Speaker 1: This episode of Russ Lumbaugh, The Man behind the Golden
Speaker 1: E I B Microphone, includes an interview with Chad Elliott
Speaker 1: recorded just three weeks ago in preparation for this release.
Speaker 1: It's with great sorrow we share that Chad Elliot passed
Speaker 1: away in June twelfth, just prior to this episode's release.
Speaker 1: Our prayers and thoughts with Chad's family, friends, co workers,
Speaker 1: and other loved ones at this very sad time. Um
Speaker 1: Rush Lumba used to refer to himself as just the
Speaker 1: guy on the radio, and to be fair, he was
Speaker 1: on the radio, but he was far more than just
Speaker 1: a guy. Over the years, as many of you know,
Speaker 1: Rush raised a lot of money for various non profit
Speaker 1: and charitable organizations, from relief to families of fallen heroes,
Speaker 1: to Leakemia research and more. But those are things you've
Speaker 1: heard about on the air. Those are the things that
Speaker 1: Rush talked about. What you don't know, because Rush never
Speaker 1: talked about it on the air, are the deeds that
Speaker 1: he did for people off the air. And you know
Speaker 1: he never wanted credit. He always would tell people or
Speaker 1: tell those that he gave so generously too. Don't tell
Speaker 1: anybody he didn't want people to know because it was
Speaker 1: from his heart. Today, we're going to explore that generosity
Speaker 1: that was so prevalent in Russia's character, and I'd like
Speaker 1: to start this episode by telling you my own story
Speaker 1: when Rush first came to w A b C. Before
Speaker 1: the Russia Limbas Show became the mega success that it was,
Speaker 1: when it was just the radio show with fifty six
Speaker 1: stations and most people didn't know who Russia Limba was.
Speaker 1: Yet Russia's spirit was still the same. I know this
Speaker 1: because I'm one of the people that was affected by it.
Speaker 1: I was a young guy in my third piece. For
Speaker 1: those of you operating under the illusion that radio is
Speaker 1: a high paying industry, well, when you're successful, it can
Speaker 1: be very rewarding. But like a lot of media jobs,
Speaker 1: if you're working behind the scenes, you're not making a
Speaker 1: heck of a lot of money. You do it because
Speaker 1: you love it. Well, I was one of those kids.
Speaker 1: I loved what I did. I was in the media
Speaker 1: and I wasn't making a hell of a lot of money.
Speaker 1: Found myself in debt, so on the line talking to
Speaker 1: bill collectors, not even aware that others could hear me.
Speaker 1: And one of those others that did hear me was Rush.
Speaker 1: I get a call over the intercom, James, can you
Speaker 1: come back to my office? It's Rush. So I go
Speaker 1: back to his office and he asked me to shut
Speaker 1: the door. Rush said to me, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to get in your business. I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: intrude in your personal life. But I couldn't help. But
Speaker 1: over here parts of your phone call, and I just
Speaker 1: want to ask you, is everything okay? Are you? Are
Speaker 1: you okay? Of course I'm embarrassed. You know who wouldn't be,
Speaker 1: But I fessed up, you know, you know Russia. Look,
Speaker 1: things are okay, but I'm having a little problem, you know,
Speaker 1: money problems here and there. And he persisted, well, how
Speaker 1: much you're gonna know for? How much are you in
Speaker 1: debt for? And I reluctantly told him the amount. It
Speaker 1: was about five thousand dollars on it all. And I
Speaker 1: want to be really clear about something. Five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: to me then was a lot of money to me.
Speaker 1: Now it's a lot of money. He said, Look, I
Speaker 1: want to tell you, Look, don't panic over it. Things
Speaker 1: will work out. You're gonna be okay, and and don't
Speaker 1: sweat it. Okay, so that little embarrassing session was over.
Speaker 1: Go back to work, and let me just make it clear.
Speaker 1: I wasn't working for Russia at this point. I hadn't
Speaker 1: even been rotated on his shows. This was during the
Speaker 1: stage when I was still just feeding in news stories
Speaker 1: once in a while that I thought he would be
Speaker 1: interested in. The Next day, I'm sitting in the newsroom
Speaker 1: in a calm, James, can you come back to my office.
Speaker 1: It's Rush. I go back to his office. Russ has
Speaker 1: shut the door. I shut the door, and he hands
Speaker 1: me an envelope. Is He says, this is for you.
Speaker 1: This is uh, this is not alone. This is a gift.
Speaker 1: Please don't tell anybody, but I did this for you.
Speaker 1: But I'm doing this because you're a good guy, and
Speaker 1: good guys deserved to have good things happened to him
Speaker 1: once in a while. M open up the envelope and
Speaker 1: there's to check in there for five thousand dollars. Rush.
Speaker 1: I wasn't working for Rush. Rush wasn't trying to buy
Speaker 1: my friendship because we were already friends. Rush was generous
Speaker 1: to his heart, into his soul. It is something that
Speaker 1: I will never forget. It is something that I have
Speaker 1: tried in my way to make sure that I have
Speaker 1: the same kind of generosity to people that I see
Speaker 1: that are in need where I can help, because it
Speaker 1: affected me so deeply. Now I want you to think
Speaker 1: about something I've watched, and I've heard all of these
Speaker 1: accusations about Rush Limbob from his political detractors over the years,
Speaker 1: people that don't know him, people that never listened to him.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that particularly has upset me
Speaker 1: over the years as a black guy, as an African American,
Speaker 1: a proud African American, is to hear my friend Rush
Speaker 1: called a racist. This is a man who didn't have
Speaker 1: a racist bone in his body. He wanted his staff
Speaker 1: to be excellent, so he got excellent people. It just
Speaker 1: so happened we had a very diverse staff. Gay, straight, black, white, Asian.
Speaker 1: Didn't matter as long as you were good at what
Speaker 1: you were doing. But Russia's heart was extended to people
Speaker 1: that he could help. Here's this little black kid from
Speaker 1: Queens we met just months before. This is before Rush
Speaker 1: the multimillionaire. This is before Rush the guy that's the
Speaker 1: king of the broadcast world. This is a guy who's
Speaker 1: struggling to make it up the chain himself. Rush Limbaugh
Speaker 1: had one of the most generous hearts of anyone I
Speaker 1: have or will ever meet in my life. And that's
Speaker 1: my story. Whether you listened every day you are at
Speaker 1: the E I V Network and the Rush Limball program
Speaker 1: heard on over six hundred great radio stations for every
Speaker 1: now and then nation's leading radio and talk show. The
Speaker 1: most eagerly anticipated program in Americans are the stories you've
Speaker 1: never heard from the people behind the scenes who knew
Speaker 1: him best and loved him most. Rush lim Ball having
Speaker 1: more fundly human being, it could be allowed to have
Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh, the man behind the Golden E I V Microphone,
Speaker 1: hosted by James Golden. Hey, James Golden here, you know
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Speaker 1: dot com clicking on the new radio listeners specials and
Speaker 1: use promo code icon. Lots of incredible offers there. Now
Speaker 1: that's my pillow dot Com promo code icon. You know,
Speaker 1: national disasters are a terrible thing for all those affected,
Speaker 1: all those that get swept away in their miss and
Speaker 1: almost ten years ago to the date, there was a
Speaker 1: natural disaster that will never forget Joplin, Missouri. Today, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be speaking with Chat Elliott, who's the operations manager
Speaker 1: of k z r G in Joplin, because the story
Speaker 1: involves Rush, Rush and Catherine. Chad, Welcome to our podcast series.
Speaker 1: It's an otter to be here. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for having me today. Well, Chad, let me, let me.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about what happened. You were working at the
Speaker 1: news talk Giant in Joplin, Missouri, k z RG. Tell
Speaker 1: us what happened ten years ago and e f five
Speaker 1: tornado towards Chaplin apart. About a quarter of town was destroyed.
Speaker 1: A hundred and sixty one people passed away parish that day,
Speaker 1: and it happened so quickly and there was really no
Speaker 1: time to prepare. We were on the air that day
Speaker 1: telling people take cover. That looks to be a pretty serious,
Speaker 1: bad situation. Uh, but we had no idea of what
Speaker 1: we were going to really see in the coming minutes.
Speaker 1: It happened about five pm. It was a Sunday, was
Speaker 1: and the Joplin High School UM graduation was happening that
Speaker 1: day at our college here in town, Missouri, Southern State University.
Speaker 1: And just as the graduation was ending and people were leaving,
Speaker 1: and the tornado sirens went off and people were getting
Speaker 1: in their cars trying to leave, and there were people
Speaker 1: in Pact did at that time they were struck by
Speaker 1: the tornado. Um, you just don't realize how bad a
Speaker 1: situation is. You know, you see it on TV, you
Speaker 1: hear about it on the radio, about devastation that comes
Speaker 1: from hurricanes and tornadoes, But until you've been in a
Speaker 1: situation like that or at ground zero, you don't really
Speaker 1: you can't really fathom what it's like. I just remember
Speaker 1: being on the air and just trying to warn people,
Speaker 1: and the phone calls started coming in. People were panicked.
Speaker 1: You had you could hear it in their voices that
Speaker 1: there was something really really wrong that or that had
Speaker 1: taken place in Joblin. They would tell us the hospital
Speaker 1: was wiped out, the hospital's gone, and you're thinking the hospital.
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, wait, well, how do you cope with that?
Speaker 1: How did people cope with their hospital being destroyed in
Speaker 1: the middle of this horrific tornado. It was chaos, utter chaos.
Speaker 1: People were uh, just trying to get well, really trying
Speaker 1: to get out of their homes. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of people trapped in their homes at this point. Thankfully
Speaker 1: we have a second hospital, we have to. We have Freeman,
Speaker 1: and we have Mercy here in Chown in town, but
Speaker 1: at the time it was Mercy St. John's and St.
Speaker 1: John's was wiped out. I was destroyed. Um. Just horrific situation.
Speaker 1: I remember trying to get home. My home was struck
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to get home because I was on
Speaker 1: the air telling this story, letting people know to take cover,
Speaker 1: and my wife sent me a text message, Um, it said, honey,
Speaker 1: I love you. I see the tornado, and then that
Speaker 1: was it. That was the last thing I heard from
Speaker 1: my wife until I could get home. It took me
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, and I only live about three minutes from
Speaker 1: our radio station, so it took me thirty minutes to
Speaker 1: get home. Because power lines were down, I had to
Speaker 1: park my car, I had to shim me underpower lines.
Speaker 1: And I went through the destroyed hospital and I saw
Speaker 1: people leaving that hospital in backs of pickup trucks. Uh.
Speaker 1: There were nurses holding uh saline bags in the air
Speaker 1: over these people while they're trying to load them in,
Speaker 1: and people were more bloodied. It was it was like
Speaker 1: a war zone, is the best way I could describe it.
Speaker 1: So I'm making my way through this situation here. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find out do I have a home, Do
Speaker 1: I have a wife? Do I have a daughter? Still,
Speaker 1: and trying to get through town. And I go through
Speaker 1: the hospital, and I hear the oxygen shooting into the air,
Speaker 1: uh and natural gas also shooting into the air. You
Speaker 1: can hear so candlestick waiting to go up if a
Speaker 1: spark was were to happen. At that point, I noticed
Speaker 1: that this this park. All the grass was gone. The
Speaker 1: tornado sucked all the grass off the ground. It was
Speaker 1: just as mud at this point. And I just remember
Speaker 1: vivid things like that popping back into my mind here
Speaker 1: ten years later. So I finally make it up to
Speaker 1: my neighborhood and the homes are gone. So I keep
Speaker 1: walking a little bit further, a little bit further, and
Speaker 1: I see, okay, the homes are totally gone at one
Speaker 1: end of my street. And then I start seeing some
Speaker 1: homes that are still standing. I get to my home.
Speaker 1: The roofs ripped off, and my wife is standing with
Speaker 1: our daughter in the middle of the street. Thank god
Speaker 1: they survived, but our home obviously was destroyed. Many people
Speaker 1: didn't survive that day. The building is gone, joshable, people
Speaker 1: trapped in their cars. I see cars scrumpled. The building
Speaker 1: is just the windows are blown out. Oh my lord,
Speaker 1: we've got power lines down all along here on Range Line. Uh.
Speaker 1: They definitely people need help here tonight. Good Will is destroyed.
Speaker 1: There are buildings missing, Josh. Right now, I see water
Speaker 1: shooting up the building right now. There there's so much damage.
Speaker 1: I cannot stress it enough. Please, if you don't need
Speaker 1: to be out tonight, stay home, power lizer down everywhere.
Speaker 1: There are people that are there have got to be
Speaker 1: injured right now. There are probably people's topitalities right now.
Speaker 1: People are trapped and buildings. There are Billy's missing that
Speaker 1: used to be here. They're totally gone, wiped away from
Speaker 1: the foundation. And this is a major hit. We have
Speaker 1: taken a major hit here in the city of Joplin,
Speaker 1: and there are people that are needing help. Sixty one
Speaker 1: people died, many many others injured, and that's physically injured.
Speaker 1: We're not talking about those whose psyche was injured by
Speaker 1: going through all of this. Everybody in Joplin, everybody, every
Speaker 1: single person had to be affected emotionally by what was
Speaker 1: going on in your town. Rush and Katherine saw those pictures,
Speaker 1: We saw the coverage, and the relief efforts got underway,
Speaker 1: and Rush and Katherine decided they wanted to help. What
Speaker 1: do you remember about that, Well, I remember Rush was trying.
Speaker 1: He was kicking off two of by tea uh, and
Speaker 1: he was looking for a location to come and host
Speaker 1: an event, and he chose Joplin. He's I remember he
Speaker 1: was on stage at the Fourth of July celebration and
Speaker 1: he said that he chose Chaplin Um because of our perseverance,
Speaker 1: because of our belief in our country, and how we
Speaker 1: took ourselves and and picked ourselves up by the bootstraps
Speaker 1: and we did what it was necessary to bring Choplin back,
Speaker 1: to make Chaplin whole again as best as we could.
Speaker 1: That was one of the interesting things here in Joplin,
Speaker 1: the debris UH and all of the storm damage. With
Speaker 1: a third of town destroyed, we had a lot of damage,
Speaker 1: and we were able to clean that up in record time.
Speaker 1: You had FEMA talking about they were just so surprised
Speaker 1: by that, and I think that intrigued Rush, and that's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons why Rush came to Joplin. And
Speaker 1: it was a very hot day. I do remember that
Speaker 1: on July the fourth year in Choplin, it was almost
Speaker 1: a hundred degrees UH. And the tea was a welcome sight.
Speaker 1: We really enjoyed it, and we had some groups of
Speaker 1: people that came out and helped Rush and Russia's team
Speaker 1: distribute the tea to the to the community. It was
Speaker 1: standing room. There wasn't a lot of room. People were everywhere.
Speaker 1: Just a chance to hear Rush speak. You may not
Speaker 1: know it yet but you are the essence of what
Speaker 1: the father had. You are You are the epitomey. You
Speaker 1: are the people who make this country work. What happened
Speaker 1: here is something that you are going to a race.
Speaker 1: You're gonna build back. It is going to get fixed,
Speaker 1: It is going to be rebuilt. It's going to be
Speaker 1: better than it ever was. You are going to show
Speaker 1: the rest of the country how it's done. You represent
Speaker 1: the best of what this country has to offer. You
Speaker 1: understand the principle of hard work and self reliance. You
Speaker 1: understand the difference between self interests and selfishness, and you
Speaker 1: are not selfish. You are all gonna be working in
Speaker 1: your own self interests to rebuild your lives, and in
Speaker 1: the process, everybody else's lives will be will rebuild right
Speaker 1: along with yours. We are all part. We are all
Speaker 1: part of a great part of this country that understands
Speaker 1: the kind steps of hard work and self reliance, respect
Speaker 1: for our neighbors, love, doing the best we can, playing
Speaker 1: by the rules, understanding none of us are perfect, but
Speaker 1: we're there for each other when times requiring. Joplin, Missouri,
Speaker 1: you are defining that the world Cowe's he truly cared
Speaker 1: about the people of Joplin. Being from Missouri as uh
Speaker 1: Rush was, he really cared about what was happening and
Speaker 1: the recovery effort here in Joplin, and I remember he
Speaker 1: made a sizable donation to Joplin's recovery effort, and it
Speaker 1: was just beautiful expression of love that Russian Catherine could
Speaker 1: have done. And just coming here and and bringing some
Speaker 1: a distraction. I think I've described it that way for
Speaker 1: the last few years, is a distraction from what we've
Speaker 1: been dealing with because a tornado of that magnitude, a
Speaker 1: storm of that magnitude, it really affects a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of people. And we were still I mean,
Speaker 1: we're forty three days post tornado, and we were trying
Speaker 1: to clean our lives back up and get things back
Speaker 1: on the right path, and it just seemed like every
Speaker 1: day it was a burden, one thing after another. Rebuilding
Speaker 1: we were trying to rebuild at that time. But Rush
Speaker 1: coming was such a distraction, is such a welcomed distraction
Speaker 1: from the chaos that we had been living for the
Speaker 1: last forty three days. At that point, we're gonna have fireworks,
Speaker 1: And I believe there was a band that was gonna
Speaker 1: play uh and Rush was going to come out and speak. Uh.
Speaker 1: So kind of the festivities were set up. Rush was
Speaker 1: concerned about the vendors and you know about their loss
Speaker 1: because he was there handing out too by tea. So
Speaker 1: he went and made sure every vendor was taken care
Speaker 1: of monetarily. I bet they were surprised. Absolutely. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the things we heard in in town at
Speaker 1: that time was why why are we bringing in someone
Speaker 1: like Rush Limbaugh to speak to the crowd. And we
Speaker 1: would always this would not only at that time, but
Speaker 1: years later, you know, you would. You didn't hear from
Speaker 1: Hollywood or the big celebrities coming in. We didn't have
Speaker 1: any of that. And there were no donations by anyone
Speaker 1: else of of that magnitude, nothing like what Rush did.
Speaker 1: Rush's contribution to Joplin, he really did care and he
Speaker 1: was here and he made sure Joplin was taken care of.
Speaker 1: So what are you going to do. What I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do is keep the spotlight on Joplin, Missouri and how
Speaker 1: you were overcoming something that was just throwing your way.
Speaker 1: So thank you all very much. You have a great future.
Speaker 1: You are Americans. We are all Americans. I remembers all
Speaker 1: stop and you whatever you want to be. In each episode,
Speaker 1: we continue to document the biographical journey of Russia's life,
Speaker 1: narrated by some of his friends and colleagues. Today, we're
Speaker 1: pleased to welcome, like Russia, man of strong conviction, a
Speaker 1: uniquely talented broadcast host, Glenn Beck. The Life of Russia Limbaugh,
Speaker 1: Chapter six, narrated by Glenn Beck. The landscape of national
Speaker 1: syndication of daytime talk radio shows in was lonely compared
Speaker 1: to the daytime syndication space of today. The idea of
Speaker 1: the time was bold and full of risk. But Ed
Speaker 1: McLaughlin knew intimately the power of spoken word radio, and
Speaker 1: he knew the time to strike was then you have
Speaker 1: a giant in the radio business. Ed McLaughlin, who retires
Speaker 1: from ABC, is given two hours of satellite time to
Speaker 1: fill as he wishes. He could have chosen to do
Speaker 1: anything with these two hours. He could have played music.
Speaker 1: He could have done you know, polka, he could have
Speaker 1: done Chinese opera. But he believed in the power of
Speaker 1: spoken word radio. He believed it could win. So on
Speaker 1: August one, nationwide syndication of the Rush Limbop program began
Speaker 1: The initial offering was two hours a day, and fifty
Speaker 1: six brave stations stood with Rush as true believers and
Speaker 1: loyal affiliates. On day one, it took off. It took
Speaker 1: off faster and bigger than anybody had expected. It took
Speaker 1: off and exploded the way you dream about. The flagship
Speaker 1: station of the Rush Limbaugh program was seventy seven w
Speaker 1: a d C in New York. In the beginning, Rush
Speaker 1: also hosted a local show from ten till noon, and
Speaker 1: then his national radio program from noon to two pm
Speaker 1: Eastern every day on the inaugural affiliates scattered all across America.
Speaker 1: The reason I had to do that was that we
Speaker 1: started with fifty six stations. That's not enough stations for
Speaker 1: national advertisers to care. And I faced for a year
Speaker 1: and a half derision and criticism and mockery and all
Speaker 1: that for what I was trying to do and the
Speaker 1: way we didn't. The reason I had to do that
Speaker 1: in New York show is because that's where we were
Speaker 1: given three minutes an hour to sell national advertising. So
Speaker 1: we were able to tell advertisers their commercials would be
Speaker 1: heard in New York City. Because if you couldn't do
Speaker 1: that back then, you couldn't have a nationally syndicated program.
Speaker 1: In a matter of months, the program expanded to three
Speaker 1: hours of daily national syndication R noon to three, and
Speaker 1: the program's rapid growth demanded more attention and focus from Rush,
Speaker 1: ultimately leading to the end of his local midday program
Speaker 1: on w ABC. ED McLaughlin's brilliant bet on daytime syndication
Speaker 1: paid off, exceeding even the wildest expectations of his now
Speaker 1: superstar host Rush Limbaugh. The show's growth was unstoppable, reaching
Speaker 1: an unprecedented five hundred national affiliates in only three years,
Speaker 1: and that's a number that only continued to grow in
Speaker 1: the thirty that followed. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has
Speaker 1: been supporting America's heroes since nine eleven, on America's darkest day,
Speaker 1: so many people gave their lives for us. The foundation
Speaker 1: carries forward a legacy of courage and heroism by honoring
Speaker 1: first responder and military heroes, great Americans who protect our
Speaker 1: communities and our freedom, and they're willing to die for
Speaker 1: you and me. When these heroes are killed in the
Speaker 1: line of duty and young children are left behind, Tunnel
Speaker 1: to Towers pays off their mortgage to lift the financial
Speaker 1: burden and bring these families much needed stability. For catastrophically
Speaker 1: injured veterans and first responders, Tunnel to Towers builds mortgage
Speaker 1: free smart homes. It gives them back their independence. America's
Speaker 1: heroes and their families need your help. Join Tunnel to
Speaker 1: Towers on their mission to do good in their honor.
Speaker 1: Donate eleven dollars a month by going to t T
Speaker 1: t dot org. That's t the number two T dot org.
Speaker 1: You are the most generous audience there is, and we
Speaker 1: thank you for your support. Our other guests today from
Speaker 1: the E I B Network Scott Hennan of W D, A,
Speaker 1: Y and FAGO. Now this was something of a surprise.
Speaker 1: Scott was interviewing me about the podcast and he revealed
Speaker 1: a story about Russia's generosity that we just had to
Speaker 1: include in this episode. When you hear it, you'll know why.
Speaker 1: Here's a clip from that interview. I do remember after
Speaker 1: the flood of nineties seven, Russia been the Grand Forks
Speaker 1: in the early nineties on a rushed excellence tour and
Speaker 1: he hated a restaurant called Sanders. Went back, talked about
Speaker 1: Sanders on the air, got to know the owner and
Speaker 1: the owner. Funny thing was the owners very liberal, but
Speaker 1: he he loved Rush. And Rush found out about his
Speaker 1: restaurant being destroyed during the flood and called one day
Speaker 1: on the air talk to people, said, boy, you you
Speaker 1: really inspire us, and how you're just picking up the bootstraps,
Speaker 1: not waiting for government to getch you through the flood
Speaker 1: of the century, and send a personal fifty tho dollar check, uh,
Speaker 1: to the to the owner of that restaurant. Never forget
Speaker 1: this when I found a firsthand just how generous he was.
Speaker 1: Didn't want anybody to know about, didn't make a big
Speaker 1: deal of it, but uh, just that kind of a
Speaker 1: kind of a man, and very generous obviously to me.
Speaker 1: Brought us down to a palm beach to record television
Speaker 1: commercials for the launch of our Ama Love and handed
Speaker 1: the flag and uh and just so sweet to my
Speaker 1: mother in law who came along, and I just I
Speaker 1: could go on and on and on. You know all
Speaker 1: those stories, James, but it's a it's pretty incredible. We
Speaker 1: told our audience that really Rush taught us a lot,
Speaker 1: and now it's up to us, isn't if there will
Speaker 1: never be enough another Rush limbla broll there. There will
Speaker 1: never be another Rush Lim whatever. That is not a
Speaker 1: story that I had heard. And see this is what
Speaker 1: I mean. Every day we're learning more and more about
Speaker 1: Rush and some of the things that he did, and
Speaker 1: his legacy is just going to be filled with people
Speaker 1: that come out and revel the nature of his humble
Speaker 1: but very generous personality. Thank you for being so generous
Speaker 1: with your time, Scott, and for telling us that incredible story.
Speaker 1: Well that's easy to do. And I tell you he
Speaker 1: is uh holds a special place in us our Heartedy
Speaker 1: well forever both nerd like folks. There he is. James Golden.
Speaker 1: Thanks James, appreciate you. We'll talk to you. So the
Speaker 1: guy he was talking about was a liberal, and that's
Speaker 1: where Russia's heart was it. You know, we're all Americans.
Speaker 1: We go through natural disasters, we go through the ups
Speaker 1: and the downs of life without our political affiliations tied
Speaker 1: to us. Rush Catherine have given so much. They've given
Speaker 1: so much of their time, they've given so much of
Speaker 1: their energy, and they've helped raise money for those in need,
Speaker 1: and that is part of his legacy that will never
Speaker 1: be a raised. I also want to say a quick
Speaker 1: note to all of you in the Russian Limball audience
Speaker 1: and beyond to those of you who listened to talk radio,
Speaker 1: to those of you involved this audience, the Russian Limbaugh audience,
Speaker 1: the audiences of many, so many talk radio hosts around
Speaker 1: the nation have proven to be the most generous souls
Speaker 1: in America. You give, you give to help people, you
Speaker 1: give to change people's lives. You earn and you give,
Speaker 1: and very often without anyone saying thank you. So from
Speaker 1: all of us who are working on this series, Rush Limbaugh,
Speaker 1: the man behind the Golden eib Mike, we'd like to
Speaker 1: say thank you. I thought it would be helpful to
Speaker 1: define conservatism for people because nobody else was. Everybody has
Speaker 1: assumed conservatisms this or that, small government, less taxes and
Speaker 1: all this stuff. But it's really about people. It's about
Speaker 1: our understanding of people. It's about our faith trust in people.
Speaker 1: It's about the knowledge that it is people that make
Speaker 1: a great nation. It's ordinary people pursuing an accomplishing extraordinary
Speaker 1: things with the freedom the ambition to do so. And
Speaker 1: I just thought it needs to be pointed out. The
Speaker 1: reason I wanted to relive it is because we put
Speaker 1: together a montage that will demonstrate the love and compassion
Speaker 1: that you in this audience have shown consistently for thirty
Speaker 1: one years. Despite all the attempts to impugne you and me,
Speaker 1: to criticize us, to label us improperly as racist, sexist,
Speaker 1: or bigots, for thirty one years, you have proven and
Speaker 1: demonstrated time and time again my explanation of who we
Speaker 1: as conservatives are. The Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation that
Speaker 1: is now of Fisher is going to get in excess
Speaker 1: of four point two million dollars because I am matching
Speaker 1: Betty Casey's bid on eBay four point two million dollars
Speaker 1: because of you too. If By Tea has donated over
Speaker 1: a million dollars in product and monitor Harry donations to
Speaker 1: incredible causes, including the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. Folks,
Speaker 1: you have done it again. You exceeded one million dollars
Speaker 1: in charitable donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.
Speaker 1: We ended up a total take of two million, five
Speaker 1: d nineteen thousand, six hundred and forty three dollars with
Speaker 1: Leukemia Lymphoma Society Radio thon last week. Yes, my friends,
Speaker 1: it was a record Leukemia Lymphoma Society Radio than excess
Speaker 1: of three million dollars. It was another record amount donated,
Speaker 1: and folks, it is phenomenal. The final number is gonna
Speaker 1: come somewhere north of three million dollars. We sent a truck.
Speaker 1: Laude was about three thousand cases of two of five
Speaker 1: teen to the Joplin Fourth of July celebrations, Items of
Speaker 1: interest to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Unchael Milken
Speaker 1: and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the Boys and Girls Clubs
Speaker 1: of America, the Elves for Autism charity golf outing. All
Speaker 1: the proceeds went to the Fisher Houses. The Adventure of
Speaker 1: Rush Revere series is a proud sponsor of the Navy
Speaker 1: Seals Museums. Liberty delivered a whole bunch of books so
Speaker 1: the Toys for Touch program. Today we have thousands upon
Speaker 1: thousands of donors here in the Adopted Soldier program. We
Speaker 1: have zoomed past one hundred thousand t shirts and there
Speaker 1: were fourteen thousand new orders today. The amount of money
Speaker 1: that we were able to donate to Tunnel the Towers
Speaker 1: is one point five million dollars. We had so many
Speaker 1: more sales over the weekend. That we have upped the
Speaker 1: donation to tunnel the towers from one and a half
Speaker 1: million two million dollars today, a monumental achievement. We have
Speaker 1: now raised three million dollars for the Tunnel of Towers
Speaker 1: found Foundation. You know, today we've been talking a lot
Speaker 1: about and you've been hearing a lot about Russia's charity work,
Speaker 1: Russia's philanthropy, the work of Katherine and Rush in helping people.
Speaker 1: There was another giver on our E. I. B Staff
Speaker 1: and one that all of us miss terribly and will
Speaker 1: never forget. And the Russia Limbus Show would not have
Speaker 1: been the Russia Limbus Show that you know without him.
Speaker 1: He was our chief of staff. His name was Kit Carson,
Speaker 1: and Kit was very involved every year with the Lukmia
Speaker 1: than That's just one of the things that he did.
Speaker 1: Kit was a friend to everybody on the staff. He
Speaker 1: always brought humor with him, He always brought honesty with him,
Speaker 1: and Kit and I would have the most credible time.
Speaker 1: Some people compared our relationship if you've ever seen the
Speaker 1: the movie with the Trivolta and uh Sam Jackson pulp fiction,
Speaker 1: they would compare the relationship that that that Kit and
Speaker 1: I had to Uh to pulp fiction because he would
Speaker 1: just go at it with each other in the control room.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you a secret, this Kit had a nickname
Speaker 1: from me and Uh and I had a nickname for him.
Speaker 1: So Kid used to call me Shoka Zulu, and and
Speaker 1: he did it with Hey, Shokazulu. And what he would
Speaker 1: do is just I'd call Kit Casper the friendly ghost
Speaker 1: because Kit was pale with this beautiful red hair, this
Speaker 1: this full head of red hair. Kid was like a
Speaker 1: brother to me. We were like brothers. And Kit and
Speaker 1: his lovely wife Teresa, and his two kids, Jesse and
Speaker 1: Jack were just, I mean, just the perfect family. And
Speaker 1: one of the things that that happened in our show was,
Speaker 1: I guess now when I look back on it on
Speaker 1: kind of a preparation for loss, is that Kit had
Speaker 1: a difficult bout with cancer and we lost Kid and
Speaker 1: and Rush the whole staff was just and we still
Speaker 1: are in mourning for Kid, even as we mourn Rush.
Speaker 1: And I'd like for you to listen to a few
Speaker 1: things that that Rush said about our dear friend, our
Speaker 1: chief of staff, our beloved Kit Carson. I speak for
Speaker 1: everybody here at the e IB Network when I say
Speaker 1: that there's just we. We we feel a an overwhelming absence.
Speaker 1: We feel an overwhelming m whole in the in the
Speaker 1: normal ebb and flow of of energy and presence in
Speaker 1: our network because of the passing yesterday morning of Chief
Speaker 1: of Staff Christopher kit Carson, and it's going to take
Speaker 1: a while. He was relevant member of the staff. Chief
Speaker 1: of staff chiefs of staff are been with me longer
Speaker 1: than anybody the twenty seven years. I can't possibly personally
Speaker 1: respond to everyone who is sending me email condolences, but
Speaker 1: they are. They're beautiful. And the people who are writing
Speaker 1: me who knew Kit are telling me stories that I
Speaker 1: didn't know, things that had happened with with when they
Speaker 1: had interacted with Kitty. Funny funny stories. They were descriptions
Speaker 1: of his magnanimous and gracious and hilarious personality. It's not
Speaker 1: I don't misunderstand it's it's it's not that I didn't
Speaker 1: know of the aspects of his personality. I didn't know
Speaker 1: the specific details of these particular stories. We never told me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went out last night, I was such and such
Speaker 1: and here's what I told him, and here's what they
Speaker 1: said back that that only happened when I wanted to
Speaker 1: know what happened with certain things. And most of these
Speaker 1: stories they're just they're just fabulous and they're great. You know,
Speaker 1: Mark Stein had a great comment. He had a he
Speaker 1: had a great piece by the way, I'm kid at
Speaker 1: his website. It was really sweet. It was really, really
Speaker 1: really good. Mark sneine and he said, pointed, this is
Speaker 1: people joining IB and they never leave. And that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why this show works so well. It's
Speaker 1: because it's it's we've been a team here by twenty
Speaker 1: seven years, folks, that we've either completed or we just started.
Speaker 1: I get these anniversaries all screwed up in the in
Speaker 1: the odd years, but it's a lot of years, and
Speaker 1: everybody on the staff contributes in their own way. But
Speaker 1: you know, I, I just have decided that based on
Speaker 1: the things I've learned um on my little success track here,
Speaker 1: they don't need to go home and have their families
Speaker 1: scream at them about why are they staying in about
Speaker 1: you one of the rush portugular I just it's it's
Speaker 1: it's just better and safer for them if if they
Speaker 1: remain out in a line of fire, pure and simple
Speaker 1: That's that's why you haven't heard a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: names mentioned all the time. Kit Carson's family's wife Teresa,
Speaker 1: and his kids. I have have asked if there are
Speaker 1: any remembrances, that they be donations to one of two places,
Speaker 1: Leukemia Lymphoma Society of America or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Speaker 1: Center in New York, which is where kid was treated.
Speaker 1: They loved him there. I've never seen this before. Doctor
Speaker 1: cried when he was released to go home on I
Speaker 1: guess it was Tuesdays last week, doctor right. She had
Speaker 1: really grown attached to it. One of the reasons why, well,
Speaker 1: it was I am an engaging personality, was how courageously
Speaker 1: and good naturedly he fought it. None of us ever saw.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he in his private moments was mad cursing
Speaker 1: himself for whatever rotten luck. But as far as we
Speaker 1: were concerned, it was just he was always in a
Speaker 1: in an upbeat, engaging mood. He was very infectious, uplifting personality.
Speaker 1: And every day or every other day, whenever, however, he
Speaker 1: often he had to go get a treatment. Was like
Speaker 1: you have got to go doctor, just got a doctor appointment.
Speaker 1: There was no attempt to garner any sympathy. It was
Speaker 1: the other way around. It was it was too not
Speaker 1: cause the distraction. It was just the most amazing thing, folks.
Speaker 1: Kit Carson. He took all kinds of pressure off of
Speaker 1: me so I could stay focused on this and he
Speaker 1: was able to do this getting to know me and
Speaker 1: studying program. It was he could do it to sleep
Speaker 1: after a while. That's why this isn't going to be
Speaker 1: such a big void. And he knew when when the
Speaker 1: program is over. This is tough to explain. When the
Speaker 1: program's over, it's solved. I don't want to do anything
Speaker 1: related to the program for at least three hours. I
Speaker 1: am wrung out, but I'm not allowed. I've often said
Speaker 1: other things, I've gotten a point where I don't have
Speaker 1: to do what I don't want to do. That's not true.
Speaker 1: Where Kid was involved, program would end every day three
Speaker 1: o'clock and I would record the morning update for both
Speaker 1: audio in the video version of it. So what he
Speaker 1: would routine we do. I would do the two updates,
Speaker 1: usually can get them both done in one take. What
Speaker 1: are you and video at the same time, and Kit
Speaker 1: would routinely say, well, that's it, that's it. I got
Speaker 1: nothing here, and I'd say, fine, that's cool, except and
Speaker 1: then he'd launched into ten things or five or whatever
Speaker 1: it was. But he always prefaced it by saying, look,
Speaker 1: I got nothing's nothing here, I'm free and queered. Oh wait.
Speaker 1: It always softened my reaction. He had it down to
Speaker 1: a science. That's why all of that stuff us And
Speaker 1: that's as much inside Baseball as we need to bore
Speaker 1: you with. We just we feel like a giant that
Speaker 1: we just miss him. There's a there's a void and
Speaker 1: emptiness here. It's gonna be a long time uh to
Speaker 1: get used to, but we uh we hope God bless
Speaker 1: us kidneys family. After Rush passed, a lot of us
Speaker 1: are talking now and we're sharing stories among ourselves, people
Speaker 1: that worked within the organization, and there are a lot
Speaker 1: of stories that you will never hear because Rush wanted
Speaker 1: it that way. But let me tell you something, this
Speaker 1: man was a giver. He was a giver. That's who
Speaker 1: wrestling ball was a very sincere thanks today to Chat
Speaker 1: Elliott and Scott Hennings for telling their stories about how
Speaker 1: Rush directly affected the markets that they live and work
Speaker 1: in with his generosity. And we'd also like to thank
Speaker 1: the many other thousands of program directors, general managers, radio
Speaker 1: personalities all across the E I B Network who for
Speaker 1: over thirty years have stood with us with their loyalty
Speaker 1: and their dedication to the Russia Limbas Show. On our
Speaker 1: next episode, we get to have some fun. We're going
Speaker 1: to explore the lighter side of the Russia Limb Bass
Speaker 1: Show with impressionists and parody writer Paul Shanklin, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna hear some of Russia's greatest bits, plus some stories
Speaker 1: about just how funny Rush was off the air. All
Speaker 1: that and more on our next episode. Russia Limbaugh, The
Speaker 1: Man Behind the Golden E I B Microphone is produced
Speaker 1: by Chris Kelly and Phil Tower, the best producers in America,
Speaker 1: Production assistants Mike Mamone and the executive producers Craig Kitchen
Speaker 1: and Julie Talbot. Our program distributed worldwide by Premier Networks,
Speaker 1: found on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite podcast. This is James Golden, this
Speaker 1: is both Snerveley, This is James Golden. I'm honored to
Speaker 1: be your host for this. In every single episode of
Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh The Man Behind the Golden I B microphone.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us, H