![]() ![]() Many critics believe that Limbaugh reached his nadir when he began subjecting the rare hostile phone call to a "caller abortion," wherein the unfortunate individual on the line (and the radio audience) was subjected to the sound of a vacuum pump before the call was disconnected. A regular segment entitled "AIDS update" featured as background music Dionne Warwick's "I'll Never Love this Way Again," and a report on liberal efforts to protect endangered species was accompanied by the Andy Williams song "Born Free," interrupted by automatic weapons fire and the sound of animals screaming. He often combined the words with the ironic use of audio effects. Limbaugh's popularity-he was, within four years of going national, the most popular radio talk show host in the United States-did not only stem from his verbal jabs at the left. His audience (largely white, male, conservative, and young) apparently delighted in Limbaugh's characterization of liberals as, variously, "feminazis," "environmental wackos," and "hustlers for the homeless." Since Limbaugh takes calls while on the air, many of hisįans have taken to expressing their agreement with him by uttering a single word: "dittoes," thus joining the army of self-proclaimed "dittoheads." Limbaugh was relocated to New York City and turned loose on a national audience for the first time. In 1988, Limbaugh's reputation (and ratings) came to the attention of Edward McLaughlin, who had just founded the Excellence in Broadcasting Network-a radio syndicate with fifty member stations. Limbaugh's show soon became the most popular radio program in the city. This time, the "Limbaugh style"-a blend of conservative politics and acid humor directed at liberals-was more successful. They gave Limbaugh a three-hour morning show, along with free rein to be as outrageous as he wished. In 1984, he was hired by KFBK, a San Diego station that was in dire financial trouble and whose owners were willing to gamble on something new. ![]() Limbaugh's career began to turn around the following year, however. It was in this job that he first began to manifest what would become his characteristic style, though apparently neither his audience nor his employers found Limbaugh's approach appealing, since he was fired after ten months. ![]() Limbaugh returned to radio in 1983, when a Kansas City station hired him as a talk show host and commentator. He then held a number of jobs at small radio stations around the country, followed by five years as a public relations assistant for the Kansas City Royals baseball team. Admitted to Southeast Missouri State College, he dropped out after his freshman year. Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he developed an interest in radio at a young age, working as a deejay at a local station while still in high school. But the most popular genre of talk radio involved political commentary, and the czar of this milieu was undeniably Rush Limbaugh. Some of these programs were devoted to sports (The Fabulous Sports Babe), while others practiced a mixture of crude sexual titillation and outrageous social commentary (Howard Stern, Don Imus). A new era of talk radio-when programs devoted to commentary (as opposed to the traditional mixture of music and news) dominated radio programming-was ushered in through satellite technology, which allowed an AM radio program to be broadcast live across the United States (or even the world), enabling listeners nationwide to call in to a show and participate on the air. The airwaves, making him one of the most controversial and talked-about public figures of the decade. "We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, Freedom and the pursuit of happiness.The undeniable king of conservative talk radio during the 1990s, Rush Limbaugh spread his vituperative conservative agenda across We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence," he continued. We recognize that we are all individuals. "We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government," Limbaugh told the crowd. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. ![]()
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