I was a 17 year old high school kid when I first heard of Rush Limbaugh. I was making a whopping $5.50 an hour at the former WARD-AM in Pittston, PA when we were one of the first radio stations to carry the conservative talk show host when he went national on August 1, 1988.
At the time, our programming contained a mix of local talk and syndicated shows fed to us by WABC in New York. Rush joined the line up along with Dr. Joy Browne, Alan Colmes and the guy perfect for putting you to bed at night, Tom Snyder.
I remember working the night shift and falling asleep at the board listening to Snyder and missing the local breaks. At 500 watts of night-time power, our signal hit about a half-dozen radios but somehow Jim Ward, the owner, always caught me. I don’t think the guy ever slept.
Rush was a big hit in the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton, PA market along with the others he was carried in. He went on to become the number one talk show host with the highest number of listeners year after year. I would never consider myself to be a rabid Limbaugh follower (called “ditto heads”), even though I’ve been listening to El Rushbo since he took to the air 24 years ago.
About a year after his debut on WARD, Rush went on a tirade about women who “farded” in their cars. I remember listening as he went on and on about how “farding on the highway is very dangerous, as well as offensive to others.” Many listeners, who thought he was talking about “farting” rather than “farding” – which is the act of putting on makeup, started to bombard the radio station with complaint calls.
Jim Ward in his carnival barker voice, interrupted the program to announce that he would not have anyone on his station degrading women and apologized for Limbaugh’s remarks. The Rush Limbaugh Program was history on WARD. Listeners called in praising Jim for his actions much like the way North Koreans bow down to their “Great Leader.”
Limbaugh’s remarks turned out to be perfect timing for old Jim. A station across town, WILK-AM, got the rights for the Limbaugh program and Jim was already put on notice that he was losing the show. By using the “farding” excuse, Jim saved face by making listeners believe that he was dumping the show when in reality it was the show dumping him.
Limbaugh has been on WILK ever since.
Rush has been a polarizing and controversial figure from the day he hit the airwaves. But no single talk show host, on television or radio, has as much influence on politics as he does. Regardless of whether you like or hate, agree or disagree, or whether you’re a “ditto head” or not, one thing is for certain… Rush has weathered the storm many, many times in the past and he’s not going anywhere.