The Rush Limbaugh Show

The Rush Limbaugh Show

Genre	Talk show
Running time	3 hours
Country of origin	United States
Original release	1988 – present
Opening theme	"My City Was Gone"
Website	rushlimbaugh.com

The Rush Limbaugh Show (also called The Rush Limbaugh Program, the Excellence in Broadcasting Network, or the EIB Network) is an American talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh on Premiere Radio Networks. Since its inception on August 1, 1988, The Rush Limbaugh Show has become the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States, reviving AM radio and popularizing the conservative political talk format.

Show airtime and format

The Rush Limbaugh Show has an effective format which has remained basically unchanged for two decades. It airs live for three hours, from noon to 3pm Eastern Time, and it primarily consists of Limbaugh's own monologues, based on the news of the day, interspersed with parody ads, phone calls from listeners and a variety of running comedy bits (some live, some taped.) He does a few live commercials for his favorite sponsors, and he also plugs his own books, live appearances, and other products. He only occasionally uses guests, but once in a while a politician or a fellow political commentator will appear on the show. An 800 number is announced for incoming calls from listeners: he only takes a few calls per show, but those calls tend to run for an entire segment.

The listeners to the show are affectionately referred to as "Ditto-heads." Early in the show's run, Limbaugh began to use the variations on the expression "ditto" to speed up the beginnings of the calls, which typically (as on most popular call-in shows) tend to open with the listener excitedly expressing his or her gratitude to the host and his or her appreciation of the show.

An edited instrumental version of The Pretenders' “My City Was Gone” has been Limbaugh's theme song almost continuously since the start of his show. Briefly in 1999, Limbaugh stopped playing the song while negotiating with the song's writer, Chrissie Hynde. Limbaugh now pays her one hundred thousand dollars per year, which she donates to the animal rights organization PETA.

The Rush Limbaugh Show airs on a network of approximately 590 AM and FM affiliate stations throughout the United States. Limbaugh also hosts his own online Internet streaming audio and video broadcast, through Streamlink, at http://www.rushlimbaugh.com. This broadcast is restricted to members of Limbaugh's “Rush 24/7” service, but can also be heard on some stations' streaming audio feeds, e.g., Columbus, Georgia's WDAK. Premiere Radio Networks, a division of Clear Channel Communications, the largest U.S. radio station owner, owns distribution rights to the program. The program is not heard on any stations in Canada, although stations along the northern border of the United States (including WJR, WBEN, WVMT and KTTH) give the show coverage in much of southern Canada.

The show airs live on weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. ET. A few stations air it on tape delay. A full listing of stations and airtimes is available at Limbaugh's web site. It is aired from wherever Limbaugh happens to be, either from WABC in New York City (the traditional flagship) or from a studio near his home in Palm Beach County, Florida (near Clear Channel radio station WJNO). Limbaugh states that he avoids New York as much as possible due to that state's high taxes and that he spends an average of 15 days in the state, usually to keep updated with his staff and as a backup in the event of a hurricane (in the latter case, he is seeking an alternative location).[2] Limbaugh also produces a "Morning Update," a 90-second monologue recorded after the show that airs on many of Limbaugh's stations the next morning.

An official weekend edition of the program, consisting of "best of" clips from the weekday show entitled The Rush Limbaugh Week in Review, launched in January 2008.

Notable guests

In 1992, President George H. W. Bush made an appearance on Limbaugh's show.

Charlton Heston called into the show in 1995 to read from Michael Crichton's book Jurassic Park.

Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared on the show in November 2003 when guest host Roger Hedgecock was doing the show.

President George W. Bush has appeared five times on the program. The first time was during the 2000 presidential campaign. Then, in 2004, he “called in” to a live broadcast during the week of the 2004 Republican National Convention to give a preview of his nomination acceptance speech. He called in again in 2006. The fourth time was April 18, 2008, when Limbaugh asked the White House to speak with Bush to thank him for the ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI, which awed Limbaugh. The fifth call was during the show's 20th anniversary celebration, in which former President Bush (and George H. W. Bush and Jeb Bush) congratulated Limbaugh.

Vice President Dick Cheney has made multiple appearances.

In 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called in to a live broadcast of the show a day after having called Limbaugh "irrelevant;" adding, "I'm not his servant. I'm the people's servant of California," on an appearance on NBC's Today show.

Other notable guests who have called into Limbaugh's show include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, unsuccessful Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, economist Thomas Sowell, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, and television writer Joel Surnow, who took calls about events in his show, 24. In December 2006, Sylvester Stallone made an appearance on the show to discuss his upcoming movie Rocky Balboa. On February 27, 2004, actor Jim Caviezel called into the program to discuss the Passion of the Christ film, in which Caviezel played the role of Jesus Christ. Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) also called into a show before a rally in October, 2008 to discuss the election and the economic distortion and impact of Senator Obama's tax policy; Palin returned to the show in November 2009 to discuss her book Going Rogue. Phil Gingrey, a congressman who compared shows such as Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to "throwing bricks" in January 2009, gave an interview on Limbaugh's show the next day.

Limbaugh has also had author and Washington Times columnist Bill Gertz on his show to discuss Gertz's books as well as national security issues. In 2007, Limbaugh (among numerous other hosts) interviewed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and was the first to interview Tony Snow after his departure from his post as White House press secretary. He also interviewed NBC News host Tim Russert in 2004.

Parodies

Sometimes The Rush Limbaugh Show will air political parodies from voice humorist Paul Shanklin, in conjunction with a variety of political news examined on the show. These satires range from parodies of well known songs to audio skits in which the voices of politicians are imitated by Shanklin. Such contributions from Paul Shanklin have been aired on the show since 1993. Some of these, such as "Barack the Magic Negro (That's What the L.A. Times Called Him)," have gained considerable notoriety.

From 1993 through 1997 over 36 parodies by attorney/writer/musician Paul Shanklin, including take-offs on Bob Dylan tunes referred to by Limbaugh as the "Bob Zimmerman" songs, were also played on his show. (Bob Zimmerman is the birth name of Bob Dylan.) Paul Shanklin created his parodies by writing and then recording all the voices and instruments himself using simul-synch recording techniques. The six albums of Shanklin's Limbaugh parodies are available on the Web.

As with most commercial radio programming, The Rush Limbaugh Show has slots allotted for the local affiliates to fill with news segments, weather, and local commercials. The “Rush 24/7” live internet broadcast of the show usually fills these time slots with Shanklin's parodies.

George Soros ads

Voiced by Johnny Donovan, these are commercials that parody left-wing 527 groups like Moveon.org by launching absurd attacks against conservatives already targeted by such organizations. They are almost always ended with the phrase "Paid for by George Soros" and some humorous phrase, such as "and longshoremen that walk like Hillary Clinton".

Environmentalist wacko picks

Limbaugh will occasionally perform a comedic bit called “environmentalist wacko picks” on his last show prior to the weekend during the NFL season. He predicts the outcome of upcoming football games based on how an "environmentalist wacko" would assess the teams' mascots. The mascot that is the least offensive to an "environmentalist wacko" is the projected winner. For example, the Philadelphia Eagles would always be favored over the New York Jets, the Denver Broncos would always be favored over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Carolina Panthers would always be favored over the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears would always be favored over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Program staff

Mr. "Bo" Snerdley

The official "program observer" and call screener. His real name is James Golden, and he is an African-American. From comments Limbaugh has made on the air, it would seem he assists with research as part of preparation for the show and is in the control booth as the show is being broadcast. He co-hosted a Sunday night talk show, James and Joel, on WABC with Joel Santisteban from 1992 to 1998. Snerdley is a pseudonym Limbaugh invented many years earlier when he was a disc jockey on WIXZ (when Limbaugh went by the name Jeff Christy); he would use the name Snerdley for supposed-listeners who would write or call in, usually professing to be big fans and part of the "Christy Nation". More recently, the name Snerdley has been used for his call screeners, both male and female. During a show in 2004, Limbaugh was not at the microphone for the last segment of the second hour (it was only about ten seconds), and Snerdley came on instead: "This is Bo Snerdley, Rush will be right back on the EIB Network." It was one of the very rare times his voice has been heard on the program before 2008. "Bo" Snerdley screens callers at the Palm Beach Florida broadcasting location and in New York City. In February 2008, Snerdley was appointed by Limbaugh as the show's Official Criticizer of Barack Obama: "certified black enough to criticize" On the July 24th show, "Bo" was put on the air as the "Official Obama Criticizer", and spoke for roughly 5 minutes with Rush about the incident with Cambridge police. On October 16, he requested (and received) air time to air a five-minute rant, that criticized NFL players, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and media commentators who opposed Rush Limbaugh's potential bid on the St. Louis Rams.

Koko

The Rush 24/7 Internet site webmaster. This is a nickname, given by Limbaugh when Koko put a gorilla suit on for a gag on Limbaugh's TV show. His real name is George Prayias, and he is currently the webmaster for www.rushlimbaugh.com.

Brian

EIB network broadcast engineer.

Dawn

Transcribes caller comments onto a computer screen to aid Limbaugh, who hears via a cochlear implant and therefore can sometimes have difficulties clearly understanding callers

Kit Carson

“Chief of staff”. Also known as “H.R.”. Screens calls when Limbaugh broadcasts from New York City, among other things.

Altamont

His duties consisted of call screening and board operations, and serving as backup when the others are out or unavailable. Left the show in spring 2006.

Johnny Donovan

Program announcer. He sometimes voices some of Paul Shanklin's parodies.

Stand-ins for Limbaugh

Every so often, Limbaugh is absent from his show, whether for various personal reasons or because of extended trips. For instance, in early 2005, Limbaugh took a week-long trip to Afghanistan to report on postwar conditions; he's also participated in various celebrity pro-am golf events, especially when he represents his parent company, Clear Channel. On those occasions, Limbaugh allows “EIB certified talk show hosts” (sometimes called "Associate Professors from the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies") to fill in for him. Typically, these hosts are well-known conservatives, and since Clear Channel acquired the network which syndicates the program, they have usually been Clear Channel radio hosts.

Recent substitute hosts

Mark Davis

Host of The Mark Davis Show, a talk show on WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas. First substitute hosted on March 4, 2008.

Mark Belling

Host of The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show, a radio show on WISN in Milwaukee.

Mark Steyn

A Canadian journalist, columnist, and film and theatre critic. Since the removal of Jason Lewis from the substitute rotation in February 2009, Steyn's hosting has become more frequent.

Dr. Walter E. Williams

Economics professor, strong proponent of laissez-faire capitalism, and former chairman of the Economics Department at George Mason University in Virginia. He normally only hosts on Fridays, likely due to schedule conflicts, and is a fan favorite.

Former substitute hosts

By general rule, a person who currently has a national radio show on a network other than Premiere is not eligible to substitute host on the program. Premiere hosts are technically exempt from this (e.g. Matt Drudge and Jason Lewis), but are still used very rarely.

Jed Babbin

Editor-in-chief of the online version of Human Events. Has so far only sub-hosted one episode (July 17, 2008). He has more recently substituted for other shows, but not Limbaugh's.

Glenn Beck

In his first book, The Real America, he stated that "[a]fter doing a total of maybe 40 hours of talk radio, [he] was asked to host a national show." A photo showing him set up at Rush's studio follows the text. He has not hosted since.

"B1" Bob Dornan

Dornan was a substitute host several times starting in 1991 and during Bill Clinton's first term as president. He still substitutes for other shows, but not Limbaugh's.

Matt Drudge

Editor of the Drudge Report and (at the time) host of his own Sunday night Clear Channel talk program. He hosted only twice during the 2003 drug controversy. His recent retirement from his Sunday night show makes him eligible to guest host the show again, and Drudge has stated that he will do substitute hosting in the future, although he has not specifically cited Limbaugh's show.

Bill Handel

Host of The Bill Handel Show and Handel on the Law on KFI in Los Angeles, California. First substituted September 11, 2001. Limbaugh was unavailable, and with the infamous terrorist attacks having taken place just hours before air, Handel, who was already broadcasting on an impromptu syndication network at the moment, continued to host for another three hours in Limbaugh's place nationwide. He would go on to host at least twice more.

Sean Hannity

Co-host of Fox News' political debate show Hannity and Colmes, but Hannity has not subbed since his radio show became nationally syndicated in 2001.

Roger Hedgecock

Former mayor of San Diego, California, and a talk radio host at Clear Channel talk station KOGO there. He was, as of 2007, the most used stand-in, and was also a fan favorite. The launch of Hedgecock's national show officially brings an end to Hedgecock's guest hosting for Limbaugh's show.

Jason Lewis

Host of Radio Free Minnesota, a radio show on KTLK-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. First substitute hosted on August 30, 2007. Lewis has not hosted since February 2009, most likely due to the network wanting to build Lewis' own national show.

Michael Medved

Medved was a substitute host from 1993 - 1998, when he got his own nationally syndicated radio show.

Mike Rosen

Host of a radio show on KOA in Denver during the University of Colorado at Boulder controversy with former professor Ward Churchill.

Paul W. Smith

Talk show host from WJR in Detroit, Michigan. He first substituted as host of the show on December 13, 2005.

Tony Snow

Former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush. He sometimes guest hosted during the 1990s before launching his own show on Fox News Talk in 2002. Snow died from colon cancer in July 2008.

Tom Sullivan

Talk show host on KFBK in Sacramento, California, who is also a financial advisor for Wachovia Securities, and the business news editor for KFBK. Limbaugh hosted his talk show locally on KFBK before going to New York City. He has not hosted in several years; the fact that he has taken his KFBK show national with Fox News Radio would prevent him from guest hosting on the show for the foreseeable future.

Chris Matthews

also substituted for Limbaugh on the program once during the late 1990s, and has never substituted again due to negative fan reaction because of his left wing political beliefs.

Holidays

When Limbaugh is absent and no substitute is available, most frequently on major holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, a "Best of" show will air.

In addition, a portion of the show on the day before each Thanksgiving is always set aside for a reading of the real story of Thanksgiving. During this segment, Limbaugh reads from a section of his book "See, I Told You So" regarding the first few years of the Mayflower crew in Plymouth Colony. Limbaugh asserts, based upon excerpts from the personal journal of William Bradford, that the pilgrims had attempted to set up an early form of communism in the colony but failed, and when the colony went to a free enterprise system the colony began to thrive. Limbaugh claims that the Indians were largely irrelevant to the situation. In addition, Limbaugh also reads from President George Washington's 1789 National Thanksgiving Proclamation.

In the event that Limbaugh cannot broadcast on the day before Thanksgiving (as occurred in 2006), a substitute host will read the excerpt.

Jargon

Main article: Jargon of The Rush Limbaugh Show

Limbaugh uses his own on-air jargon, some of which he invented and some of which he popularized.

Show history

This section details only events which were primarily about the show and not about Limbaugh himself; of course, because Limbaugh and his show are so intertwined, it can be difficult to separate the two. Please see Rush Limbaugh for events in Limbaugh's life which may have impacted the show.

Radio syndication

In 1984, Limbaugh started as a regular talk show host on AM radio station KFBK in Sacramento, California, after several years of employment with the Kansas City Royals and in the music radio business, which included hosting a program at KMBZ in Kansas City. He succeeded Morton Downey, Jr. in the time slot.

Based on his work in Sacramento, Limbaugh was signed to a contract by EFM Media Management, headed by former ABC Radio executive Edward McLaughlin. Limbaugh became syndicated on August 1, 1988 through EFM and his show was drawing five million listeners after two years of syndication.

In 1997, EFM was acquired by Jacor Communications, a publicly traded company. Later that year, Jacor merged with Premiere Radio Networks. In 1999, Jacor merged with Clear Channel Communications. Currently, Clear Channel Communications through its Premiere Radio Networks subsidiary is the syndicator for Limbaugh's radio show.

Limbaugh and Clear Channel signed an eight-year, $400,000,000 contract extension in August 2008.

Dan's Bake Sale

The initial idea for Dan's Bake Sale was conceived on the The Rush Limbaugh Show in 1993. One caller, "Dan" from Fort Collins, Colorado, told Rush Limbaugh that he was photocopying a coworker's subscription to the Limbaugh Letter, Rush's monthly magazine that covers current events. The reason was that Dan's wife was not a fan of the show, and would not allocate the funds needed from the family budget to subscribe to the Letter. Limbaugh light-heartedly informed Dan that he disapproves his photocopying printed material, and offhandedly suggested that Dan organize a bake sale to raise funds for a subscription, spoofing then-recent bake sales to raise funds to reduce the national debt.

After Dan's call ended, the next caller to the show noted that he felt Rush was a bit harsh, and that he intended to attend Dan's Bake Sale. Rush again dismissed the topic. The next caller noted that he would like to attend Dan's Bake Sale. Rush repeatedly announced they would take no more "bake sale" calls but the gig was on and everyone calling in for the next week or so put in a plug for Dan's Bake Sale.

Limbaugh never seriously proposed a Bake Sale and neither did "Dan." But the landslide of support for Dan and his bake sale was on. Eventually, some 65,000 people from all over the United States and as far away as Australia showed up in Fort Collins for Dan's Bake Sale. Jay Leno even made jokes about it on The Tonight Show.

Limbaugh did attend, and had a brief presentation, giving Dan his first issue of his subscription.

Dan considered making it an annual event, but agreed with Limbaugh's assessment that the original just could never again be replicated.

Armed Forces Radio controversy

On May 26, 2004, the article "Rush's Forced Conscripts" appeared on the online news and opinion magazine Salon.com. The article discussed the controversy surrounding the fact that American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), (which describes itself as "[providing] stateside radio and television programming, 'a touch of home', to U.S. service men and women, DoD civilians, and their families serving outside the continental United States"), carries the first hour of Limbaugh's show. Melvin Russell, director of AFRTS, defended Limbaugh's presence, by pointing to Limbaugh's high ratings in the US: "We look at the most popular shows broadcast here in the United States and try to mirror that. [Limbaugh] is the No. 1 talk show host in the States; there's no question about that. Because of that we provide him on our service." In addition, AFRTS produced a ballot of radio and television shows asking troops worldwide, "Who do you want that we don't at present carry?" The Rush Limbaugh Show was not listed on the ballot, but won the vote as a write-in by the troops. A later poll by Lund Media Research found that a majority of soldiers preferred that talk show programs be replaced by hip hop and rap stations, bringing into question the future of content such as the Rush Limbaugh Show on AFRTS.

Critics have pointed out that other programs, such as the eight-million listener per week Howard Stern show, are absent from AFRTS. (This statement was made before Stern left for satellite radio in 2006.) Other claims—for example, that there is no political counterbalance to Limbaugh on AFRTS—have been rebutted by Byron York, a columnist for the predominantly conservative National Review: "American military men and women abroad have access, for example, to the talk show of liberal host Diane Rehm ... Jim Hightower and CBS News anchorman Dan Rather." Another possible political counterbalance to Limbaugh is Harry Shearer, who emphasizes his presence on AFRTS at the end of every episode of his satirical Le Show.

On June 14, 2004, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduced an amendment to the 2004 Defense Authorization bill that called for AFRTS to fulfill its stated goal of providing political balance in its news and public affairs programming. The amendment passed unanimously in the Senate. Limbaugh responded by calling the move "censorship". On his June 17 radio show, he commented that: "This is a United States senator [Tom Harkin] amending the Defense appropriations bill with the intent being to get this program—only one hour of which is carried on Armed Forces Radio—stripped from that network." The amendment never became law. As of 2005, the first hour of Limbaugh's show is still on AFRTS. Limbaugh visited US forces in Afghanistan in 2005.

This treatment of The Rush Limbaugh Show proved to set a precedent for Congressional debate on AFRTS content. The Ed Schultz show, a liberal talk radio show with over one million listeners a week, was originally scheduled to be broadcast on AFRTS on October 17, 2005. It was subsequently pulled, with some alleging political motivation, which was later debated in Congress. A few weeks after this debate, AFRTS added Schultz to the line-up along with other talk show hosts: Al Franken and Sean Hannity.

Operation Chaos

In late February 2008, Limbaugh announced "Operation Chaos," a political call to action with the initial plan to have voters of the Republican Party temporarily cross over to vote in the Democratic primary and vote for Hillary Clinton, who at the time was in the midst of losing eleven straight primary contests to Barack Obama. Limbaugh has also cited the open primary process in the early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, which allowed independent voters to cross over into the Republican primaries to choose John McCain over more conservative candidates (such as Fred Thompson), as an inspiration.

At the point in which Limbaugh announced his gambit, Obama had seemed on the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination. However, Clinton subsequently won the Ohio primary and the Texas primary (while losing the Texas caucus and the overall delegate split) with large pluralities from rural counties; thus reemerging as a competitive opponent in the race. Statistics released by the state of Texas show Hillary Clinton won the primary due to a large number of Republicans crossing over to vote for her. Whether these voters were Operation Chaos Operatives or simply Republicans who preferred Clinton is impossible to tell.

On April 29, 2008 Limbaugh declared an "operational pause" in Operation Chaos, saying that Obama's defeat in the 2008 Pennsylvania primary and fallout from statements from Obama ally Reverend Jeremiah Wright could have damaged his campaign to the extent superdelegates would shift to Clinton's side. Determining Obama had weathered that storm, Limbaugh lifted the pause the next day and renewed his call for his listeners to vote for Clinton in the upcoming Indiana and North Carolina primaries. Obama won the North Carolina primary but was narrowly defeated in Indiana, where Clinton won decisively in rural counties that normally vote Republican in presidential elections.

The overall legality of Operation Chaos in several states, including Ohio and Indiana, is disputed. In Ohio, new party members are required to sign a pledge of loyalty to the party they join for a minimum of one year, making participation in "Operation Chaos" a possible felony (election falsification) in that state. However, the state attorney general there refused to press charges on anyone, saying that it would be nearly impossible to enforce because of difficulties proving voter intent and concerns that a loyalty oath would violate freedom of association.

Limbaugh did not endorse a candidate for most of the 2008 primaries; he spoke highly of Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney, but was vocally against the candidacies of John McCain and Mike Huckabee. After Giuliani and Thompson quit the race, Limbaugh, among many other talk show hosts, put his support behind Romney. It was after Romney's departure from the race on February 5 that Limbaugh began aggressively pushing the Operation Chaos plan.

See also

• Jargon of The Rush Limbaugh Show
• Rush Limbaugh

External links

• The Rush Limbaugh Show
• Paul Shanklin
• Dan's Bake Sale