Rush Limbaugh: Love Him or Not, He's a Genuine American Success Story

Rush Limbaugh celebrates his 30th anniversary in national syndication this month. KQQQ-AM in Pullman, Washington was the first station in the Pacific Northwest and one of the first 100 in the country to air his program, and he's been a fixture here ever since.

In a market whose principal economic sectors are agriculture (one of the nation's richest dryland farming areas) and education (two land-grant universities within 8 miles of each other), with retail and service businesses in the middle, The Rush Limbaugh Show generated more buzz than anything we'd ever carried. Most of it was favorable. Some went off the charts, like the farmer in the fringe of our coverage area, who wrote that he was now timing his fieldwork so that he'd be working the hilltops when Rush's program was on, so that he could catch it without losing the signal. He may have been a hot potato in some markets, but not ours. He was brash, articulate, polite to callers (even those who disagreed with him), and a whole lot of fun in those early years. When we offered to mail listeners a copy of his original 35 Undeniable Truths of Life, we were inundated with requests.

I was reminded of this recently when I ran across a Los Angeles Times article from 1991, entitled, "What's the Rush: Radio Loudmouth Rush Limbaugh Harangues Feminazis, Environmental Wackos and Commie-Libs While His Ratings Soar." Reading it with the benefit of hindsight, one can't help but admire the success he's enjoyed. Like him or not, Limbaugh is a quintessentially American success story. He's taken advantage of the opportunities afforded him by America's unique system of free enterprise, leveraging his ambition, energy, talent, and instincts, and overcoming many obstacles (some of his own creation) along the way, to become the undisputed leader in his field. His unparalleled success made many of his detractors in the media jealous. In 2001, he was reportedly earning more than TV anchors Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, and for good measure, Barbara Walters.

Combined.

For 30 years Rush has remained true to himself, to his audience, and to the medium that embraced him and has allowed him to fulfill his boyhood dreams beyond imagination. For a whole lot of reasons, I think it's something worth celebrating.