EIB Southern Command Family

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icon by the Democrats of the Drive by Media. Okay, the door is opened and a giant cake is being brought in here. But I accidentally saw when I went back there to get a cookie. I saw the cake and I didn't say a word about it, and I saw you snuck they anniversary balloon in here. That is a that is a gorgeous cake. I have to say that I see it's this twenty eight I saw that when I saw a cake back there in the kitchen. It's a gorgeous, gorgeous care and well I don't mean

the anniversary. I'm talking about this gook in the news. That's what I'm talking about, which I will get. You know, this is so easily avoided. Not the cake, the gunk. I knew you'd do a cake, even though I've told you twenty eight years not to do it. They do it every year anyway, telephone number. So for the last twenty years, the three of us, there three of us, we became well we we call each other family because

that's what we are. And we were all there before any before Dawn and I showed up on the scene. There was Brian. That's that's yeah, Brian Johnson. Now, Brian, you, between all of us, you probably have the most radio experience of anybody here. And there's a reason for that. Well. Yes, I was born in a radio station, right, Yes, Yes, My mother and my father they met working in radio. My dad was the engineer, my mom was the receptionist

at a radio station in Iowa. And they got married and my mom got pregnant and they moved to Florida in that order pretty much. Yeah, and so the rest is history. Yeah. So, so how did you how did you get the call to to deal to come and work with Rush. That's a good question. My father has his own engineering consulting firm in radio and um he owns a bunch of radio stations down here in South Florida. And I was working with him at the time. And Clear Channel was the name of the company at the time.

They were looking for an engineer that could engineer facility that was kind of secret and they wanted somebody different to come over there and take care of it that wasn't really associated with anybody that could be really discreet. So UM, I guess they thought of me because they knew I worked with my father, and everybody knows my father in the engineering business. So they called and my dad told me, you know, and I said, sure, I'll go over and I'll meet them and check it out

and that sort of thing. And I was young. It was twenty five or something like that, so I basically went over there and UM met them and I said, okay, I'll do it. You know, it was just an hourly type of deal and this is back in n and UM so I did it and met Rush and then UM I never saw him again for a year and a half. Wait a minute, So they hired you to work with Rush. You met him and you what, you

set up his studio or something. What you do know, they actually had the studios built for him in Palm Beach. You remember the whole thing where they wouldn't let him do it in his house, and that's right. So the premier built him studios in the financial district of Palm Beach and they needed an engineer, and that's that's when they called me. And basically Russia was sitting there doing it all by himself. They had all the equipment, the

zephyrs all stacked up there, and he had switches. If one didn't work, he could throw a switch and would throw it to the second group of zephyrs and all that sort of stuff and he could get on the air that way. And that's what he did all by himself until we all came on the scene in two thousand one. So for a year and a half you didn't see Rush. And then what happened. Then they called and said Rush got this new piece of equipment that he wanted me to install that allowed him to record

his CDs. You know how he liked to record all his music. Yeah, so he was doing that sort of stuff and they wanted me to come and install this piece of equipment. So I said, sure, I'll come over and do it. So I went over and did it, and I didn't hear from him again for a year and a half. You know, I figured out he just doesn't like me, you know. So and then um the year of uh September eleven and two thousand one. Near the beginning of the year, Rush himself started reaching out

to me. Was having problems with his hearing and asked me if, um we could get some different headsets and things like that for him to try, like the ones that I just had, remember that hung down and stuff like that. We tried all different ones over that period that year. Um, and people were complaining about his voice changing and stuff like that. Well, I think it was because of him losing his hearing, um, you know, gradually, so his voice kind of changed a little bit during

that time. Anyway, September eleven happened and Premiere Radio called me and said, listen, we don't know what's going on in the world. Could you be there every day at this point? So my father said, well, it's Rush, you

gotta go do it. So I said, all right. So I basically dropped everything I was doing with my dad and the engineering and all the radio stations and just sat in the parking lot for the next two weeks, you know, because there was no way for me to listen because none of the equipment in the studio was hooked up, you know, it was all self contained in

a box right next to him on his desk. And eventually about a week into that, I'm all right, this is crazy, So I went in and wired it all into the rest of the studio so I could at least come inside and listen and watch. And um, that's when he came in and said that he lost all his hearing in one ear and he needed to talk to Premier and see what was going to happen going forward.

So he flew off to California. And then I got a call a few days later from a guy who said, uh, John Acton, And he called and said, basically, Rush filled us all in and everything, and we have this lady Dawn that we'd like you to meet with, and uh, we want to try doing the show on the Inner Net on Sunday. Could you set up all this equipment and screens and all this stuff, and we want to try stenography and see if this will work for us. So of course I jumped and did everything and met Dawn.

So when did you get the call, Dawn? And what was the call? Like it was right after nine eleven, it was that month, and so you have to take yourself back in time to that period, and it was, you know, and I was I'm a core reporter, a stenographer and had been for many years in how many years? But in the court system since uh, because I asked that because when when I first met you, you were like really young and you came in like this, really, James, we were all really have a picture of all of us.

We were all young. We were all just babies. So you so you got a call from John Exton too. So I got a call from John Xon and I just thought it was a job for the day. It was a real time job. And so they said it was to come over for this person named Rush Limbaugh, who I had never heard of. I'm in the court system,

you know, I'm always doing stuff. I didn't know who the senator was in Iowa, and I really didn't care, you know, but was, well, yes I did that who I knew a lot about the law, but not a lot about nothing about Russia actually, and so um I came over that day, and of course the day kick Carson was there, like it was full of of people. I didn't know which one of those people happened to be Rush or not, you know who the person was that I was there working for. And I also didn't

know that he had lost his hearing. This was a big secret, a huge secret. I had to sign a confidentiality agreement before I came in, you know, because it hadn't been disclosed yet, you know, at that point he hadn't disclosed it. So and then I came in and uh, they proceeded to tell me that they tried out all these stenographers from California and from all these other places and they all didn't work. And this is about Baba, I'm thinking, what am I getting myself into here today?

You know? What did I agree to come to? And so, uh it was we were in our old studio, which is kind of like I always tell people, it's like the show Fraser when you looked through the glass and you would see it like that. And so Rush was on the other side and Craig was in the other side with Rush. That day too, and Craig said, listen, I'm Craig Kitchen and he said, listen, I'm just going to have a conversation with Rush and if you could

just write it down. And I thought, this is the craziest job that I've ever had, Like what is you know? But okay, sure, uh, and so he they just started talking and it was very basic, like hi, Rush, how are you today? You know? And of course Rush couldn't hear, so he's looking at him like, okay, Craig, you know, because he was completely deaf, he hadn't had his cochlear implant yet, so you know, he wrote him a little

note to start talking. And so then Rush started talk talking, and I started writing it, and then they could they were reading it, so as as I came up, they were reading what was being said. And so that went on for quite I mean for about thirty minutes where they were trying to make up some kind of conversation to be able to read. So then I still thought

I was just there for the day. They came back in and Craig said, well, you know, we would like you to come here back here again tomorrow, and so I said okay, and still not really realizing the gravity of what was going on. Um. And so anyway, that day when I was leaving, before I left, you know, and Rush couldn't couldn't um really hear anything at that time. So he had written me a note and it said, I can't thank you enough. I know I can do this now. And he had tears in his eyes, you know.

And so you know, anyway, that's how it all started. At that point, did you begin to suspect that this was a little bit more than you had Well, I still really we we still were not kept completely in the loop with with what was going on. But now, you know, I, like I said, you know, my daughter was like three, and so I wasn't planning on being

full time. But I saw what this man, the passion that he had for what he was doing and what he was going through, and how he had completely lost his hearing, and it really wasn't even I didn't really even have to think much about it. I knew this is what I was gonna do. I was going to make sure that, no matter what, I was going to be there every day. I think we all did that, Yeah, we all did. We all were thrown into the fire

and we just went with it, you know. I mean the next thing, you know, we're jetting off to New York on private jets and traveling all around and I'm just like, this is crazy. I was just in Okeechovie, Florida two months ago. You know, we're doing this program in a very different way that it's been done in the past. And while those of you watching of Ditto Cam only see me. I couldn't do this without the people that have broomed all of their priorities and made

me their top priority. If if so many wonderful people had not made this program and meet the top prior, we couldn't be pulling this off the way it is. During the course of this podcast series, you'll be hearing from Russia's friends, family members, and influential leaders from the

political and media worlds. On today's podcast, you'll be hearing from a man whose voice the Russia Umball audience knows and the doors He's America's undocumented anchor, man whose dose a voice was heard for almost two decades when Rush was away, best selling author, original thinker. Most important to me, a true friend who's one of the smartest and kindest gentleman on planet Earth. Mark Stein, or maybe I'll say walk stared. Quite brilliant, isn't he? The Life of Rush Limbaugh,

Chapter two, narrated by Mark Stein. Rush Hudson Limbough the Third Lands his first job when he was just thirteen shining shoes at a Cape Gerardo barbershop. And I'll Betty was a pretty good shoe shine boy. But what he really wanted to be was that guy on the radio. For Rush, being a disc jockey represented more fun than a junior human beings should be allowed to have. My wildest dreams when I was a young kid pretending to

be a DJ on the radio. When I was eight years old, he fell in love with a toy radio transmitter that allowed him to broadcast inside the house two members of his family. Any kid who's wanted to be on the radio will know the thrill of making your own cassette tapes of you doing voiceovers over Frankie Avalon and the Maguire Sisters or whoever's sing goals it was back then. But as one of those gazillions, it would be boss jocks. I certainly envy rushed that transmitted gizmo.

Some kids have to make do with bringing an old baby monitor down from the attic was the most amazing thing. It's plastic. It was about three ft long and two feet high, and it transmitted over a m within the confines of a I don't know, a small house. The quality was horrible, but it worked. At sixteen Rush, with a little help from his dad, advanced from the toy

transmitter to the real thing. He got an internship at KGMO fIF fifty a m. And then the intern realized his childhood dream and got on the s spinning classes under the name Rusty Sharp. That's a fabulous radio Monika, but only half true. In this case, Brush was always sharp and never rust keep Ja was very Steve. It's my hometown. How are you, sir? Good greetings from the city of Roses. Thank you, Thank you sir very much. I was six years behind you in school, but I

used to listen to you on KGMO. I was the one that called every day and say, man play in and got a davida will you. Once he was on the radio, he never looked back, working mornings and afternoons at KGMO. And then it happened, Rusty Sharp got fired and kicked off the air. The first too many firings for USh over the years, all of which setbacks he overcame and learned from on his way up to the one gig, the third of a century engagement that ultimately

only God could terminate him from. He wasn't your typical nineteen sixties teen ag didn't need and never sought the approval of the high school in crowd. He preferred to socialize with older, more mature friends. Although he won the admiration of his school's upper classman with his quick wit and sharp mind, the fearlessness in debate. He wasn't afraid to stand out to be contravian. He refused, for example, ever to wear blue jeans. Come on, let's face it,

it's looks like a barbarous sob. It's it's it's a it's a prius, it's it's a liberal status symbol. Jeans are liberal status symbols. At least they were. I know everybody wears them. Now it's another battle we've lost. Absolutely. They used to be a status symbol or carmelized our startorial splendor. That we run around looking like a bunch of hippies, and I'm not gonna do it. He had yet to finish high school, but already there was a

Rush Limbo style and a Rush Limbo brand. After graduating from Cape Gerado Central in nineteen s nine, Rush was expected by his father to go to college, so he enrolled at nearby Southeast Missouri State University. But after only two semesters, Rush dropped out for good. Radio was calling, and Rush chose to pursue his dream, confident that it

amount to become reality unforgettable. That's the impression that you, the Russia Limbaugh audience made with your support for Russia's last charitable effort while Rush was still with us, through the Stand Up for Betsy Ross campaign. Your generosity resulted in a five million dollar donation to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Rush said it best. We chose Tunnel to Towers to be the beneficiary of the campaign because we love the work they do and the story about how

they started. When a family experiences significant loss the mother or father passes while serving our country, Tunnel to Towers steps in freeze that family of a major worry during their time of crisis. Tunnel to Towers pays off mortgages in full for these families and provides them with the comfort of a home when their world has literally been turned upside down. The foundation does the same for first responders and also build smart homes for our most catastrophically

injured veterans and first responders. More heroes need your help do good by donating eleven dollars a month to Tunnel to Towers at T two T dot org. That's the letter T, the number two the letter T dot org. Shortly after the number three came in. So how did that happen? I call Rush and um because I asked him. I was listening and because I was at the time, I was in Maryland and I was still doing things for the show. I was still doing a lot of stuff for the show, but I had moved to Maryland.

I noticed though that something was up with Russia's voice and something was going on. I called him, like, Rush, what's what is everything? Are you okay? Is everything good? And he told me at the time, he said, you know, I he said, if I told you what was going on, you might not believe it, or you he said something else. I'm trying to remember what it was because it kind of scared me. He said, if I told you what it was, if I told you how bad things really were,

it was something to that effect. You wouldn't believe it. I'm like, what could possibly be this bad? And then I got a call from John Acton shortly afterwards, and he told me that Rush was losing his hearing. And I told him to book a flight for me, please, for the next day. And and and I remember getting this. I hadn't been to Palm Beach before. And I've always

read about Palm Beach, heard about Palm Beach. When when Rush moved to Palm Beach, I was in the New York studios and I asked him about the weather every day in the winter, I'd be like, oh man, it's eighty degrees down there, and it sucks here and and all the rest of that. I'd go through um every day. I would walk through Penn Station. They'd be announcing the train that was running from New York to Miami, and I'd always hear Palm Beach as like three or four

stops before Miami. Said, Oh man, I wonder what it's like in Palm Beach. Wouldn't it be nice to work in Palm Beach? But I never thought I wouldn't ever be in Palm Beach. I was in New York. I'm a New Yorker, so we remember, right do. We took us a while, and we had to work on you to turn you into a Floridian, you know. And so what happened was I got there that night and when

I walked in, Rush was in the parking lot. Kit was in the parking lot, and and John Acton and so I walked over and I gave Russia hug and we but I didn't the gravity of it was really weird because I didn't, you know, I didn't you know, he had kept it really well that he was completely death. So that was really a little bit weird and that, yeah, yeah, that really knew he was losing his hearing. So the next day I come into this little studio and there you are there, and then Dawn is there, and like,

Dawn is this hottie Potati? Right, yeah, you were on no offense, I mean, but I was. Yeah, Well that was thirty years ago. Brian was Superman, and that's what we're saying. We used to call him Superman. Yes, you're still Superman. You have gray hair. Now Superman didn't have gray hair, right, And wait a minute, and Brian, it was in the days when you used to be single. Yeah, that's right, so what it used to come to work and sometimes used to sleep under the cons sometimes yea, yeah.

But I had no idea then that twenty years later we'd all be be here now. Yeah. Back in the beginning,

he couldn't hear at all. So I don't know if you guys remember this, but we would hold up cards for the breaks, for there was ten seconds after third, so we were trying to make it fun for him because he was totally deaf and just trying everything, and he had so much passion for this, so we would hold up the card so I would pretend like I was in a boxing ring and I was the girl going back and forth with the thirty seconds, you know,

when he would start laughing. Anything we could. We had to think like we were deaf and how could you do the show? And I mean I put led lights, that yellow light, the red light, and I was trying different vibrating devices to put on the chair. We had those. You were trying different vibrators to hook onto his chair so he could feel the audio in his chair well, and then I was doing that. I'm sorry, this sounds freaky.

I'm just sorry. He could only feel stuff or see stuff, so you had two options, you know, so I had to rove. Remember the duo meters, we had those in front of them, so those big led v. Yeah, we had a O L instant messaging. That's really what really helped us a lot back then. That's how we communicated with him, was a L instant message. And we used

to because when he completely couldn't hear. Uh, if a caller was screaming, we would turn the screen red, so he even if he was looking the other direction, if

we looked back, he would know the color. I don't remember all the colors, but if it was blue, it might have been crying, because you have to remember this is after nine eleven, and a lot of the callers were crying, and we had so many people from Rockaway and all these towns around New York City that we were fielding all these calls, and so we were all crying. But but we would if it was a seminar collar,

it would be yellow. You know. We had all these colors that would just flash up on the screen for him. And then he got the implant and then life kind of got back to normal, except you know, he could he always said, we could hear like FM radio. He could hear like a M radio. And that was kind of how he you know. So that's why Dawn still needed to be there because the problem you would have are the phone call phone calls where the audio isn't

so clear all the time. Now, he was fine with us in the studio environment because the walls were ten feet thick and it was dead silent in those rooms. It was really easy for him to hear us with the implant. But if he ever went out into a room where there was a group of people and stuff like that, he could not hear. It was just all noise to him. Um. So we had the advantage for the twenty years to actually have real conversations with Rush in the studio. Outside of it, it was just a

crapshoot for him. So if you had to pick out one of your favorite stories, I know you just do you want me to give mine? Okay? Here it this? Uh one day, you know. I used to come into the studio probably around o'clock most days. Rush would get there at about um. He would sit in his room and I always sat at the console which was directly

in front of Rush. On the other side of the glass, and I just kind of used that as my desk and that way, if he ever needed anything, he would just hit the talk bath button on his desk and it would just come right into my room and I would respond to him. Um, So I always sat right there.

And there was only the four of us, us three in Rush at the studio most of the time, so there was nobody to answer phones or get the doors or that was us, you know, so most of the time I took on the answering the phone so that you could do show prep with you know, for Rush and so yeah, so that was kind of our routine. Well, one day I got in their tent, I sat down there and I answered the phone. And we always said studio when we answered the phone because we didn't want

to say Rush Limbaugh Show or anything like that. We were trying to be hidden. So I said studio and this guy on the other end says, yes, this is Elton John. I'm calling for Rush. Well I immediately said to him, yeah, sure, it is, just really and he's like, no, really, it's Ellen John. And I'm like, this isn't Elton John. You're not calling you know, You're not Ellen John. And he's like, no, really, let me sing to you. I'm like, seriously,

all right, listen. Well he was. He was starting to sing, yes and hold on, let me let me go in there, and I'll tell him it's Elton John. I did not believe him, so I put the guy on hold and I walked around and I went into Russia's studio and I said, hey, Rush, I got some guy on line one claiming he's Elton John. And he Rush looks at me, like the stone cold right at me and says, well,

it probably is Elton John. Brian, and I just my heart just thank and I'm like and I just walked out of the room, and uh, I didn't know what to think at that point. So after that call, he was on the phone with him for like an hour, you know, and I'm figuring out that was Elton John. So later after that was done, he I think he sent us all an email or called us all on the p A system and said, no, matter what you do, you don't tell anybody that Ellen John just called here today.

So we're like moms, and you know, we're like okay, d right. So we were later we were at the wedding and I'm sitting next I think I was sitting next to Tom Watson, the golfer, and a couple of other people, and they're sitting there talking about, Oh, I hear there's somebody famous gonna be singing and stuff at the wedding, you know, and we're all like not saying a word, and um, they're saying they think it's Tim McGraw and stuff. So you know, they were all it

was the talk of the wedding, you know. And I think it leaked out from Yeah, yeah, they they found out that it was Ellen John but it wasn't us. It was never us, never us. Once again, my highly overrated staff was let me down. He I mean, Network now has an official Obama criticizer. He is Bo Sturdy Cookie working on the sound bite. Even now you might be confusing Cookie with Coco. Coco is married to Cookie. Coco runs the website. The video is actually taken from

the control room. What you see the back of the broadcast engineer's head Brian Johnson, which is as close to fame as Brian says he wants to get. That was Greg Chapin's idea back in the cave there where these guys put these bites together sure denise that the Limball Letter could come up with a great graphic after Cookie cracks the whip and tells him what to do. So what we've done. Joe Muny is on our staff, has recorded all of what I said in Espanol mamal and

the broadcast engineer had a different idea. I just sent a picture up to Coco Jr. Who's whose actual name is Dean Craig Kitchen from our staff kit Carson, former irreplaceable chief of staff and trusted right hand. Diana Schneider, editrix of the Limball Letter, Daughter, you irritated by this? You don't like this. I I detected a facial expression sitting in there and her face getting contorted and so forth, and I knew it. I knew it. I wanted to issue a special thanks to me. I call them highly

over rained staff. They may be even they're incredibly valuable, They're incredibly loyal, they are incredibly committed, and they are exceptionally exceptionally devoted and none of this could happen without them. So we're we're all sitting here, Dawn, Brian and myself, Brian Johnson down Bynsky. What is it that you most would want the world to know about the Russilan Wall,

that you knew Don you're the boss, go first. Well, that's funny that you say I'm the boss, because very very early on, it was just the four of us there. It was just you know, Rush and Brian and James and me, and so stuff would go on or things would be happening and everybody's kind of not paying attention,

and I'm like, well, what is going on here? This is a big mess, you know, And so I would start directing people, you know, if somebody was there that day to fix it, because it had to be done correctly, you know. So then throughout the years, whenever we would have people come for any reason and they were asking questions, Rush would just say, asked on, She's the boss, you know, and they kind of looked like ha ha, it's a joke,

and He's like, no, asked on. So it was kind of funny, you know, I I said earlier, And I know that if people haven't listened to the show, they have one idea of what who Rushes, you know, other people that listen to the show, they might love him, and they have this idea of of who he is too, and we know those people too, but we also know the person that wasn't on the radio show, and he is just just one of the best men that you

could ever know. Very humble bowl which people don't believe that when you say that, but so humble, just so grateful for where he was and still wanting to pinch himself for where he was, and still always thinking, you know, I think my parents would be proud of me for this, you know, or when he would just do an award or just do anything, or anything he would do, like people just I don't think they saw that side of him enough, and he was not one to tout it

when he would give so generously to so many organizations and so many people, and would do so many things anonymously, you know, and do so much that people will never know the amount of stuff that he's done throughout out his life. Because he was not about look at me, you know, even though he would say on the radio, look at me, because and not a lot of times that was for us. He might not think we were paying a judgit enough, look at me. What did I

just talk about? I'm like, don't know. I wrote every word, But she bangs on the desk, just like San would you want people to know about Rush? Well, I mean she's right. I mean he's very generous, has been for all of us. He really is a very down to earth person. I mean I got to spend some time with his family last month, you know, we all did, and they really are a really down to earth, nice family, and I was really sad that we didn't see more of them and spend more time with him. I see

where he comes from, though, and I get it. I see, you know, they were all so nice, and they all loved us to death, and um, they wanted to hear more and know more about Rush because they really weren't around us much, you know, the last ten years. And um, I just it was it was nice to see. I felt really nice to go see his family and know, you know that there was people that seemed to really love him and care about him, and because he seemed

to really love and care about us. I mean, we all had our we you know, we all argued there. It's not like you know, you argue with your parents, you are. We've all argued, you know, and we never held anything. I mean it's like you argue to get it out of your system, whatever it is. And then and we always the thing about the four of us, there's no doubt ever for what what solitary. Second, how much we love each other and how much we love each other, there's just no doubt. Another. We called it

our work family. And so many times people would ask me when I found out what I did, they would ask me, wow, what is Rush like? I mean, it was like, how can you work for him? What is he like? You know? And but there were others, you know, I would run across the occasional liberal who be like, oh my god, that must be so amazing and wow, you know, they were just infatuated with the celebrity and that sort of thing. But most people would ask me what is it like? And I said, trust me, I

don't have to work there. I don't have to. I could go work for my father and do that stuff. I wouldn't work there if he wasn't a great person. And that's generally what I tell everybody, because it's true. You know, he was awesome. He he cared about us, and um, most people don't have bosses like that. Well, one of the things early on about him not being what you would typically think of as a celebrity, and he was never a celebrity to the three of us.

He may have been to all these people who would come and visit us, but he never was to us. And I just remember this one time when Justice Thomas came to visit, you know, and we were all like, this was the first time he came to visit, and we were all very excited to say, how loaded Justice Thomas and get our picture taken with Justice Thomas. You know, Rush came in the room and we did this almost

with every person that came to visit us. We would hand Rush the camera and say, pleasing our nature, and you know, sure he would do it. But I just remember Justice Thomas cracking up that he cannot believe Rush was not going to be in the picture and he was the photographer, Like, yeah, he was definitely, And I think that's another thing that he loved. He was so comfortable with all of us. You know, we've all gone through so many things in our lives together. We shared

everything together. We all know everything about each other. You know, literally we were there every single day together for twenty years. I know what many of your Rush, are you really telling us that you don't know what the audio shund bites are going to be until five five minutes. Yes, folks, I'm telling you that we have a smooth oiled machine. They've been doing this long enough. They know what I

like don't like. They know what I say I want up there things I don't same people that were here on day one, and they know exactly what I want and don't want. I don't have to tell them, which is the way it should be, the land should be. So don how did you get started? What? What's what's your story? I'm gonna tell a story about when I first started, and going back to when you have young kids and a lot of people think of celebrities and

people like this that there diva's. I don't know what the word is when you're a man, but but Rush was was not that. And from the very beginning, when we had to travel or we had to do anything, he would ask me, well, is Jessica in a play this week? Or is there anything going on with the kids? Uh? And so, And that's how we would plan if we had to go away for a week or if we had to do something. He would make sure that it didn't interfere with anything. And you don't usually your stories

like that. I'm sure I don't know if um Premiere Radio would have liked that he was checking with me, But that's who he was, you know. And he didn't want to inconvenience anyone ever for anything, you know, that's for sure, that's for sure. I mean sometimes he would say, hey, are you going anywhere near publics where you think he might be able to pick up a turkey stop on your way in? But but but really he was just such a genuine, humble guy. And that's what I want

people to take away from this. Yeah, well you talked about I mean, he every single time that that anybody would do anything for him. You always thank you, sir, thank you, ma'am. It was always the epitome of of of good manners. And and I think sometimes he was shocked at what was going on the other side of the glass because we used to have some knockdown dragouts in that room. Ye've had a few in this room.

Of course. Well we weren't trapped, but it was you know, it was still was still fun and yeah, but I mean, yeah, it was our own thing, you know. I mean Rush had his thing, but we had our own little thing too. Well, that was we were doing something in there. I don't know, you might have been put on probation with a caller

like he used to have fun to doing that. But we installed in the new studios that shade that comes down from the new studios, and it really was installed in case he was, you know, gonna change for an event that he was going to or something, just to have a little extra privacy. But one day we were during the show and he was getting annoyed with all with all of us because whatever we were doing, we were interrupting him or telling him whatever. He's like, that's it, folks,

I'm gonna close this new shade that I have. And so he closed the shade and so then he waited a little while on on the air. So I told James and Brian come on, because he's like, all right, I'm gonna let them out in about another few minutes. And I said, we are not going to be here when he opens up that shade. And they're like, oh, we can't do that. We have to stay year. We can't be out of here. I'm like, oh, yes we are.

We're going out, And so we were not there. So he lifted the shade and he's telling the audience and he could barely keep his composure. He was laughing. So and he's like the insubordinates here. But I mean, but that's the kind of fun that that we had. And we had that kind of fun every day, just like the birthday cakes. You know, we did it anyway exactly anyway, Um, Dawn, let's I want to get serious with you guys for a minute, because this is um what was the last

year like for you? Um, Brian, I'm gonna start with you. What was the last year? Like? Wow, it's you're gonna make this hard. I don't think you can do it. When I received this diagnosis and I was shocked, I was stunned, and I was in denial. I mean, I'm rush Limbough, I'm i Mr Big, the vast right wing conspiracy. I mean, I'm I'm indestructible. It's been the worst year in my life, even in the most dire circumstances. If you had just wait, if you just remain open to things,

the good in it, we'll reveal itself. It's not that I don't have a future. I do, but we had such such a thing going on there for so many years and I haven't lost anybody in my family since was my grandfather, so I haven't dealt with this so long time. And um, I've always been the kid. Well, Rush was like a second father for me because I probably spent more time with him than anybody in the last twenty years, um, face to face, So he was

like a second father. I mean, my father is my hero and the greatest person I know, but Russia's right there behind him, you know. I just I Hey, I think we had like a father son relationship. And so it's been hard. I mean, we're all gonna be fine, but and I think the world is gonna miss him a lot. There's a lot of people that from noon to three counted on him, including us, and he steered the world and I think in a positive direction. And

there just isn't somebody out there doing that now. And um, it will always be a big part of our lives. I mean, he really shaped our lives as much as he did everybody else's, and um, it was a big part of our of us. And um, he had tremendous confidence in in me and that helped give me tremendous confidence. And I told him that before he died. He always told me that, um, I'm not worried about you, Brian, I know you you can do it, you know, so

that gave me tremendous pride. Um. The one thing, you know, I always tell everybody that I part of me working here with Rush, and the beginning was to prove to myself that I could do it, because I always lived under my father's shadow. And um it, when I did it, it made my parents really proud of me. I know it did, because you know my father, I'm sure he loved traveling around into all his engineering buddies asking him about me and how's it going with Rush and all.

I mean, Rush was the king of radio. You know. Doesn't get any bigger than that. I'm doing the super Bowl for twenty years every day at work, you know, basically, that's what we're doing, you know, the greatest show on Earth. It's um for twenty years. It's quite the thing. And I don't think I'll ever do anything like this again, you know, And that's fine. You know, this is its own thing and that's fine. And I'll just always appreciative of everything he did for us, because he did a

lot for us. He was generous, he was generous, and you're right, you talked about it. He really didn't ask much of us, you know. He um many times I would get frustrated with him because he wouldn't tell me there was a problem, you know, until it was. It just festered so long for months. He wouldn't tell me something was broken in the studio because he didn't want to bother me, you know, And I just floored me, you know. And it wasn't just me. He did that

with he did with everybody. Yes, Yes, So I will always cherish every moment I had with him. I'm sure one day it's going to hit me even harder. I mean, we didn't really get a full closure on it because of this whole COVID and all this kind of stuff, and it just it's such a weird time right now, you know. Yeah, the last year. Yeah, I don't really think you can put that last year into words. I think it was definitely the hardest year I've ever gone through.

And I think we've all the three of us have, you know, definitely leaned on each other more this year than ever. You know, we came in and uh, you know, if one of us was losing it, because it was really hard to see Rush suffering with the pain that he was suffering in and still coming in to do

the show. And you know, so he can see us right through the glass, and he was always very cognizant of what our reactions were and what we thought, you know, whether we were telling him don't go there, stop right there, you know, or whatever it was. So if we were really crying, you know, that would affect him. So we had to really try to still remain positive and engaged and you know, to be fun loving with him and you know, think of funny things for him, because this

was his outlet that he loved. And so you know, we would do it and then you'd noticed one of us where the three of us would be missing because we'd be in the other room, you know, and trying to keep our composure to come back in and put a smile on for Rush, you know, and do it. But yeah, this year has been rough. He wanted that show. He wanted it was about him, and we were there to make sure that, you know, and he knew, he knew, he knew some you know, someone had asked about you know,

made mention of the bucket list. You know, people that know that they're facing there the last days. Often have a bucket listenings that they want to do before they died. And Rusha's bucket list was his audience. Russia's bucket list was his show. He loved doing what he did. He loved it. And the thing about it is, though, you know, each of us has a different had a different relationship with Rush. Yes we did. Don your relationship, you could tell him things and say things to Rush and I

would never ever dream of saying right ever. And because that's the relationship that you had with him, Brian, he leaned on you in ways that that for things. Yeah, I was as good a done guy. Yeah yeah, yeah, you would yet, Brian, take care of this. I need just to get done. He would ask me to do certain things and then certain things. You know, Um, you're more his political outlet. I was more sports, you know.

And Don brought that whole woman aspect into Yeah. Because if if Don wasn't there and it was just us three guys, can you have been very quiet around there? I realized at that point that I just need to hear your voice. I listened to you because you remind me of my dad. You all dad to me that's how much I look upon you, sir. Like I said that, it was a really surprising honor that I wasn't able to just pick up the phone and get through, but I just wanted to make me know that I honestly

am speechless here. I cannot thank you anywhere near appropriately for that. I can especially relate to it. Um. I know how important it was for me to be reminded of my dad, uh and many people and things over the course of my life have and the same thing with my mother as um as well. Thank you for joining us. Episode two special one for me the people that I spent the last twenty years with my family, Russia's radio family, Dawn and Brian. Next tweek we have

a special treat for you. The executive not only behind Rush, but behind most of the big names in radio that you know, Craig Kitchen joins us next episode. Rush Limbaugh, The Man behind the Golden e I B Microphone is produced by Chris Kelly and Phil Tower, the Best producers in America, Production assistant Mike Mamone and the executive producers Craig Kitchen and Julie Tobbot. Our program distributed worldwide by premier networks, found on the I Heart Radio app or

wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. This is James Golden. This is both Nervely, this is James Golden. I'm honored to be your host for this in every single episode of Rush Limbaugh, The Man behind the Golden E I B Microphone. Thank you for being with us.