Five years ago today, a couple of hours before airtime, I was pottering about getting ready to guest-host The Rush Limbaugh Show when the telephone rang. It was Kraig Kitchin, his longtime friend (and head of the network that distributed his show), calling to break the news that Rush had died earlier that morning.
Post-Limbaugh, talk radio seems smaller to me than it once did - not just because Rush had a big personality, but because he managed to fit the flotsam and jetsam of the news cycle into the big picture. Whatever topic he'd alight on, he would enlarge, and connect to the great coursing currents of the age. He was also incredibly, naturally funny. I have nothing against any of his successors up and down the dial, but, on the very rare occasions I switch on the radio in his time-slot, it's not the same.
Three years ago, the anniversary of Rush's death fell on the day of our weekly Clubland Q&A. It wasn't intended to be a one-hour remembrance of America's anchorman, but, because listeners had so many questions about him and his show, it somehow turned into one. Listening to it later, I thought it was worth a re-broadcast - not just for the questions and answers, but for other aspects, too: a musical selection courtesy of his beloved Kathryn, a brief evocation of my guest-hosting days, and the last words Rush ever spoke on air.
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