaugh and he was somebody who could inspire you to achieve and surpass expectations on a daily basis.

To paraphrase a phrase from Rush, Rush inspired people to be the best they could, no matter where they started in life. His optimism was infectious. You know, he also had a tremendous respect for you. Often would repeat the phrase Americans doing extraordinary things.

In fact, this this right here is something that President Reagan inspired inrush. Let's listen to Rush. Reagan was not only optimistic and this is a thing, folks, it's a good point to, Reagan was not only right or optimistic, he was right.

His as his was not a phony optimism, it was not false in any way, it was he was right.

He understood the basic nature of Americans. He understood the nature of the traditions, institutions that made the country great. And he he appealed to them and he appealed to the best in people. And it's just waiting to happen again. You don't have to be Reagan to do it. You don't have to have his personality or his words.

All you have to do is have the same opinions, the same passions about the country and its greatness and its potential. And you have to understand that it's the people who make the country work. It is not elites. It's not academia. It's not corporate CEOs.

It's not government elites and elected officials.

The people who make the country work are you you're out there of the people toiling away in anonymity, not seeking fame, not trying to get noticed, not, you know, uploading YouTube videos. They please notice me.

I want to be famous. Are people out there in the millions who make this country work?

And it's to those people you appeal. It's to those people that you try to inspire those people. You think it's those people you encourage.

And that's if you have a genuine belief in what I just said, that the people, average ordinary Americans accomplishing extraordinary things. If you believe that that's what makes the country work and you run around and tell people this, cite the statistics, give them some hope, everybody needs leadership. You're very few self starters out there. Then you can write your own ticket. That was the sort of inspiration that you you got from Rush every single day. And it's not lost on me that in so much of the country that this program is on either during the lunch hour or running up, if you're on the West Coast and Mountain Time, running up right into the lunch hour.

And I oftentimes would think as we were getting ready to do the show and then doing the show and talking to folks out there and listening to Russia's message, the thing that always struck me was how many people might have been having a bad day at work, might have been feeling like they weren't going to cut it, might have been feeling like they were disappointing their spouses, their families, what have you.

And what Rush would provide for so many listeners out there was that reinforcement that letting them know that they can accomplish great things if they set their mind to it and put the work into the effort. No, to have come out of a meeting and gotten yelled at or things aren't working quite right on a project or what have you, it's it's the great heroes that you will never hear from the people who provide for their families, take care of their neighbors, their loved ones.

Those are the people that were being uplifted. That is the very notion of the heartland, the heart of the nation, the heartbeat of the nation. And Rush was so able and apt and amazing when he could tap into that and could explain that, that you don't need to wait for some great savior to come and lift you.

You can lift yourself. As I've heard him say a number of times, I've heard him say it hundreds of times, the limitations that you impose on yourself are the most brutal limitations. It's the idea that you can believe and strive. And it was the strivers and the believers who understood this message. And I'm sure that you, ladies and gentlemen, listening to this program today can still hear it.

Echo, love to hear from you, one 800 202 282 on Equitable, sitting in on the Rush Limbaugh program on the EIB Network.

And I am wonderful in on the EIB Network in for Rush Limbaugh. We are celebrating his life. We are remembering his amazing contributions to broadcasting into the American fabric all day long, 822 to 82.

Typically you will hear me on and Charlotte, but I am with you no matter where you are, as as Rush used to say all the time, doesn't matter where he is, just as long as you're here. And we are so happy to have you there.

One of the great messages that would come through just screamingly loud in a great way, in a in an enthusiastic way from Rush was the notion of succeeding, succeeding success, but maintaining that success for for so many years.

We all know the phrase to somebody who's a flash in the pan. Right. Somebody, oh, look at this guy. He's great for a minute. He's great for an hour. This one is great for a week or a year. But to be able to do it across. 20 years, 25 years, 32 years, that is something that is something incredibly important, I know that there are a number of people who give advice on success, how to be better in your job, how to be more successful, how to get these things done.

Well, one of the one of the things that people talk about oftentimes is surrounding yourselves with people who are smarter than you because you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Well, look, for millions of people in our country, in our nation, you spend three hours a day for 32 years listening to Rush Limbaugh and he elevated everybody. And he was an incredible success in so many ways. We've talked about in the past when I filled in the notion of of success as it related to being a publisher, a television personality, obviously a superb radio personality.

As somebody who was a pioneer in video streaming and and using technology in the program and author four books in the early days and in the Rush Revere series, I mean, you name it, Rush was a tremendous success and sustained it regardless of president, regardless of Congress or Senate political climate, because he spoke the truth and the truth is timeless. I want to share with you a little bit of a reflection.

Rush had a reflection on the 25 years that he had experienced up to this point, August 1st, 2013, on the anniversary rush, reflecting on his career and desire to be number one, but to be number one on his own terms, one space younger and imagining what it was like.

When I was younger and imagining the kind of success I envisioned for myself, the kind of success that I wanted and it was specific, I was aiming to be number one. I didn't want to be top five.

And I wanted it to be real. I wanted to be number one because my audience was the largest, not because a bunch of. PR or buzz, people saying that it was big, but not really being, I wanted it to be substantively the biggest, and I moved to New York in 1988 with that objective and in those days when I imagine what it would be like. If I ever did succeed and get their. I had the chance to talk to people who, in my view, had made it to the pinnacle of what they did, and I asked each of them a question, among other things.

But I asked them if at night. When the house lights were down and everybody had gone to bed. I asked them if they ever sat around and thought about. Their success and what they meant to people and what their success in their careers it meant. To the universe of people affected by what they did. And to a person, I don't think there was a single exception to this, to a person, they all said no. And I believe them that some people might budget and make it up, try to sound good by these people that were all serious.

In fact, they all kind of pooh poohed the notion. And they all said in their own way, what I just said to you, they they they did not get nostalgic and they did not sit and reflect.

On anything that had happened because they were always looking forward. Now, I do I mean, I don't sit around and reflect I remember things in a nostalgic way because nostalgia. Has the magical component. Of always reminding you of good times. But I do look back on it. I do occasionally. Think of all the things that getting fired seven times the infuser, my first job when the transmitter blew a tube and the owner didn't seem to have any urgency about getting it replaced.

I drove to St. Louis and A16 scrounged up some money to buy a tube and drove back down and had somebody put the tube is a big vacuum tube in the transmitter so that the radio station could go back on the air. I. I skipped the last month of my senior year in school to spend time with the radio station. I mean, you couldn't keep me out of it when I was 16, 17, 18, but then left home, went to Pittsburgh.

I think back all of the what I do consider to be hard work.

And now at age 62, I look back on it and I ask, what could I do that all over again? If if something necessitated me, if this all blew up and I had to do that all over again, could I? There's something about youth and there's something about inexperience and the desire to acquire it that none of that. I mean, some of it was tough and some of it was arduous and long hours and all that, but I do think could I do that again?

And you think about that, and it's. Eight years ago. And Russia's reflecting on that sort of a of a wonderment and yet didn't take time that to sit back on his laurels and be feted and celebrated. Oh, look at what all you've done. Look, he he he looked back and he said, OK, could I do this again if I had to get back to that point? I'm confident that Rush would have been able to do it because he had the desire and the passion that never waned, regardless of the challenges that were in front of him personally or regardless of the challenges that we faced as a nation.

He didn't sit back and and take it for granted. He got up and gave it everything, left it all out there on the field, to use a cliche, every single day that he came in to the studio to share his thoughts, his opinions, his passions with you and with me as audience members who were eager to tune in every single day. My name is Brett. Whatever. We are just getting fired up. And I want to invite you to be a part of the conversation.

We are remembering and celebrating Rush Limbaugh, all that he accomplished and all of our fond memories today. Right here on the Rush Limbaugh Show on the EIB Network, and it is wonderful to be here to think back about all the the great times that we've had with Rush. But it's always, always, always been about the program. It's always been about connecting you with with the passion that Rush carried with him for you, for this nation, for the opportunities that we have presented to us.

The odds of us being born anywhere in the history of time, anyplace else are absolutely astronomical. We were brought to this place at this time for a specific reason. And Rush understood that the glory and and the power and the passion that was out there in this country. And it was it was never more on display when we'd go to the phones and we would hear Rush talk to folks who heard that motivation felt positively about finding passion, even amidst the fear.

Here are a couple of those instances with Rush back to the phones.

This is Larry in Fall River, Massachusetts. Hey, Larry, great to have you. I'm glad you waited, sir.

Hi. Thank you. And Jiro, I wanted to say that I thank you and I'm glad I got the chance to do this, that I became a doctor, thanks to you. I'm going to talk to a long time now, but it's thanks to you.

And my second point is, remember, what kind of what kind of doctor are you?

I'm a spine specialist. A spine specialist and how did this program make you want to become a doctor?

I was a schoolteacher and you talked about following your passion and how you've never worked a day in your life because you love what you did. And I was convincing myself that, you know what, I should do that. So and of course, I had the grades and the academic ability. And, of course, I went to school in New York, NYU. So they're probably going to lose credit now. But that's OK. I love hearing stories like that.

I really do. Because, see, it was in you all the time. Yes. This passion was in you all the time. You just needed a job. You just need a little kick that told you you could do it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And the money and everything just appear. It was like miracles if you want to use that term. But it just occurred and it was I've been practicing a lot now and so passionate about it. I'm getting a little older my years long in the tooth, but I have as much passion today than I did the day I walked into the school and walked into the anatomy lab. So it's there. Well, thank you very much.

I really love hearing stories like that. When anybody is able to get out of a rut, find out what they really love doing and go do it. That's fabulous. Thank you very much, Phillip in Austin, Texas. It's great to have you with us today on the program, sir. Hello.

Good afternoon, Mr. Limbaugh. Professor Limbaugh, it is a distinct honor to be able to speak with you.

Thank you, sir, very much.

As a distinct honor to have you here with us, a 28 year student of the Rush Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. It was a proud moment for me to watch you receive the medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Thank you. And I feel like you are so deserving because you you speak truth and life values and what you've taught to millions of people across different generations. And I'm one of those. And what I've received a huge value from you is not to live in fear and to say one thing.

I feel like not only are you my professor, but you're also a friend and a mentor and somebody that I've looked up to and I dare say a hero due to the values that the true life values that you've expounded out there. And I remember many years ago you spoke to it was a some information you put out about being able to get a job and you talk about the different levels and what's required and whether it was a high school college education.

And I think that the top level of that has something to do with integrity and respect. And I think that those are parts of values that you teach out there that are invaluable. And I just I'm thankful that they've been able to experience you for all these years and many years to come. Why, thank you very much.

You know, I'm I'm. I'm always. Flattered and deeply appreciative when I find out how detailed people's listening is, and you have heard the details and they've obviously made an impression on you. I remember many of the times, not all, I'm sure, but I remember many of the times I've talked about getting a job versus finding a career versus becoming productive versus finding what it is that you are born to do.

We are all born to do something, including be lazy.

Some people just have to find what what they were born to do is and yeah, it's it's a. It's a it's a rewarding thing to get calls like yours, I deeply and profoundly. Appreciate it. That's Phillip in Austin, Texas. You're talking about. You're listening to two people pursuing their dreams and feeling that connection with Rush Limbaugh, one of the things that I found to be such a hallmark.

For what Rush stood for, what he represented was not that there was this zero sum game when it came to success or or that there was a limited supply of opportunity, it's unlimited.

You're limited only by by your mind, your dreams, your your talents.

And one of the quotes I came across in the last weeks was was from Russia saying and one of the things that makes me happiest and proudest is that the talk radio venue, the whole market has expanded. There are all kinds of people doing it.

See, there's a difference between the idea of wanting to succeed, get that success, and then try to deny people their success in a similar way to which you went about it. Think back to the folks who have become fabulously wealthy. It typically progressives who have become fabulously wealthy. Right. Think think Silicon Valley, think Hollywood, think think those kinds of people. And what they will then do is attempt to crush the little guy. Right. We watched platforming take place.

We see the president thrown off a Twitter and Facebook, and these folks all started out as little tiny concerns right at the usual sort of social media outlets and the big tech companies. And what do they do?

They then turn around and try to destroy the strivers, the seats, the strivers that drive America, the people who get up every single day and try to pursue it, try to run after it, get it, catch it, and know that if they don't do it today, they're going to do it tomorrow. And each day means they're closer to achieving that dream and that goal. Rush was a great supporter of the strivers, the people who said, you know what, I'm gonna work this job, but I'm also trying to do this.

I'm going to start a second business. I'm going to start a side business. I'm going to save my money. I'm going to take the risk and pursue my dream. You heard that from the doctor calling out of a Fall River, Massachusetts. He was a schoolteacher, heard Rush and said, I want to I want to go be a medical doctor. And he's a spine specialist. Think of the lives he's touched and changed over the years. Philip and Austin, Texas, and a little bit behind the curtain here real quick.

I used to talk to these people all the time, these sorts of folks who were so enthusiastic and Rush loved hearing about it. It wasn't like Rush climbed up the side of a castle on on a huge ladder, got to the top and saw people coming up behind him, other talk show hosts, other folks who are trying to get into the industry. And then and then he pushes the ladder over the side to deny them that opportunity. He offered encouragement for everybody.

I remember distinctly some of his most profound advice when I was in the room hearing him do the show and it was learn all the rules and then break them, learn all the rules of how you do it, and then break those rules, become your own person, become your own personality, become your own best ally.

And the reason why 99 percent of the folks out there will feel apprehension at trying to pursue whatever endeavor they're trying to pursue is they don't have anybody in their life.

Who's been successful in that way, they can tell them how to do it because every path is different. But what we all had for three hours every day. For three hours every day for 32 years was an advocate, a cheerleader and somebody who said you could do it. People have tons of folks in their lives and will never work, they won't let you succeed. They're going to shut you down. It'll never happen. It's never happened before.

How can you do it? Russia go for. He said, go for Take the shot. As I said earlier in the hour, it's no coincidence that this program is on right around lunchtime throughout the country, sitting in your car, getting that dose of optimism, getting that dose of information, getting that dose of encouragement, that might have been the only encouragement maybe you had all day long. But it was there and Rush is still here. I'm Brett, we're sitting in a Rush Limbaugh program on the EIB Network, reputable in for the Maharshi here on the Rush Limbaugh Show on the EIB Network, remembering the great contributions to America and to Americans from from Rush Limbaugh.

And he will be continuing for a long, long, long time. Folks, don't you worry about it. We're not going anywhere. Rush Rush is going to be here for a very, very long time. And you want to stick around to get all the context, the twists and turns, currents and and and in the past, it's wonderful to be here. Let's go out on the phones. I've been talking a lot and sharing with with you a lot of the memories of Rush.

Let's hear what you have to say.

Let's start with Mark right here. Beautiful North Carolina, Winston-Salem. Mark, welcome to the program. What's on your mind today?

Well, I just really wanted to call to, you know, offer condolences to Rush his family and to as much as anything, expressed some gratitude because Rush had really said a lot of things over the years that that made me keep my chin up and. And help me change my life, you know, I had a really bad drug and alcohol problem for a long time and and struggled to stay employed and then ultimately, you know, changed my life and started taking personal responsibility for myself.

And now I'm basically a successful businessman. I in business for myself as a bank contractor. And I do a lot of attitude that I have about the way I work and the way I conduct myself to the way what I learned from listening to Rush was was really missing.

Well, what was was there was there a light bulb moment for you, Mark, where you just said, OK, I got it, I got to do this.

This is this is it. I'm done. I'm going to do this and I'm going to get in the right direction on this. And Rush has helped me do that.

Yeah, actually, there was actually I went to jail, went to prison for a long time for stuff related to drugs and alcohol. And and when I got out, I realized I don't get any more do overs. I've either got to take responsibility for my life and do what it takes to to become successful in some sort of way. Or I was going to fall, by the way, and I decided right then to do something different. I worked hard.

I saved my money, you know, and basically I'm relatively successful now. I mean, I'm not going to get rich being a painter, which is what I am. But at the same time, I'm in business for myself and I'm my own boss. That's right.

And you everything you've built, you've built, you've built this. And the fact that he was able to motivate you to do that. See, that's that's the legacy living on with Rush. That's that's the that's the thing that helps. Mark, God bless you.

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts with this audience. And please continue to call in in the coming weeks, months and beyond. We so appreciate you being out there, Mark. All the best, that's a mark. Let's go to oh, boy, this this is an interesting call. This is Victor.

Let's go to Victor Onoe Ferris I'm sorry, Ferris in Myrtle Beach. Ferris, welcome to the program. What's on your mind today? Good day, Brett, is it Brett or Brett? It's Brett with Toutes. A break with two T's, how calling more nervous, calling to talk about him than I was to talk with him. Any thoughts on that? But I'd like to recount a couple of my broadcasts with relish and also a mention where I was and the circumstances under which we first heard him, which has been a pretty popular theme in the last couple of days.

Sure, it's great to great to see Bo hold it together on Hannity the other night. What a great guy Bo is. But I had to I had to slip by Bo under many, many 10 names, including Vanessa from Vernon, Connecticut.

And because of that, I was able to be the most frequently heard caller to the Rush Limbaugh program, which I wear as a badge of honor, because I would say, where is the man? Who can accomplish the things that Russians accomplished? In terms of exposing himself to his audience in such a way that we felt we've got to know him. Yes, through our brief discussion with him over a few moments. Sure. And we first told him when we were gathered at the boathouse down on the Delaware River.

With the Achelen of the Orange County Black Country in Chester, New York, and we heard that voice.

OK, Farris, I appreciate this. I've got some kind of a connection issue here with you. But but I do appreciate the call. Victor will be up next, Victor. Welcome to the program. Your your your memory of Russia. And it says here that you may have spoken to me in February of 05. What's going on, Victor?

Well, on that day, February 18th, 05, I called Seaspan and told Ann Coulter that my wife back in 93 gave me an ultimatum. Was her the marriage or Rush Limbaugh? I had to choose one. So I chose Rush and she said, OK, so she divorced me. And Rush heard me on C-SPAN as I got to talk to this guy. And I got through and I told you that I was the guy on C-SPAN Rush. And I had a nice talk.

I told him a little bit about me and being blind and everything, and he said, You'll never find a conservative in Silver Spring. Well, I called him about a year later, September 1st, 2006, and said I met somebody from Gaithersburg and she and her brother ditto heads. We've been together for 15 years now and we're going to get married, I hope, this fall.

Oh, congratulations, Victor. I look, I'm so happy to see that out of toughness came. You know, a tough set of circumstances came something that was lasting and strong. And I know Russia's is smiling at that notion as well. That is that is great to hear, Victor.

We certainly want to be how I could tell the good women. And I laughingly said, well, I have to ask them if they're in Brail.

Well played, Victor, I appreciate you checking in on the Rush Limbaugh show. You see, this is what is amazing about this program. It is able to to motivate you to change your life, to motivate you to call in with such fervor and passion that you're willing to change your voice and to even give marital advice and to help this man, Victor and Silver Spring, who thought he couldn't find anybody who was a conservative in Silver Springs who had to go to Gaithersburg, find true happiness.

And he did. This is what is so wonderful about the Rush Limbaugh show.

Your phone calls continuing throughout the program at 800 282 to to I am Brett Getable.

I am honored to be in this seat today, keeping you company and the Rush Limbaugh Show on the EIB that. And I am Brett Wytheville, in for Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network, it is wonderful to be here one hour already gone already. Boom, like a like a like a flash. And we are going to be coming in with another great hour straight ahead. And here's the question for you to kind of ponder as we get across the top of the hour, news updates and whatnot and get back into the program.

When when did you first discover that this phenomenon, the Rush Limbaugh Show, was was more than just a show? It was it was the thing you sort out, it was the show that you wanted to hear, if it was a if it was a Saturday or a Sunday, you'd be sitting back saying, I can't wait till Monday. I can't wait to hear what Rush says about this. I can't wait to get his take on that, even if it was just during the week is how we're going to tune in tomorrow and hear this.

This is going to be quite something. And it became more than just a show. And I want to invite listeners out there to to check in and to weigh in on the phones as well at 800 to 1282, because we're going to take a deep dive with Rush.

We're going to share with you.

When it was that Rush first discovered that in fact, yes, this the Rush Limbaugh show was more than a show reputable and mean.

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It is a it's an incredible family that was built around this program. And when I say family, I mean, it was a real sense of family inside this this team for the years that I was connected to the program and I know it is continued because I've stayed in touch like a like a distant relative or somebody who moved away. I've stayed in touch over all of these years.

It's never the conversation has never stopped with the with the amazing folks on this Rush Limbaugh team. And so it is so, so wonderful when they asked what I like to come in today, what I like to sit in and reflect and celebrate the life of Rush Limbaugh and all that he built at all that he meant to all of us. Boy, I jumped at the chance because it's so important to remember a number of different things.

First of all, universally across this audience, he was loved, he was loved, he was prayed for. He was supported. And he he understood that this program that he built was was in many ways more than a show. It was it was an experience, it was something you took with that took with you throughout the day and the week, the sort of thing, you know, when it's great, when you're doing the dishes at night or you're sitting quietly and you hearken back to what you heard and you either laugh again or you rethink about what he said and you go, gosh, that was really something.

I did that on a daily basis for the years that I was behind the glass, working as a as a screener on the program and experiencing the genius, the hilarity and the the conviviality of what Rush Limbaugh built here.

So it's no no surprise somebody would reach out to Rush and would ask the question back on on August 3rd of last year, back on August 3rd, 20/20.

How did you how did you first know that this was more than just a show rush? Let me grab a phone call, we start quickly, John Columbia, South Carolina. Welcome to the program, sir. Great to have you with us. Hi, Rose.

Thank you so much. Thanks for taking the call. Happy anniversary and best wishes. I have one question I've always wanted to ask. When did you realize that the Rush Limbaugh Show was more than just another successful endeavor? That is this thing is really a rocket ship because I know what it was for me as a charter listener.

Now, wait, I'm going to make sure I understand the question. What do you mean by more than just an ordinary success story? I assume you mean more than just an ordinary, successful radio show. Yes. When it became when it escaped, the bonds of being a radio show became that plus other things.

Yes. Or just the phenomenon that it's become. When did you say, hey, this is maybe a phenomenon, maybe?

Oh, you know, I don't know. I don't know that I ever had time to think about that. I was too busy trying to do whatever.

And I'm not I'm not copping out. I mean, I was I really once once a program was over, the only thing I thought about it was the things I thought needed improvement or the things that I wish that hadn't happened that I needed to fix. The next day. I never sat around and said, man, this thing's getting big, man. This thing is huge, man. I'm really important. I never sat around and did that, so I'd have to really think there wasn't.

I know what you're asking.

Nevertheless, there was a time where I actually think the honest answer to your question is in Sacramento, because this show is it started in Sacramento. And I had never been on a success track in my whole career before moving to Sacramento in 1984. I've always been moderately successful. The guy that might be, could be, but I never stood out because I'd never been permitted to do a radio show the way I really wanted to do it. I had to conform to, you know, the programming format and all that which everybody at any station had to do.

But when when I I started to draw, I would announce that I was going to be some place some night and thousands of people show up. But this has never happened before and. When I when I would talk to these people, they were showing up not just because the program entertained them, they were showing up because.

They were so ecstatic, there was somebody finally on the radio that sounded like they thought. And so I think the realization that the radio program is going to be more than a radio program actually began to creep in.

In Sacramento, and it had it had an effect, it had an impact on the way I did the program, because I I you know, back back in those days, I was doing so much parity, so much satire. And back then I was all I wanted back then was to be thought of as, you know, really funny, really great, really thought provoking radio program, not just a political program, but a great, great, great entertainment media program.

And I found that as the program evolved and it went national, that there was less time for that because people were taking so much of it so seriously that I had to make sure that I didn't appear to be not taking that aspect of it seriously.

I still did satire and parody, but I had to make sure that it was obvious I couldn't do as many think pieces as I wanted to because I couldn't. I couldn't. Well, I'll give an example. You still there? Yes, sir. I'll give an example. Shortly after moving to New York, you know, my whole life in Sacramento, I'd been treated by liberal phone callers claiming that because I had not served in the military, I had no right to talk about defense, had no right to talk about defense budget, had no right to talk about this or that.

I wasn't quite I got so fed up with that. I got so sick and tired of hearing it. One day during my in the early days of the national program, I got such a phone call. So I thought, OK, I've dealt with this every serious way. I know how I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to do a little satire here. And I thought it would be obvious satire. I thought this would be.

Perceived by people as one of the greatest ways of shutting down this absurd allegation. So I think the guy I see you know what? I really need to thank you, sir, because you may have a point. And I told a story about how. Well, you know what, I'm not if I tell the story now, people have believe it. I'm going to I'm kind of stuck here. If I if I repeat this story, I guarantee you people like Media Matters will take the element out of it and say, I said it.

As though I admitted to something today that I have never admitted before, they will not report that I was explaining and answering a question of you. This is this is how precarious this stuff is, it has has become this is the kind of stuff that I have to look out for and not not just me, but the answer to your and I'm sorry for hyping this and getting you all interested not to back out of it.

But but it was it was pretty early on that I realized that if I understand you, that the program meant a lot to a lot of people. And I had to take that respectfully and very seriously. And it was a great thing that it happened. By the way, I'm not I'm not complaining about it. And it's it's still front and center in my mind today.

If I could have one more minute. I appreciate the time. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I wasn't I was an everyday listener, but I worked. And so I had to go down to the truck and flip the tape. And anyway, the bake sale, when people a lady called in and said, I can make T-shirts. Another guy called in and said, I own billboards on that in the state. I'll donate them. Another guy calls in and says, I got a small trucking company.

I'll pick up the T-shirts and deliver them to the bus. I thought, well, that's undeniable.

Danz Danz bake sale. I remember that talk we had. We had the people that ran Brennan's. They won't get it. We're going to bring a portable kitchen and we're going to start making some signature Brannon's dishes. Then I had a guy call. I'll put the billboards up on the interstates on the way and tell people how to get there. Must have been 20 different calls like that, people donating because everybody wanted to be part of it. Then the day came and there's almost 90000 people there.

Well, I appreciate the time here, Rush. It's a thrill to talk to you.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. I, I appreciate the question. And look, folks, I'm sorry for getting all hyped up for some superduper story, but I guarantee if I tell this story. They're going to clip the beginning and the end of it, and they're just going to report that I have made a major admission today for the first time in thirty three years and will start a brand new controversy. It it'll all be made up and lies.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is amazing radio. Because you're talking about the way Rush viewed the program, how how the program evolved and changed from Sacramento to to be in on the stage in New York and nationally. He's taking this listener on this journey and explaining how this all kind of morphed and changed, and then Rush has to say, I want to say this, but I can't, because what MFA's going to do to me and they're going to write this, they're going to clip it, they're going to do that.

And then in the midst of it, he happens to speak about one of the great triumphs in the show's history, which is Danz bake sale, 90000 people showing up to help the guy out. You want to talk about the power social media? We could talk all day long about social media giants so we could talk all day long about the Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat and. This was the original social media rush, talking to the entirety of the country in real time, entertaining, being passionate, funny, poignant, illustrative, educating the masses and and all that while he's trying to put this show on, you got people that are trying to knock him off the stage and and you get a load of that the way this audience could come together.

And we'll certainly hear more examples of this in the coming days and months and for a very long, long time, because the Rush Limbaugh Show is not going anywhere. It's going to be there for a long, long time. And you're certainly going to hear examples of the sort of things that that happened when this when this audience, the greatest, most generous audience I've ever seen. Came together to accomplish incredible things, you want to talk about social media?

This right here was the original. Social media.

I'm winnable remembering Rush sitting in on the Rush Limbaugh Show on the EIB, Brightwater Billion for Rush Limbaugh on the Rush Limbaugh Show, EIB Network. And we are remembering all the great stuff that Russia has done over the years and all of this is going to continue for a long, long, long time. And we are thrilled to be here today. Oh, I'm using the royal. We. What am I, royal? No, no, it's just me.

I'm just sitting here keeping you guys company and soliciting your thoughts and comments at 800 to 82. I can't believe it's been almost a week, but Russia is still here. And as you heard in that last segment with that conversation from a very nice gentleman checking in from Columbia, South Carolina, just just 90 miles south of where I'm sitting, he he wanted to know how you knew when this was bigger than a show. It was more than a show.

And it's so interesting to reflect back on that comment from Rush saying that I wanted to do this big entertainment show and then it had political elements. And then suddenly, you know, you had to address those concerns and issues and challenges that that came forward. But I'll tell you what, if you go back if you go back in in time in your memory bank to some of the the great moments that Rush Rush was able to keep you cool, calm and collected, I'll bet you'd be a lot like David right here in Washington, D.C..

David, welcome to the program. What's on your mind today, sir?

I just want to make a comment about how Rush was different than the other conservative conservative talk show hosts. It seems like most of the other talk show hosts not on the EIB, but in other places, they seem to get just really angry. And it just made me mad. But with Rush, you had the opposite effect. Actually, we would get news on a Friday and it would just seem like it was insurmountable that, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?

And, you know, Rush would always say he's the mayor of Greeleyville, but he would always tell us, you know, I'll let you know when to panic. But so we couldn't wait to hear from him on Monday. And then Monday would roll around. And it was like taking a Xanax. You would relax suddenly wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time, you know, when you heard the news. And that was the biggest impact he had on me.

That is a tremendously valuable observation because you're spot on. You're absolutely right. The person at Rush wasn't and he said this constantly on his programs. He was not the guy who licked the finger, put it up in the air and tried to figure out which way the wind was going to blow and he was going to chase it. The second thing he was not was somebody that was going to stoke panic out there. The the central the central vibe you got from Rush was confidence.

He was confident he was going to get rattled by the news of the day. He was going to get rattled by a political move here or there or anything. He was going to tell you what it meant, give you a context, understanding, and let you let you come away from that feeling a lot better. And it was tough, right? On a Friday night or a Saturday, something would drop and everybody would be saying, oh, my gosh, this is terrible.

What are we going to do? He would he would certainly come in and show you what what his what his principles were. David, I appreciate the call so very much.

Thank you for checking in with us today, remembering Rush Limbaugh.

And that's that's an important point, because anybody can run around and get you fired up and angry as they send you back to work or send you through the front door of your home or whatever it is, it's about unpacking.

What a story means. I've had experts say, you know, the remarkable thing about talk radio is that it gives you context. We can get all the same information on our phones, on our laptops, on our tablets. And we can hear that this is a curda that has occurred. But what does it mean? That's what people want to know. And that's what Rush was such a master at doing.

And you'll hear it over the coming weeks and months and for a very long time, you're going you're going to hear from Rush giving you the context, because there is something that he's referred to many times as the Democratic playbook, the liberal playbook. And it's so curious to me that just, you know, in the last what do we now it it's 20, 21. So we go all the way back to John Kerry running 17 years ago for president.

John Kerry is is back in the headlines now talking about the Iranian nuclear deal. You know, never really change. He's trying to mess up the climate again. Doesn't ever really change. Rush gave you that context. He gave you that foundation to understand that that people will always regress to the mean, especially in politics. They're going to try to tell you how to live your life and they're going to live their life in a fabulously different way on private jets, telling you you need to walk everywhere or drive a tin, a tin can car.

And so that's what was such an important part of of of what Rush was. And that was, I got to tell you this, I could feel it personally screening the program. If there was a big story that broke and you would get this sort of a response from people, oh, boy, here it comes. We knew we weren't going to be able to pull this off. Here we go. They're going to take out, you know, politician X, Y or Z or now we can't accomplish what we wanted to do.

And we've been sold out. It's over. It's we're done.

No way. No way, and I saw it I saw it up close, I saw it early on when we were talking about campaign finance reform, when we were talking about the amnesty discussions that were going on, the things that were given to cause you panic. Not not you. I mean, as listeners, you kept it calm, cool and collected, but the people around you. And that's what was such a masterful thing. You know, as the old Rudyard Kipling poem goes, you know, if you can keep your head while those about you are losing theirs, Rush kept his head and on top of that would make you laugh and would then show you a pathway to where?

Oh, yeah, we're going to we're going to slip that little twist and go here. And this is now how we're going to approach and talk about this issue and what it means.

It was a whole lot of of political analysis that was truly next level. Brilliant heard on this program every day for 32 years. Yes, we had a lot of laughs and we've got a lot of laughs coming up here, by the way, because coming up, I just want to let you know, one of my all time and I'm talking all time favorite Rush Limbaugh bits.

I don't want to even call it a bit, but but something that he did that was genius. And it's got the power to have you be sitting in the quiet of your home, as I mentioned earlier, and laughing, you'll laugh about this. This is like a joke grenade. You'll pull the pin now and then you'll laugh later on tonight as you're thinking about this. We are getting fired up here, folks. And I want to once again, thank you so much for having me sit in here to keep you company to to remember all these all these wonderful moments from a life so well lived.

I am breadwinner, proud to be back behind this microphone for Rush Limbaugh.

I remember a time, way, way, way back in the past when, well, you know, rock and roll was something targeted by those who were afraid of it, thought it would corrupt the youth. Yeah, I know. I know. We're going all the way back to the 1950s and the 60s in the 70s. But but it came back to life in the 1980s and Rush Limbaugh did something so remarkable. It was it was one of the greatest, I think, one of the greatest bits of all time.

It goes along with this theme of when Rush Limbaugh realized it was more than just a show and people took him seriously, perhaps a bit too seriously.

Go the story that I can tell you very quickly that made me realize that I had to really be careful with satire. And do you all remember the Slim Whitman satanic message bit? I think I did it once. There's something I did in Sacramento and I might have reenacted it here. But I read a story one day that some minister in Ohio had discovered that there was a satanic message in the theme song to the Mr. Ed TV show if you played it backwards.

So I said to myself, how can I make this funny rather than just sit here and tell people what this Ohio minister claims he found?

I mean, where does an Ohio minister find a way to play the Mr. Ed theme backwards? Why would an Ohio minister even do that? So at the time, we were running a bit on a there was a march from California to Washington, the great Global Peace Mart. People were marching from California to Washington to get to the steps of the Defense Department, Pentagon and die. You replicate what would happened at the very moment a nuclear detonation happened, and I found a song by Slim Whitman as the update theme Una Paloma Blanca, which was translated as one white dove or a white dove.

So I decided to find a satanic message in Paloma Blanco. I'm sure many of you are familiar with this.

So I went into production studio and we found a way to play it backwards. And I got a guy to record of a message to a harmoniser, which changes the tone of your voice. And the bit was that the devil was actually speaking to people through the Slim Whitman Una Paloma Blanco song. And I went through, you know, two hours of setting this up on the air and explaining it. And I'm thinking when it's over that people out there listening and this is the funniest thing they've ever heard.

This guy is really good. We are fortunate to have this guy in our town on the radio. This is just this is the kind of stuff you have to tune to The Tonight Show or something like that to hear. And this guy is awesome. And I'm just I'm proud as I can be. And I can't wait for the reaction and the feedback. And during commercial break, the general manager of the radio station came in and said, how long are you going to go with this?

I said, I don't know. But I think the way this is tracking right now, I could probably get three more days out of this. He said, no, you have to wrap it up. I said, why? He said, because people are calling their churches and reporting that there is satanic message in what you're doing on the radio and you admitted that you didn't know it. So people are thinking, if you can be fooled, anybody can and people are wanting to know what they should do.

I said, wait, you mean people are calling their ministers believing this? Yes. I said, among many other things to me. I said, OK, this this church, this changes a lot about the philosophy going forward. It took me easily 45 minutes to set this up. I milked it for everything. I opened the program that day in Sacramento by telling the audience that I have shaken by something and I had learned overnight after reading the story, the Ohio minister who discovered a satanic message in the Mr.

Ed theme. I went played backwards. I began to be concerned as if it can happen to a minister. What about me? And so I began playing the various musical elements of my program backwards, went to the production room, Kaopectate Sacramento, not expecting to find anything, but I had to do this. I had I had to find out if my program had been co-opted by Satan. And I'm telling people that it had been and that I was really on the verge of resigning because of what I had had happen to me, as if my program can be as easily infiltrated by Satan as it has been the I don't know that I should continue to be your host.

I mean, Fox, I milked it, I, I was just I thought it was over the top.

What I was thought was making it obvious here that the majority of people be laughing themselves silly. Well maybe one percent. So I was doing it on the basis that it was just a great bit and I continued to act shaken and disturbed and then I refused to give them the example. So that started a bunch of phone call. You have to you have to play it. You have. And I said, no, you don't want to hear this.

Of course, that's just reeling them in.

I said, I can't. No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand. You've already been subjected to it. I've been using this song for months here in the Great Peace March. Update the Global Peace March. I mean, you guys have already been exposed to it. I can't knowingly do this. That would just that would compound it. You have to, you have to you can't do this, you can't tell us that it's there and then not.

But you've got I said I don't think most of you are emotionally equipped to deal with this.

You think you are, but I don't think so. Well, of course, that just made people want to hear it all the more. Remember this one, 45 minutes and then the denial of service, the refusing to air it. So as part of the bit, quote unquote, management walked into the studio and told me that because of the reaction I had to play it, my job was on the line. I had to play this. So I said, Fox, if it were up to me, I would not.

But now you've heard. I have been forced. I have been required. It's been required to do this. So 45 minutes and people are well, I don't know what they're expecting, but I have an idea. So now it's time to do this under protest, under duress, apologizing in advance, telling people you may not want to listen to this if you have any doubts whatsoever about your spiritual strength. If you have any doubts, do not listen to this.

Well, of course, that just. Expands the universe. So here, here it was. You leave you to show you, first of all, your little rescue work right here when work goes, by the way, what did you find between people who claims but much like this, I've been trying to find these for all my disciples who they can go wild corrupting the youth over at them. We can't find these back to prove to the Shepton ministers houses.

And of course, we don't like to go there very often. Oh, you could drop me and let me know where to get one of these about our promise. I would never forget you.

Oh, now we're off. I got all gonna be goin on down the line, way down the line, if you know what I mean. Yeah. See you later. You need the government to show you, first of all, your little rescue work right here, when worker Googe, by the way, what did you find little people to please? But rugelach this? I've been trying to find these for all my disciples who they can go wild corrupting the youth of America.

And we can't find these backwood to do any work Shepton ministers houses. And of course, we don't like to go there very often. Haha, you could drop me and let me know where to get one of these and I promise I would never forget your.

Now, a. I got a big problem down the line. We've got to decide if you know what I mean here and there you have it.

So what could be more obvious? Some of the phone lines are blinking like crazy. And I'm thinking, OK, this is where people are going to recognize how funny it was, how great it was when people started calling their ministers and saying there was a satanic message being played on KFI Becae and it needs to stop and says, oh, no. So the point is, that's when I realized that there's a certain percentage of the audience that's going to believe.

And if I were if I hadn't been a political guy after that, it wouldn't have mattered. But I was very, very serious about my ideological and political beliefs, did not want anybody thinking those were a joke. I did not want anybody thinking they were insincere. I didn't want anybody thinking that any part of the core of my beliefs were a joke like that was.

So it became a real delicate balance. So this guy called. So when did you realize that this was more than a show? It was things like this that made me realize I had to look at this program in the way it was impacting people in ways I hadn't considered. There has been nobody like him and will not be anybody like him moving forward. Brilliance, absolute brilliance. We'll take your phone calls straight ahead as we continue to fondly and laughingly and poignantly remember Rush Limbaugh still with us, 822 to 82 on Brett Wytheville, in for Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Radio.

And I am Wytheville in for Rush Limbaugh. Bill Maher here on the EIB Network. Let's go out to the phones. I want to take this call. It's intriguing to me, Alvin calling from Jerusalem. Are you are you in Jerusalem, Israel right now, Alvin?

That's correct. Yes. Wow.

Thank you for calling into the program. What's what's on your mind today, sir?

I just I just want to share a quick thought with you folks. You know, Russia has an audience in the tens of millions. A significant percentage of them listen to him three hours a day. If you consider that the average person who gets, let's say, eight hours of sleep a day has 16 hours of wakeful time, every day that works up works out to about 120 hours per week of wakeful hours. If you work 15 hours out of 120 hours, they are giving to rush almost 15 percent of the wakeful time.

And this is, I think, in my opinion, an incredible testament to the measure of the man I just thought would be interesting to share that with you.

It is it is such a fascinating point. And that shows you how much of their of their connection there is on a daily basis. And and we're just factoring in the broadcast time when you have people who go back and listen to the to the content at Rush 24/7 or any of these other outlets, podcasts, things like that. And that's an even that's an even greater amount of time and that is a true commitment. What does that say to you about the testimony to this to this man, to this great broadcaster for all these years?

I can't think of a single personality individual who has ever been able to hold an audience of any sort, let alone the father of his audience for that amount of time. It's just an incredible feat. And it's just it's phenomenal. It certainly is.

We so appreciate you reaching out to us from so far away, Alvin, our thoughts and best wishes to the people of Israel. You checking in from Jerusalem. And we appreciate you visiting with the audience today. Can I add a quick point, please? Go ahead.

Get my son heard and then go online to be on the Rush Limbaugh Show. He sent me a note, and I'd like to read it because I think it's important. He said, tell Katherine I will never forget the lessons I've learned from Rush and will do my best to pass them on. And I think this is actually very valuable because it's through sentiments such as this that he that Russia's rough lives on. He lives on in all of in all of them, through all of his audience.

And my son's 28 years old, you know, so again, a testament to the man, the small little fact. But I think it's relevant. And I thought I'd like to share that with you.

It's an incredibly important fact.

We know for so many years, Rush would take phone calls from people who talked about their rush babies and how they had they had raised these children to become adults who who were conservative and that that would put your son right there in that age group. The notion of of conservative values and strength and truth and honor, all of those things are so important and so rarely reinforced in the popular culture today. Correct, and he internalizes that he's not able to rest or shared with his friends and the people that he comes into contact with, he's confident.

He knows how to how to argue the issues and he stays focused. He's not emotional. He gives the facts. And it's tremendously attributed to the strategic phenom.

Alvin, thank you so very much. Bless you for your your kind words, especially regarding Catherine and Rush and that impact on your son's life, that that is testimony to to Rush Limbaugh as testimony to you as well as a father, because it's about hearing those values, living those values and reinforcing those values. And I think there are there are many, many millions of people across this country and around the world because we're global here on the on the Rush Limbaugh Show, where people are able to, well, defend what they believe and defend what it is.

That's right. And that's why this program is so special and will continue for such a long, long time to come. Really remarkable stuff, Twitter.

You're listening to the Rush Limbaugh Show right here on the EIB Network.

And for Rush Limbaugh on the EIB Network. Oh, we're just getting fired up. We've got another great hour straight ahead. We're going to to bring the laughs in all caps.

I been asked by a couple of people over the last number of years as as I have mentioned in the past, having having screened from behind the glass from Rush what it was like. Were you nervous?

I really was never nervous because Rush was was a was was a friend.

Rush was somebody that I felt close to. I exchanged conversations with emails, with texts, with, you know, over over the years of working on the program.

So I never felt I never felt nervous. I always wanted to make sure I gave him the best call I I could, you know, that I could give him something that would challenge him. And the sense I got was that he enjoyed that so many people would ask me in the in the in the years after I worked with Rush as a screener, how would you know if it was a call that he was going to find interesting? Well, if it was a call that was going to challenge him or if it was a call that was going to get him an opportunity to expand on a on an important topic or on a memory or on on something that's that's important to him, I knew that that was going to be a winner.

So many people think for for whatever reason, that that folks want to dodge tough phone calls.

You know, a host loves a loves a challenging phone call. Rush loved them. And if he could get challenged and make a point and get a laugh out of it was even better.

You know what else was really great any time people called in and raised the notion of him being a smoking deejay. That's right. And on air personality spin and records and and bring in that personality out to the masses will take you down that road straight ahead.

I'm Bret Wytheville on the EIB. It is wonderful to be here, our number three already here, as Rush always says. The fastest three hours in all of media, and he's not kidding, it just flies by so quickly. We've got so much great stuff coming this hour. Bits and songs and things that are going to make you think and smile and and know that Rush is still with us and will be with us for a long, long time, we're not going anywhere, IBBS not going anywhere.

And we certainly want you to be a part of the conversation with your remembrances as well. Of course, at at 800 to 82 to 82, 800, 202, 282.

So before I was working as a screener on the program, I worked in the in the syndication office, essentially the original syndication office for EIB with the great the great business trio there at the time, Ed McLaughlin and Stu Crane and John Axton and so many wonderful people that that I got to work with every single day and that that group of people was wonderful. But when I got to go over to the studio and spend time with Kit Maimon and Rush, I said, Oh, this is why this is a part of this is the part of where I want to be this this is where I want to be working every single day.

But it was it was a remarkable journey for me personally. I first started listening to Rush in nineteen eighty eight. Like everybody else. I was a kid growing up in the far west Texas town of El Paso, and I was a fan for a very, very long time. And when I had the opportunity to be a part of this very special journey, the special program that Russia put together, I left at the opportunity. And it has been the highlight of my life and on and off the 25 year journey, watching all the great stuff that Rush did with an amazing team.

And that is going to continue because he was so prescient and and so dialed into the culture and he understood what was going on out there in this crazy, crazy world.

But the reality is that Rush Limbaugh is also known as being a jokester and a prankster, loved to have fun, sometimes got him in trouble. Remember, he told you he's been fired seven times, but people loved his humor, was often tempering the serious discussions of the day. He also had a gift for explaining things in such a unique way that you couldn't help but laugh at the creativity as well.

Got a lot of requests, song requests from July of 20/20. Here's a song request from a long time caller harkening back to the early days of the show and some of the memorable bits that Rush did too popular IIIB song requests dedicating one to Rush and one to Katherine.

It's it's Annie.

Check it in. All right, here is Annie Annie in my adopted hometown, Sacramento, California, great to have you with us. Hello. Hi, Ross. I have been listening to you since before you ever bought your first phone call. Does the call become a call? That was brilliant. That was you. But I haven't been listening to you long enough to ever hear you as a music deejay. And I wanted to ask if you would play two songs for me.

Requests.

Requests I love to request what's what as you want to hear? Well, the first one I would like to dedicate to the EIB family, of which I am very much a part, and I would like you to play thank the Lord that is on the EIB. The second song I would like to dedicate to you, Catherine, and that's the opera singer singing God Bless You.

And that that would be Barbara. Cardinal Law from Texas, Dallas. Yeah, I love getting requests. You know, we don't get with each other, but I would love to play these two tunes for you. Let me take some.

Annie, you are so sweet and so nice and so perceptive because I was a smoke and deejay. I was ahead of my time. I kept getting fired for playing music I liked instead of adhering to the boring programming format. And and I kept getting fired for making political comments that the manager. You don't get to say that. Management says that. Well, I said you never say it. We don't do editorials here anyway.

Yeah, those those were those were fun days. But here we go. It's the Rush Hawkins Singers and thank the Lord.

No, I mean. Wow, that is. How about the rest of the ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba? The I that he may not be. Here you, the Black Lives Matter singers. Ha ha ha ha. Oh. Rush Hawkins Singers, I was just kidding about it being that Black Lives Matter singers, I don't know that they know how to sing. We had a request for a couple of tunes from a caller in Sacramento.

By the way, she might have said something. What what was she talking about? She said she had been here since before I aborted my first call.

Perhaps it was the creative bit that put the program on the map after we had gone national. Abortion was a big, big deal. Thirty years ago, the debate was hot and heavy, as it always has been. So I thought rather than just tell everybody what I thought, which I'd been doing and doing well, why not illustrate it?

Why not illustrate what actually happens using phone calls? So I don't have time. It took it took two hours to go through this whole thing, and I'm not going to do that. But it started with when does a call begin?

Does a call begin when you dial? Or does a call begin when I answer or when anybody answers? And. I called the phone company, I said, when did you call me? When do you actually start charging for calls? When somebody dials a number when it's answered. And they hit hard around and so forth, and then I compared the blinking lights of people on hold to unviable tissue masses in the womb and whether or not I would be giving them birth and then I'm really shortening this.

And what happens if I get a call that I don't want? You know, I went out there and I invited people to call, I assume the responsibility, and then all of a sudden I got somebody on the air and I don't want to talk to them. I wish they hadn't called, like, gee, I wish I hadn't gotten pregnant. So I just decided to abort the call. I did it with vacuum cleaner sound effects. And said, see that it never existed, folks, because I just decided I didn't want it, that car was worthless, that I can tell that car wasn't going to amount to anything.

That car was not going to help this program. It was my mistake was made in accepting that call. It's not my responsibility.

And so I just hooved the thing because it was so well done.

It was if I did it today. If I even if I went back, got the tape, just replayed what we had. I'm intolerable. It was seen back then for the brilliant creativity that it was. It was also seen as highly controversial and insensitive and so forth. The left didn't like it because it was so I mean, it blew up every point they had ever made. But today the creativity would not be acknowledged. And that's what she was talking about.

The second tune she requested was and she went dedicated to me and Katherine, Barbara Schnall law. A soprano, world renowned opera singer. From Dallas, Texas, my mother met Barbara Schnall law and and loved her, and it is gorgeous. And here it is.

We love to hear. She that's about. Starting from sea to shining sea. Millions and millions listen, conservative voice of reason. Willowby. God bless you. Josh, he. Barbara, we had no idea it was coming. It just came in one day. So did so did thank the Lord Rush Limbaugh. They just came in one day. People were deeply moved, deeply attached. Loved the program, were sending their work in.

And Barbara Qianlong went went to her own expense to record that in the studio and just blew me away. And that stuff is now itself 25 or 27 years old, honored to have those two requests and to be able to display them. That's the connection, folks. From the days in Sacramento up to the current time. God bless you, Rush Limbaugh. Unbreathable inferentially on the EIB Network, and I am Brent Wytheville, in for Rush Limbaugh on the EIB Network.

And let me let me restate, Rush is going to be going on for a long, long time. We're not going anywhere. And tribute to all those Rush babies who have grown up enjoying listening to Rush their parents, exposing them at a young age. I am the the parent of a couple of of a college student in a high school student. And I can tell you, I've seen the impact. I've seen the impact on these these young these younger folks coming up.

They are not they're not falling for a lot of the sales pitches. But that's that's that's for another time. Let me jump out and speak with James in Ruckersville, Virginia, joining us on the EIB. James, welcome to the program.

What's on your mind, sir? Hey, I really appreciate it. And I know we've all heard it a lot, but my condolences not only to Katherine and precious family, but to all of us. Yeah, Russ, his extended family is there. I, I appreciate the opportunity to share a couple quick stories of how Rush had such a profound, profound impact on my life. Russ was actually the first the first memory I have of listening to radio was was Rush Limbaugh.

I was really young age. My dad listened to him and proudly from that point on to today and onward where the Rush Baby badge. And one of the first things I remember of Russ is talking about the Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. And growing up from that point, I remember thinking, OK, that's where I want to go to college. I'm going to go there. And it really wasn't until high school when I started looking at colleges, they realized that I've been a student of the Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies my whole life and still am.

And it it was so impactful. And then as a as an adult, listen to Rush going to college overseas and then he got stationed over in South Korea. Wow. And I would listen to him, found a way to listen to his dream, to show when I was on nightshift and stuff and we found out we were having our first child when we were stationed over there and the day we left the hospital. And I immediately drove over to the base exchange like this store and bought a copy of every Rush, Rush, Revere, Revere, Rush revered book that they had there, just that I was ready for when my son was old enough that I could read it to him.

And I'm probably raising a grand russ baby right now. Wow. Wow.

That's three generation. That's that's unbelievable. What's your what's what's your what's your son's first name. His name is Nathaniel. Nathaniel. And you're sharing them with what you share in the book with him. Yes, sir. Yeah, we're reading we're reading through reading through the series, and it it actually kind of really inspired him to want to read more and we would it would be kind of a fight sometimes at nights when you say, OK. Oh, we lost him.

I'm so very sorry we lost you. We lost him. That's a that's a shame. I think we got we got the sense of what he was saying, though, about the impact, the profound impact on his life that the show had. And, of course, on on on his on his son, who is now being raised and will be raised in the tradition of the Rush Revere books, which is tremendous.

I mean, that is that is absolutely fabulous to see that. And it's all because obviously his his dad exposed him at a young age to the program and he wanted to go to the. You know, Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies, where there are no graduates. In fact, I heard Markstein yesterday say that he said he's an exchange student or was an exchange student athlete, Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. Let me let me take one more here.

Mike in Kissimmee, Florida. Mike, welcome to the program.

How are you? I'm well, thank you for calling. I like what the gentleman just said before you got caught off with the mega condolences that that to the Limbaugh family, immediate and worldwide. And just a couple of quick things. I remember the television show very well. I was fortunate enough to be living in New York in 1994. My dad turned me on to Rush in 88. We used to hang out on the boat up in Tarrytown and listen all the time.

And we just we didn't like that. Or two Irish guys in the Bronx didn't get along that well. But when they were on the boat and listening to Rush or just watching the TV show and listening to the parodies, the Ted Kennedy stuff, the Al Gore was just fantastic. I did go to the studio twice. It was one of the three things I did in 94. I found the book and I had it rush assignment to my dad.

And he was very gracious. And it was this is a buzz back then we were coming in and what a family of people back even back then, the Limbaugh fans were just something special walking into those big old metal detectors. Back then, there was primitive. I never seen one before. We walked in and everybody was goofy and it was a liberal detector.

And then you met Russ. We told him when he came out and he laughed at it and he stayed. There was about 50 or 60 of us with the books and he stayed behind. Everyone's back when he was shaking hands, said, well, our hands and I'll never forget it.

He was he was a transcendent, amazing once in a lifetime guy, Mike. And I'm so happy that you got to see him in person, meet with him in his presence, running around the studio like a mother hen.

I was like, wow, that's something. Yeah, it was.

Listen, it was it was an incredible time. It's been an incredible time. It's been an incredible journey. And what you saw in let me just be clear about this, and I appreciate that call, Mike. And it's a very special remembrance. What you saw that gracious the statue Rush was, that's who Rush was, 24/7, 365. He was humble. He was gracious, he was kind. He was charitable. And he was in awe of the sacrifice that so many of our heroes have made for this country.

In fact, coming up in just a few minutes, we're going to let you hear some of those interactions, because it's important to understand sort of where you got to this point.

It all starts with and continues with Rush Limbaugh on the EIB Network.

One of the most incredible aspects of what Rush was, was his humility, his grace and his ability to recognize the heroes that that are walking around among us, the heroes who who have impacted our lives, though we may not even be aware of that.

We're sort of continuing on this journey of the theme of Russia's impact on so many lives, especially those in our armed forces. He took a call back in November of 2005. And it was a call that that was remarkable, Russia's talking about a story. In which he met wounded soldiers from Walter Reed while attending a National Review party as William F. Buckley Jr. was guest and had an encounter that that he has shared over the years. Let's listen to that conversation.

This is Sergeant Clay calling from the U.K., the United Kingdom. Welcome, Sergeant, to the program. It's an honor to have you with us.

Oh, my gosh. Hey, Rush, Professor Limbaugh, mega, mega, mega, did as a favor such a thing. There could be. We owe it all to you, brother. I just want to to to call in to let you know I've been listening to since 1989 and I've been a ditto head since then. And we just much appreciate all that you do for us in the military and for this great nation.

You know, I get I'm I'm speechless every time somebody like you calls and tells me this, because I'll tell you a little story of National Review magazine had their fiftieth anniversary bash in Washington. But three weeks ago, three or four weeks ago, and I went to it as Mr. Buckley's guest. And there were they had a bunch of wounded soldiers from Walter Reed as their guests. And and a bunch of these guys came up to me and started saying thank you to me.

For what? And I you know, I put my hands up and I said, you know, I appreciate it. You guys are sort of embarrassing me because look at one guy had lost an eye and he was not wearing an eye patch and it had stitches over half of his mouth.

These guys had been really severely wounded. And here's this guy thanking me. And I said, you know, what I do is nothing. I sit by the microphone and I talk.

Right. And if I may.

But he admonished me and he said, look, we all have our role to play here, man.

That's right. As he should have done. Well, he did, but I still look, I'm not trying to to reflect or deflect your thanks. I'm just it sort of humbles me, is what I'm telling you. And I appreciate it very much.

If I may continue, then in that measure of humility that you're experiencing, you know, I think probably William F. Buckley said the same thing, ttr, you said the same thing to him. I'm about to say to you, and that is I don't think ever that you should underestimate the measure of influence that you have on this nation's providers of the faith of freedom and democracy. Sir, you have to realize, and I know you do, that Winston Churchill was a great orator as as was my hero, which is Ronald Reagan.

I was 18 years old when he came into office and inspired me to do to do that, beyond which I thought I could ever do. And that is that is simply this, that a nation without hope, a people without hope, are just the living dead, the walking dead. And sir, with all of my heart, I have to extend the gratitude of my fellow warriors. I served in Afghanistan. I served in New Back and Uzbekistan.

And when I saw that you came to visit us, I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude and hope and hope. Russia is what extends freedom and democracy across the globe. You can you can kill us with bombs and bullets. But what our enemy fails to understand is that this nation, by virtue of people such as yourself, would you provide for us is hope and you cannot kill hope with bombs and bullets and terrorist activity. You cannot you cannot kill hope, period.

And I think that Winston Churchill understood as the greatest nation, I should say, the greatest generation. I'm sorry that ever lived. They understood that. And you provide that hope brush. And I pray to God with all my heart that you'll never underestimate what you do for us, because what you do for us, that is us in the military extends to what you do for this nation, and that is that you provide us with hope. You give us a compass by which we travel.

You just do so much for us, Russia. And you've done it for my family and I. And in fact, my my daughter's husband, she's 23 and her husband after 9/11 joined the Air Force and he's stationed over here. He's presently deployed on a forward mission. But your inspiration even touched him. And I just don't ever want you to lose sight of what you mean to us, what you mean to this nation and the pride, the providers of the of the face of freedom and democracy.

Sir, my hat is off to you and we will continue to fight beyond the circumference of the politics and the politicians and all the garbage that they spew out. We don't watch them, Rush. We do listen to you. I can remember I was in the army in 1996 after Khobar Towers. We my team was sent over to Southwest Asia and I used to tune my Syndergaard radio when to the satellite so I could hear you and get you and get that little shot of hope.

And thank you so much for what you do, sir. An unbelievable. Connection between this man half a world away. Sergeant Clay over in the U.K. and Rush Limbaugh and testimony to Rush for what he represents now, that greatest generation had something to come back to that greatest generation. Both of my both my my maternal, my paternal grandfather both served in Asia during World War Two and. They were fighting to come back home, they were fighting to get the job done, to come back to the United States, to come back to life, regular life, not not an eternal war.

And. When Rush is either on armed forces radio or TV system, if he's on the Internet, if he's on the satellite, if he's on any of these things that these these men and women are able to tune into, one thing is readily apparent is that it's a piece of home.

It's a piece of where you want to get back to that you are living to get back to. And as he says, they can't kill us. They can kill us with bombs and bullets, but they can't kill our country. They can't kill our soul. They can't kill who we are as a country. And that, I think, is the very important thing. One of the. Most poignant parts of Rush's programs. Was that he never gave up on America, never threw America under the bus, never said we really weren't that special, never said we really don't live up to this loved America.

He loved the American people. He loved what people could accomplish, putting putting their minds and hearts and souls into that endeavor because he did it himself. And it's that kind of hope that gets somebody to want to come back. And not just come back from a deployment or from a war zone or from a foreign posting, it makes you want to come back when you're down in the first hour. I mentioned the fact that. It's not lost on me that this program runs in many places, either before or in the midst of or just after the lunchtime hour.

And what Rush gave you was that little glimmer of hope that it would be OK, that Washington's not going to totally torch this thing, that you could still do it, even though you were feeling demoralized on a personal level, that you could be uplifted and that you could hear other people calling that show, this show and sharing their experiences.

See the tyrants. The statists, they want to make sure that you feel isolated. Oh, I'm crazy for thinking this. I shouldn't believe this. This is not really how it should be. And if they keep you isolated and they keep you worrying and they keep you. It's easy to get depressed and demoralized and down, it is an easy position to take up, it is a hard position to take up the position to stand up and believe in what you believe Rush did every single day, even the days he was sick and even the days he didn't necessarily maybe feel like it.

He stood and he fought for you and me, millions of people he would never meet. But who knew him? Across the radio dial or or through through other means. And that is incredibly important, that's testimony to the great connection. That's the testimony to the great connection because it was like a beacon. Pointing the way forward. Even when you didn't much feel like it. And it will continue and it will endure. For a long, long time, Brett Wytheville in on the EIB Network, and I am Brett, winnable in for Rush Limbaugh, the Maharishi here on the EIB Network.

You know, we're. We're reflecting on this life so well, lived so graciously, lived so, so generously lived by Rush, and it never ceases to amaze me the connections between the callers and Rush. In fact, I wanted to share with you this particular caller who called to say, to rush. Rush, you changed my life. Go. Here's Tom in Newport, Vermont, great to have you on the program today, sir. Hello. Hi, Rush.

I've been trying for a long time to get through, and I'm glad that I did. It's an honor to speak to you. Thank you, sir. I told the call screener in 1993 I was running a small business of my own. My life savings was into it, and due to a series of circumstances, I was failing. But I was listening to you on the radio at the time and I heard you tell your life story about failing a few times and being fired.

And yet you went on to great success. And frankly, that inspired me to pick myself up and dust myself off and and go on. So I've been wanting for all these years to thank you for really essentially saving my life. Wow. Well, I.

I appreciate that. I've I remember in 1993 there was something that I think it was 1993. USA Today ran a series of stories on white collar people losing their jobs and how that was justified because it was always blue collar people being laid off. But the phenomenon happened. There were white collar people. Executives, in other words, are being laid off or fired and in their 40s and 50s when it was going to be impossible for them to go out and find jobs that pay what they were earning at the time.

And so I did a series of shows that week asking some of these people what they were going to do. And they said and what they had done. And they said, much like you, that in the end it was a blessing, that it had forced them. It forced them. They had to they got laid off. They left any money coming in. They had to go replace their salaries. They chose to do what they had always wanted to do with their lives, but never did because they had to have a job.

So they tried. They turned their hobby. They turned their real passion for whatever it was into a money making enterprise. That is how they reacted to being laid off. And I remember those shows. That was I mean, three of them that week received all kinds of accolades because they were inspiring and they were motivating and they were actual people who had had everything stripped away from them. They had no choice but to go out and become self starters.

And they told they told their stories and described how they how they did it, much like you did. Just hear and I'm happy to be associated with that. I really am.

But you did the work. Now you're the one that recognized what you had to do and you and you did it. So don't leave yourself out of the equation. I mean, I'm I'm happy to have played a role in it more than you know. But you did the work. Don't don't ever leave yourself out.

There are so many naysayers in the world, and I oftentimes wonder, though I don't I don't recall Russia ever specifically discussing this this portion of of his life in great detail. But I can only imagine the naysayers and the conversations that people tried to bring to him. You can't you can't do it this way. It's not going to work. It's never been tried before. You can't do it. You can't do it. And I guess I guess. Well, while Russia talked about having been fired seven times and had to battle to build the show, he wanted to build in his vision with his ideas, not with guests, that would come on and try to hawk a book or an album or whatever it was going to be.

But it was it was to be the center of the show, to be the reason people tuned in. I imagine we didn't hear so much about the negativity because I don't think. I don't think he he he kept it as important. Most people who tell you you can't do whatever it is that you're trying to do and have never done what you're trying to do. And that's that's really the sort of of thing that you got and that you get when you listen to Rush, when you hear him talking about you can do it, you just have to put the work in.

And when this man calls and credits Rush for saving his life, you know, because it's not lost on me that this is obviously in the time we've just lived through with Rush this time where where Rush is is is is fighting the fight literally of his life. And Rush Rush is giving that credit to the people who get up and do it every day. These are people that aren't celebrated. They're not celebrated in books. They're not celebrated. Anywhere, if you're a victim, you'll get on any cable channel tonight.

If you're a hero. You might have a 50/50 shot. A lot to think about. Final segment coming up, I am honored to be here on The Rush Limbaugh Show and I am Wytheville.

It's our final segment right here on The Rush Limbaugh Show. Important to remember to chase your dreams. Important to remember. To chase your passions and to thank those people who helped you get there along the way. And that's why I am so genuinely grateful to Rush for all he did for me those years ago. And the opportunity to come here and to still do this with him. And it's important to remember that the Rush Limbaugh Show isn't going anywhere. It's going to be here for a long, long time.

And you're going to continue to hear him and you're going to continue to laugh and there's going to be days that you're going to cry, but you are still going to be able to be a part of this. And that is so incredibly important. Because we are one big family, we may not agree on everything all the time, but we agree on this. Rush Limbaugh was special.

I'm what on the idea that a young college grad gunned down walking his dog, a young mom, Michelle Parker, vanishes after dropping off her little twins at the babysitter. Nancy Grace here. Every day on crime stories, we break down the biggest breaking crime news and study the clues left behind so we can help crime victims and their families every day. A mission every day, another chance to stop crime and keep one more person safe. Join us, listen to crime stories with Nancy Grace on the I Heart radio app or wherever you listen to your podcast.