Speaker 1: Thank all of you for listening to this podcast. Were
Speaker 1: as you know, this podcast is devoted to russlan Ball,
Speaker 1: my hero, my friend, my boss, the greatest broadcaster in
Speaker 1: my opinion, whoever lived. And behind every great broadcaster, though
Speaker 1: there's an organization, there are people that make what happens happen.
Speaker 1: You don't just go into a room one day and decide, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a broadcasters. Somebody's there turns on the mic,
Speaker 1: well okay, and here you are. Know this happens as
Speaker 1: a result of a lot of hard work, not just
Speaker 1: on the part of what in the industry is referred
Speaker 1: to as talent. That would be what wrestling ball would
Speaker 1: be the talent, But behind every person that's the talent,
Speaker 1: there have to be so many other jobs. And people
Speaker 1: don't really realize a lot of people don't that are
Speaker 1: not in this industry. What it takes to have a
Speaker 1: very successful radio career. Well, you need people that have
Speaker 1: a radio stations number one, and they want to put
Speaker 1: you on those radio stations. But you are not going
Speaker 1: to those radio stations yourself. There are people that do
Speaker 1: that for you. There are people who sell your program
Speaker 1: for you so that you have advertisers. There are people
Speaker 1: who market your program for you so that the country
Speaker 1: knows who you are the way that you want to
Speaker 1: be framed. There are people that do so many jobs,
Speaker 1: and we have what in arnest is called traffic. Most
Speaker 1: people wouldn't know what that is. What traffic deals with
Speaker 1: the commercials, how they're placed, where they are placed. We
Speaker 1: have engineers like the great engineers like Brian Johnson and
Speaker 1: Mike Mamone, who you hear from at some point in
Speaker 1: this podcast series. But then there are the executives, the
Speaker 1: guys that say yay, the guys are saying nay, the
Speaker 1: guys that make things happen behind the scenes. And in
Speaker 1: the radio industry, there is a man and I've referred
Speaker 1: to him in earlier episodes who would be the equivalent
Speaker 1: of a household name. You cannot be in the radio
Speaker 1: industry or not know who he is because he is
Speaker 1: the most successful executive there is in the broadcast industry.
Speaker 1: He's brought more people that have talent to light. He
Speaker 1: is one of the nicest men you will ever meet
Speaker 1: in life, unless you cross him, and then he'll be
Speaker 1: your worst enemy. He is um. People don't know the
Speaker 1: generosity of his spirit. Maybe I'll be able to get
Speaker 1: some of that out because I know some things about
Speaker 1: him over the years that a lot of people don't.
Speaker 1: But he was with Rush for the last twenty years
Speaker 1: or some more. And he also runs This will show
Speaker 1: you the stature the Radio Hall of Fame. He's a legend.
Speaker 1: His name is Craig Kitchen, and Craig is here with
Speaker 1: us today. Whether you listened every day, you are at
Speaker 1: the E I B Network and the Russia Limball Program
Speaker 1: heard on over six hundred great radio stations where every
Speaker 1: now and then nation's leading radio talk show, the most
Speaker 1: eagerly inticipated program in em are the stories you've never
Speaker 1: heard from the people behind the scenes who knew him
Speaker 1: best and loved him most. Rushman War having more fundily
Speaker 1: human being, it could be allowed to have Rush Limbaugh,
Speaker 1: the man behind the Golden E I D Microphone, hosted
Speaker 1: by James Golden. Through the Stand Up for Betsy Ross campaign,
Speaker 1: you changed the lives of dozens of hero families in need.
Speaker 1: The campaign benefited The Tunnels Are Towers Foundation Tunnel to
Speaker 1: Towers Bills mortgage free smart homes for our nation's most
Speaker 1: catastrophically injured veterans and first responders to give them their independence.
Speaker 1: For gold star families and fallen first respond to families
Speaker 1: with young children, Tunnel to Towers pays off mortgages in
Speaker 1: full for these families and provides them with the comfort
Speaker 1: of a home when their world has literally been turned
Speaker 1: upside down. And thanks to this campaign to Stand Up
Speaker 1: for Betsy Ross campaign, you have seen to it that
Speaker 1: we have been able to send a charitable donation in
Speaker 1: total of five million dollars to Tunnel the Towers. Your kindness,
Speaker 1: generosity and patriotism brought hope when it was needed most
Speaker 1: but more of America's heroes in their families need your support.
Speaker 1: Donate eleven dollars a month to Tunnel to Towers at
Speaker 1: T two t dot org. That's the litteral t the
Speaker 1: number two t dot org. So Craig, welcome, Thank you,
Speaker 1: very kind to where it's I'm not sure I deserve
Speaker 1: all of them, but thank you you do deserve all
Speaker 1: of them. Now let me ask you a question, Craig,
Speaker 1: how did you meet rush? I met Russia? When Premier
Speaker 1: Networks obtain the distribution rights of Russia's program From Ed
Speaker 1: McLaughlin and the FM Media a financial transaction, the first
Speaker 1: one that really really put Russia Lumball's radio program value
Speaker 1: on the map for the industry. It gave ed McLaughlin
Speaker 1: the funds to retire very comfortably on It gave rush
Speaker 1: Uh an incredible stipend to continue wanting to be on
Speaker 1: radio and to focus on it. And most importantly, it
Speaker 1: gave him the the underwire and the current and the
Speaker 1: background and the backbone to say, I can do this
Speaker 1: for as long as I want to, because I've got
Speaker 1: a company that's got my back and got my resources
Speaker 1: and has every last thing he needs. And that was Premiere,
Speaker 1: and you founded Premiere Radio Networks. There were six of
Speaker 1: us that founded Premiere, and it took ten years of
Speaker 1: growth and hard work to be able to earn the
Speaker 1: trust of personalities like Russia Lumbaugh to be able to say,
Speaker 1: that's a company that I can be with that I
Speaker 1: know we'll have my back. How did you get in radio?
Speaker 1: I mean, how do you what's your story? I was
Speaker 1: an air personality in nineteen eighty one, in nineteen eighty two,
Speaker 1: and I was very mediocre when I was behind the microphone,
Speaker 1: very mediocre. But by eighty three I had discovered that
Speaker 1: I was very good behind the scenes helping people realize
Speaker 1: their full potential, and so I took some time to
Speaker 1: learn how to sell advertising and how the radio industry worked,
Speaker 1: and by nine eight seven I had found half a
Speaker 1: dozen partners who wanted to make what in the radio
Speaker 1: industry we call a radio network, a place where air
Speaker 1: personalities like yourself could come and be their very best,
Speaker 1: and that radio network would find radio stations to be
Speaker 1: heard on and advertisers to pay your paycheck. What was
Speaker 1: it like when you first met Rush? What what when
Speaker 1: you for the first time? It was in New York
Speaker 1: City and Rush was broadcasting that week from w ABC,
Speaker 1: And like a lot of individuals that come to New
Speaker 1: York City and go to work, Rush was suit and
Speaker 1: tie that day and very very formal and very focused
Speaker 1: on his radio program. And we had arranged some time
Speaker 1: in the morning to have a meeting, and in that
Speaker 1: time when I met him, I had no idea how
Speaker 1: focused he was between eight thirty and noon when he
Speaker 1: first went on the air. But for some reason, the
Speaker 1: meeting time that he had set up was at ten
Speaker 1: thirty in the morning, and so I went to have
Speaker 1: a meeting thinking we're going to spend the next hour,
Speaker 1: hour and a half talking until noon. Because Rush made
Speaker 1: it look and listen so easy that to anybody who
Speaker 1: ever has tuned in to listen to him, it sounds
Speaker 1: like it is a gift from God that the microphones open,
Speaker 1: the music plays, and he just starts talking to you
Speaker 1: as your best friend. I had no idea that he
Speaker 1: spent the better part of fifteen hours leading up to
Speaker 1: that moment preparing for that show. So on that morning
Speaker 1: in New York City, I find the equivalent suit and
Speaker 1: tie for that, and I go to w ABC to
Speaker 1: meet the man I'm just about to sign a new
Speaker 1: four year agreement with and start working with. And I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: we've got the better part of ninety minutes just to
Speaker 1: get to know each other. And you find out very
Speaker 1: quickly you have about eight minutes, and those eight minutes
Speaker 1: better counts. And so we had a great eight minutes together,
Speaker 1: and we understood that we were going to be working
Speaker 1: together again, and he made it very clear to me
Speaker 1: that he's got it really all figured out, and I
Speaker 1: just and I needed to find my groove and my
Speaker 1: rhythm and my relationship with the different staff members that
Speaker 1: he was working with at the time, but he could
Speaker 1: not have been warmer and more gregarious in that period
Speaker 1: of time. Rush has an ability, when he meets somebody
Speaker 1: for the first time, to be singularly focused on you
Speaker 1: and make sure you feel like you are the single
Speaker 1: most important person in his mind. And you have that.
Speaker 1: So I left feeling absolutely fantastic. I'm sure you have
Speaker 1: felt that, and others who have appeared on this podcast
Speaker 1: is said the same thing. Do you know who else
Speaker 1: that that very description. There's one other person I've heard
Speaker 1: that very description about Bill Clinton, that ability to focus
Speaker 1: in on you so clearly that you think you're the
Speaker 1: only one, You're the only one that exists, and and
Speaker 1: he's there for you every single moment. And you've got that,
Speaker 1: You've got that that ability to Craig, thank you. You
Speaker 1: know it's it's it's either in your nature's or not
Speaker 1: in your nature. I don't stop and take inventory of
Speaker 1: myself that way. But um I certainly saw that and
Speaker 1: felt that in the first time that I got to
Speaker 1: meet Russian if I were of the attitude that my
Speaker 1: primary goal was to go in that studio every day
Speaker 1: and make sure that America heard everything I said. And
Speaker 1: acted on it. You know, the ratings of the show,
Speaker 1: which is Plumber. I think I just happened to be
Speaker 1: saying what a whole lot of people think they don't
Speaker 1: have a chance to say themselves. That's why they called
Speaker 1: me the most dangerous man in America. As you know,
Speaker 1: on this series, we've been talking with some of Russia's friends,
Speaker 1: his colleagues, and family members. Today we have a very
Speaker 1: special guest on Russia, Limbaugh, the man behind the Golden
Speaker 1: the I B. Mike. He's a special friend of our program.
Speaker 1: In fact, he's come down to our Southern Command to
Speaker 1: interview Rush for his television show any number of times.
Speaker 1: Every time it was like a family reunion, A dear
Speaker 1: friend to Rush, a dear friend to the Russia Limbaugh Program.
Speaker 1: Sean Hannity The Life of Russia Limbaugh, Chapter three, narrated
Speaker 1: by Sean Hannity. After during a painful year of college
Speaker 1: at Southeastern Missouri University, young Rush Limbaugh, he bid farewell
Speaker 1: to college life and then immersed himself into his next
Speaker 1: big radio job. After loading up his nineteen sixty nine
Speaker 1: Pontiac Lamans, Rush headed east with dreams of making it
Speaker 1: big in the Iron City. D J Rusty Sharp from
Speaker 1: Cape Dorado, Missouri, was soon reborn as Bachelor Jeff Christie,
Speaker 1: first hosting an afternoon drive shift and later holding down
Speaker 1: the morning show on Wixie thirteen sixty, known as one
Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh's premier top forty radio stations, continues with much
Speaker 1: slid rock and goal seven three in the morning. I
Speaker 1: wish he saw Jeff Radio networked from sixte want to
Speaker 1: have a big hand for Mr and Mrs Arnold Feluci,
Speaker 1: a couple of new members for the Christie Radio network
Speaker 1: this morning, celebrating refrigerator favorites. Jeff Christie lasted barely eighteen
Speaker 1: months on w i Z before he was fired. I
Speaker 1: was in the fall of nineteen seventy two over what
Speaker 1: were described as quote differences over format. His departure from
Speaker 1: Wixie thirteen sixty quickly led to a bigger opportunity for Rush.
Speaker 1: It's a k h Jeff Christie and in early nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy three, Crosstown Top forty competitor k q V Radio
Speaker 1: Well they hired him to be their new nighttime DJ.
Speaker 1: That afforded Rush an even bigger platform and another opportunity
Speaker 1: to further develop his on air persona hey qu V
Speaker 1: three g K Jeff Christy Rocky Roll radio show Friday
Speaker 1: Night Johnson minutes away from forty four not stopping right
Speaker 1: out of statistics. Jeff Christie was beginning to hone future
Speaker 1: on air skills would eventually become the trademarks of Rush
Speaker 1: Limbaugh's excellence in broadcasting. Now, Rush would soon learn success
Speaker 1: in radio is kind of fickle, especially a station ownership
Speaker 1: change his hands, and a dramatic turn of events. The
Speaker 1: lame duck k QUB management well, they pushed the new
Speaker 1: program director to fire Rush, and ninety days later Rush
Speaker 1: Limbaugh Jeff Christie was out of work. When I got fired,
Speaker 1: I thought I was finished. I'd given it a shot.
Speaker 1: D J didn't work out. I didn't want to do
Speaker 1: anything else. This has been my one passion. And then
Speaker 1: a stinging rebuke that Rush would remember for decades. The
Speaker 1: station's general manager told the twenty something Rush Limbaugh that
Speaker 1: he would quote never make it in radio as an
Speaker 1: air talent, and that he should strongly consider the sales
Speaker 1: end of the radio business. I had an interview with
Speaker 1: a sales manager at the station that the guy was
Speaker 1: a genuine lunatic. He's I'm just me. I'm interviewing for
Speaker 1: the job, and he's yelling and screaming at me about
Speaker 1: what his demands will be and what they are, and
Speaker 1: I said, he's not gonna face this every day. So,
Speaker 1: after three years of trying to make a go of
Speaker 1: it in Pittsburgh, while Rush was out of another radio gig,
Speaker 1: Feeling defeated and dejected, he returned to the security and
Speaker 1: comfort of his home in Cape Girardo, Missouri. Russia was down,
Speaker 1: but as we all know, far from out, his determination
Speaker 1: for success far outweighed the idea of failure. The long
Speaker 1: version here telling you that this has been That's why
Speaker 1: I'm so fortunate I've I was able to end up
Speaker 1: doing what I think I was born to do. I've
Speaker 1: never had passion for anything else, I mean, career wise,
Speaker 1: like I've got for this. Not long ago, Mike Lindell,
Speaker 1: the inventor of My Pillow, and his team fit me
Speaker 1: for my very own my pillow. They also introduced me
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Speaker 1: That's I c o N. You've been with all of
Speaker 1: us for so long. Let me go back through that
Speaker 1: that day because that day was so profound. Like I said,
Speaker 1: you could you called us at different times. Dawn said,
Speaker 1: I didn't know until today that you had talked to
Speaker 1: Dawn the night before you talked to me that morning
Speaker 1: you talked to Brian. When did you find out what
Speaker 1: was going on with Rusha's illness? And what was your
Speaker 1: reaction when you heard it? And who did you hear
Speaker 1: it from? I heard it from Rush and Catherine and
Speaker 1: I had heard it the week before and late in
Speaker 1: the week before, and so I learned in a very
Speaker 1: very difficult conversation from Rush that he had advanced lung cancer.
Speaker 1: And like you, we had seen some irregularities in his
Speaker 1: on air behavior and his availability in a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks leading up to that. Rush is a very private
Speaker 1: person and if he chooses to take a day off,
Speaker 1: it's for a very important reason, and typically he does
Speaker 1: not need to tell you you're on an information need
Speaker 1: to know basis. But he had taken several days off
Speaker 1: over the last three weeks leading up to February three UM,
Speaker 1: and so late the week before we had an afternoon
Speaker 1: phone conversation, which is rare because Rush typically did not
Speaker 1: like to use the telephone for conversations. Email was one form,
Speaker 1: text messaging may have been another form, but in this
Speaker 1: particular case, he had asked to have a phone conversation
Speaker 1: that afternoon, and so he shared the new news that
Speaker 1: he had advanced lung cancer and that he had been
Speaker 1: diagnosed not once but twice, to get a confirmation that
Speaker 1: he was dealing with that. In my time with Rush,
Speaker 1: I have learned to um work with him. When he
Speaker 1: lost his hearing like you did. I have worked with
Speaker 1: him when he's had some problems with other parts of
Speaker 1: his body, you know, one of them being you know,
Speaker 1: as a man gets older in life, is your heart
Speaker 1: working regularly? What do you do in terms of good
Speaker 1: heart health? All of those things, And now along I
Speaker 1: hear advanced lung cancer, and I also heard a confidence
Speaker 1: in his voice that he had been diagnosed once but twice,
Speaker 1: but that there was a good group of doctors, a
Speaker 1: team of doctors and scientists that were going to come
Speaker 1: to help him. And because I had lived through the
Speaker 1: worst of life with Rush in his health and a
Speaker 1: couple of different capacities. To me, Rush was a man
Speaker 1: who had incredible mental capabilities if he put his into something,
Speaker 1: if you focused on it, if he looked for the answers.
Speaker 1: And I was right behind him and saying, we're going
Speaker 1: to get all the resources that you need for this,
Speaker 1: knowing full well that he had his wife Catherine to
Speaker 1: help him, that he had a good group of people
Speaker 1: to go to. So he shared with me several days
Speaker 1: before I had the chance to share with you, and
Speaker 1: he asked me to maintain my quietness, And so I
Speaker 1: carried that conversation in my mind apart from any other
Speaker 1: human being until that Monday when he wanted to be
Speaker 1: the one to share with you. And aside from you James,
Speaker 1: and and Don and Brian, who were the nucleus the
Speaker 1: family of four in the studio, there were twenty more
Speaker 1: people that are on our team and they're all over
Speaker 1: the United States, and he felt it was important to
Speaker 1: share the news simultaneously with each of you because just
Speaker 1: like he has relationships with you that are so uniquely special,
Speaker 1: he has the same with individuals in New York and
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and and other parts of the United
Speaker 1: States that will work together to make the program, the website,
Speaker 1: the Limball letter, all of those pieces. So that was
Speaker 1: the day, and we took into account everybody's schedule so
Speaker 1: that we could get everybody together before the show. You
Speaker 1: talk to everybody on the staff pretty much. I did,
Speaker 1: so I tried my best to get in touch with
Speaker 1: each of the staff without disclosing to them what we
Speaker 1: are going to be talking about, and without putting fear
Speaker 1: and worry. You know, one of our team members was
Speaker 1: driving that morning six and a half hours to get
Speaker 1: to that meeting, Dawn, and the thing that carried in
Speaker 1: My mind was, you don't want to tell somebody news
Speaker 1: that is gonna hinder their ability to safely drive. You
Speaker 1: want her to arrive safely for that meeting. Um, So
Speaker 1: you find a balance, You find a way to get
Speaker 1: it done and so that everybody is there together for
Speaker 1: what it's going to be one of the toughest days
Speaker 1: of their life. Rush was so stoic when he did.
Speaker 1: I mean you, you know, there was not a lot
Speaker 1: of emotion going on, except which I still to this day,
Speaker 1: can I believe that he actually apologized to us and
Speaker 1: said that he and said somehow he thought he was
Speaker 1: letting us down. That still blows my mind. But aside
Speaker 1: from that, he was he could have been. He was
Speaker 1: so stoic about it all. He started that conversation as
Speaker 1: if it was just a staff meeting, and we did
Speaker 1: never had staff meetings, right, right, two of them in
Speaker 1: twenty five years of working together. Right. But you're right
Speaker 1: he was stoic that moment. Did you get any hint
Speaker 1: to whether he was scared or what? You had another
Speaker 1: conversation with him, do you? And and and like all
Speaker 1: of us, we all have different relationships with him. Your
Speaker 1: relationship with Rush was was different than ourards. It was
Speaker 1: you as business partner. Yes, So what was what did
Speaker 1: you get from him? Um? I got the fact that
Speaker 1: he was resolved to get the best medical treat meant
Speaker 1: I got the fact or I got the sensation that
Speaker 1: he was up against something that he had never come
Speaker 1: up against before. That it was much more serious than
Speaker 1: losing his hearing and making your living as a talk
Speaker 1: show host. It was much more serious than um, worrying
Speaker 1: about family health history and having it happened to you.
Speaker 1: I got mom Millie died of lung cancer, and Milly
Speaker 1: was for those I I had. I had a lot
Speaker 1: of great interactions with Milly. Milly would would mail me
Speaker 1: cousettes of music. We love talking about music together. Um.
Speaker 1: When Rush in the early days, we'd go like places,
Speaker 1: Milly would would be there and Milli and I always
Speaker 1: hung out. I remember rocking Kristen to sleep, David's daughter
Speaker 1: when she was a baby while I was, you know,
Speaker 1: speaking with Milly and I were having a conversation when
Speaker 1: I was It's like memories like that that that that
Speaker 1: stick out. Would you remember James, for instance, the fact
Speaker 1: that Rush talked to his mom, Millie every day until
Speaker 1: she passed away. How many adult grown men who do
Speaker 1: not live in the same city with their mother as
Speaker 1: high profile and is busy and in demand as that
Speaker 1: gentleman was, would find time to talk to his mother
Speaker 1: every day. Every day, I'd go home to visit my mother,
Speaker 1: and I'd get there to be a hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: books stacked up on the table in the dining room
Speaker 1: that she'd collected from people have been sending them in.
Speaker 1: And I said, Mother, I'm coming here to get away
Speaker 1: from the no son you, but these people love you.
Speaker 1: You got to send me those books, and you've got
Speaker 1: to sign them so I can send them back. I said,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have time to talk to you. That's okay.
Speaker 1: You have to pay attention to these people. She just
Speaker 1: the fact that people all over the country loved her
Speaker 1: little boy just was was the greatest thing that ever
Speaker 1: happened to her, and she wanted to make sure that
Speaker 1: they knew that our family appreciated him. It's just like
Speaker 1: his dad all over. He is just the political his
Speaker 1: dad's alcoholic city and got his smart from his dad.
Speaker 1: And I must say silliness from me. Do you know
Speaker 1: I found a picture it's not It's not the greatest
Speaker 1: picture in the world. But I found over the weekend
Speaker 1: a picture of Rush had had rented a yacht for
Speaker 1: those of us on the show, and we this was
Speaker 1: when we were still up at w ABC and and
Speaker 1: so it was party night around Manhattan in this yacht
Speaker 1: and Milly was there. And I found a picture of
Speaker 1: Rush giving Milly a kiss on the lips and it
Speaker 1: was just the sweetest I just couldn't believe. It's like, Wow,
Speaker 1: I don't even remember taking that picture, but I but
Speaker 1: I found that picture. I'm glad you have that. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So Craig, before we I want to get back to
Speaker 1: talking about Rush, but I also want to talk about
Speaker 1: something that you do. Okay, I'm gonna say one word
Speaker 1: and Africa. I've been to Africa. What have you done
Speaker 1: in Africa? What do you what brought you to Africa.
Speaker 1: One of the other radio personalities that I work with
Speaker 1: is a woman by the name of Delilah I Love Ali,
Speaker 1: Glad to hear it. She has a radio program at
Speaker 1: night where she plays love songs and takes dedications and
Speaker 1: I've had the chance to work with her every day
Speaker 1: since two thousand and four. So for the last seventeen
Speaker 1: years or so. Uh Delilah took an interest in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four in a woman who wrote her a
Speaker 1: letter asking if she would adopt her black children from Africa,
Speaker 1: from Ghana, in particular, because she had heard that she
Speaker 1: was a white woman living in America who adopted black children.
Speaker 1: And it's true. Delilah has adopted some fifteen children in
Speaker 1: her life and at that time she had adopted six.
Speaker 1: Delilah thought the letter might have been bogus, and later
Speaker 1: it turned out to be real. And when she confirmed
Speaker 1: that it was real, she actually traveled for the first
Speaker 1: time outside of the United States, da Ghana, and when
Speaker 1: she was there, she met eighty thousand Liberians, or a
Speaker 1: population of eighty thousand Liberians living in a refugee camp
Speaker 1: in Ghana who had fled a war in Liberia, a
Speaker 1: civil war in Liberia, and fled for their lives. And
Speaker 1: she went on that trip and came back very much
Speaker 1: changed and said, these are people who live without fresh water.
Speaker 1: I have to get them freshwater. It's the only way
Speaker 1: they're going to live. And she went on to tell
Speaker 1: me that in the little clinic that was there serving
Speaker 1: all of them, most of the children born in that
Speaker 1: community passed away because of poor hygiene, poor water standards,
Speaker 1: and so I from Afar helped Delilah find a way
Speaker 1: to raise the money to build water wells, and unfortunately
Speaker 1: they turned out to be saltwater wells and they were unproductive.
Speaker 1: And so in two thousand and eight I took myself
Speaker 1: to Ghana four times to negotiate with the country of
Speaker 1: Ghana and the municipalities there to bring fresh water to
Speaker 1: that population of Liberians. Still to this day they drank
Speaker 1: fresh water for the equivalent of about cents per family
Speaker 1: per week because of the generosity of Delilah and the
Speaker 1: intestinal affortitude that I found and just making a deal
Speaker 1: that the country of Ghana could not refuse. Greig Kitchen
Speaker 1: is a deal maker. But we have a nickname for you.
Speaker 1: Are you going to reveal it or am I? I
Speaker 1: think it's best coming from the hostess Ray Donovan. We
Speaker 1: called Craig Kitchen. Ray Donovan is Craig gets it done, okay,
Speaker 1: like Brian gets it done. Craig gets it done, but
Speaker 1: it's on a whole another level, okay. So I aspire
Speaker 1: to be as productive and get it done as Brian
Speaker 1: Johnson boy, I thought it would be helpful to define
Speaker 1: conservatism for people because nobody else was Everybody has assumed
Speaker 1: conservatisms this or about small government, less taxes and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. But it's really about people. It's about our
Speaker 1: 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, and it's ordinary people pursuing an accomplishing
Speaker 1: extraordinary things with the freedom the ambition to do so.
Speaker 1: And I just thought it needed to be pointed out
Speaker 1: the love and compassion that you in this audience have
Speaker 1: shown consistently for thirty one years. Greig, you know you
Speaker 1: were the first person I guess that Catherine told to
Speaker 1: in our organization would Rush. What was that conversation. She
Speaker 1: was and is a very strong woman when it comes
Speaker 1: to so many things, including looking out for the best
Speaker 1: interest of Rush. And she was very composed and very
Speaker 1: strong when she shared the news that Rush was carrying cancer,
Speaker 1: lung cancer, advanced lung cancer, and she wanted to be
Speaker 1: there start to finish for him in every way, to
Speaker 1: organize the doctors that he could learn from the visits,
Speaker 1: that he could take, the medicines that he might benefit
Speaker 1: from the care when he was away from his doctors,
Speaker 1: that she could arrange for the first time. She thought
Speaker 1: about the fact that with all this high profile nature
Speaker 1: and the tabloid press being what it is, that maybe
Speaker 1: there was a need for security during this period of
Speaker 1: time to ensure that Russia's privacy was kept intact. Because
Speaker 1: she shares a lot of interest with Rush and the
Speaker 1: rest of the family at that time that his legacy
Speaker 1: was very important, she wanted to pay attention to that too.
Speaker 1: So all of that came in the form of some
Speaker 1: of the first conversations that we had once Rush shared
Speaker 1: with us that he had advanced lung cancer. When did
Speaker 1: you find out that Russia had passed in the morning,
Speaker 1: two hours before our radio program was to go on.
Speaker 1: UM you had seen him um for the last time
Speaker 1: in the studio on a Tuesday afternoon, I think about
Speaker 1: three o'clock, and as you know, he wanted to be
Speaker 1: on the air on that Wednesday, wanted to be on
Speaker 1: the air that Thursday, on that Friday, and UM, each
Speaker 1: day was a day by day circumstance. You know, there
Speaker 1: was not a guarantee that he was going to be
Speaker 1: on the air, but we had guest hosts that were
Speaker 1: on standby and back up and made available. And that morning,
Speaker 1: at about ten o'clock Eastern, I heard from Catherine that
Speaker 1: our beloved Rush had passed away. And UM, you prepare
Speaker 1: for that day that it comes. I wasn't prepared until
Speaker 1: that day comes, and then you're not prepared. Nothing prepares
Speaker 1: you for that. You could be the strongest human being
Speaker 1: on the planet Earth, but nothing prepares you for that loss.
Speaker 1: I still I always till the day that, till the
Speaker 1: day that did you call me and you told me?
Speaker 1: I thought that he was going to recover? And then
Speaker 1: I back on some things, and I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: I look back when things differently, Like he would tell us,
Speaker 1: like we were in the studio and he would say
Speaker 1: things like, well, I'm I'm around in a second and
Speaker 1: I won my way to third and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: well pretty soon you'll be home. And I thought home was,
Speaker 1: um was you know, we missioned the recovery. And lately
Speaker 1: I've been wondering about that. I don't I wonder whether
Speaker 1: he knew what was going on and he's you know,
Speaker 1: and whether he was really indicating that he was really
Speaker 1: headed to to home to return that talent back from
Speaker 1: whence it came, you know, So I wondered about that.
Speaker 1: I had a dream about Russia the other night, which
Speaker 1: I still don't continue to quite understand. You know, he
Speaker 1: didn't have the beard his earnest hemingway. Look, and in
Speaker 1: the dream, Brian and Don and we were talking with
Speaker 1: Rush and um Rush, it was like present. He said, Look,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna beat this. I'm I'm we don't you guys,
Speaker 1: stop worrying. I'm gonna beat this. Everything is gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: And it's just weird. I'm wondering, like, well, what does
Speaker 1: that dream about? And I think the more I think
Speaker 1: about that one, the more that that I think that
Speaker 1: he's telling us to do what we need to do,
Speaker 1: that he's cool, that he's fine. You know, it's weird
Speaker 1: because he cared about Rush had an ego that that
Speaker 1: any great performance has to have. He had an ego
Speaker 1: about his profession. He had an ego about who he
Speaker 1: was in the radio business. He had an ego about
Speaker 1: everything that he did in the radio business. At three o'clock,
Speaker 1: that ego was gone, and you came first. Whatever it was,
Speaker 1: it was about you first and not not him. He
Speaker 1: was really like selfless. So he worried a lot about
Speaker 1: like this notion that that he's letting us down. And
Speaker 1: he that's not the only time he said it. He
Speaker 1: said before that that he has a lot of people
Speaker 1: on the staff depending on him. Well, unlike a lot
Speaker 1: of organizations and a lot of businesses, there was no
Speaker 1: turn off at the E I B Network, And if
Speaker 1: it was, it was so rare we could count them
Speaker 1: on less than one hand. He never asked for our loyalty.
Speaker 1: It just came about because you witnessed him giving you
Speaker 1: his very best, and you wanted to give him your
Speaker 1: very best in return. And you saw the talent on
Speaker 1: loan from God, and you wanted to raise your game
Speaker 1: to be able to do it in your own way,
Speaker 1: in your own capacity. And so no one left the
Speaker 1: E I B Network. And so it's it would make
Speaker 1: sense that a man who is as humble as he is,
Speaker 1: who is appreciative of the fact that James you stopped
Speaker 1: your life and your career on air in the year
Speaker 1: two thousand to come back to help Rush when he
Speaker 1: was suddenly losing his hearing and he needed somebody that
Speaker 1: he could trust to talk to listeners and to help
Speaker 1: him in the privacy of a three hour studio, just
Speaker 1: like he welcomed Brian, just like he welcomed On. That's
Speaker 1: a man who broadcast by himself for years, turned on
Speaker 1: his own broadcast equipment, figured it out his own microphone,
Speaker 1: found his way through compu serve and any other computer iteration.
Speaker 1: He loved his privacy, So for him to give up
Speaker 1: his privacy at a time when you sacrificed your own
Speaker 1: on your career was something he never forgot. And I
Speaker 1: think that he displayed it to you in the way
Speaker 1: that he wanted to apologize to you for letting you
Speaker 1: down that day. He never let me down every but
Speaker 1: that day that he was so together when he shared
Speaker 1: the news with us at the beginning, I think he
Speaker 1: felt that he needed to be strong for us, and
Speaker 1: that was honestly what that was. He found it inside
Speaker 1: of himself to find the strength to be strong for
Speaker 1: us at a time when he knew we were going
Speaker 1: to be at our weakest. And yes, he went into
Speaker 1: the studio and he closed the door, and he composed
Speaker 1: himself and at twelve oh five and forty seconds, lights
Speaker 1: on great program. Even with all the nervousness that he
Speaker 1: knew that a two forty five that afternoon he had
Speaker 1: to tell his best kept secret, the worst possible news
Speaker 1: he could to an audience, because he knew that a
Speaker 1: secret that pregnant, no matter how guarded the doctors were,
Speaker 1: the scientists were, it would get out. And he knows
Speaker 1: what would happen if he did not control the news.
Speaker 1: And he always believed to be honest with your audience.
Speaker 1: Over the years, a lot of people have been very
Speaker 1: nice telling me how much this program is meant to them.
Speaker 1: But whatever that is, it pales in comparison to what
Speaker 1: you all have meant to me. And I can't I
Speaker 1: can't describe this, but I know you're there every day,
Speaker 1: I can see you. It's it's strange how I but
Speaker 1: I know you're there. I know you're there in great numbers,
Speaker 1: and I know that you understand everything I say. The
Speaker 1: rest of the world may not when they hear it
Speaker 1: express a different way, but I know that you do.
Speaker 1: You've been one of the greatest sources of confidence that
Speaker 1: I've had in my life. I've had in my life.
Speaker 1: So what's Russia's legacy can be? He will be remembered
Speaker 1: as a man who on air changed the course of
Speaker 1: conversation in America. He will be known as somebody who
Speaker 1: made conservatism cool. He will be known as somebody who
Speaker 1: opened up a genre of conversation on radio that spread
Speaker 1: to television, that spread to the Internet, that spread to
Speaker 1: the printed word, that spawned hundreds of books being published,
Speaker 1: where all of a sudden, you could have a healthy
Speaker 1: discourse or you could be proud of your conservative beliefs.
Speaker 1: He'll be known as an entertainer who transformed the radio
Speaker 1: medium one more time by giving life not just two
Speaker 1: hundreds of radio stations, six hundred and thirty three of
Speaker 1: them to be exact when he passed away, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, the thousands of employees that worked at
Speaker 1: those stations, who have families who depended on the financial
Speaker 1: welfare of those radio stations, and the tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of businesses who advertised on those sixty three radio stays.
Speaker 1: But maybe most of all, what he will be remembered
Speaker 1: about is the fact that one voice could communicate to
Speaker 1: thirty million people a week and share his opinions and
Speaker 1: leave them saying I just talked with my friend, and
Speaker 1: he just shared with me what he felt and made
Speaker 1: me feel like the world was going to be okay,
Speaker 1: that's how Russia is going to be remembered. That will
Speaker 1: be his legacy and we're watching it start to unfold.
Speaker 1: This podcast included, which is why I'm so appreciative that
Speaker 1: you would bear your soul and get others like Brian
Speaker 1: and Don and Mike Mamone and the other guests that
Speaker 1: are going to be on this podcast to tell the
Speaker 1: real truth about just a magnificent man. And thank you.
Speaker 1: And speaking of bearing souls, I have one more thing
Speaker 1: to bear with you, uh Craig today, you you were
Speaker 1: to go to Guy for a lot of things, but
Speaker 1: you wanted just to go to Guy for tuning, You
Speaker 1: to go to Guy for follow us on the staff, right.
Speaker 1: And I remember one day in particular, this was and
Speaker 1: and there are a few things I want to say
Speaker 1: about this because Don and Brian in the room when
Speaker 1: this happened, and Dawn is always mommy comfort and when
Speaker 1: she needs to be and don't take this seriously, and
Speaker 1: Brian is always stoic, and hey, just just whatever. So
Speaker 1: this particular day, I had three bad calls in the row,
Speaker 1: which never happens to me, but I had three bad
Speaker 1: calls in a row. What happened? Yeah, I mean it
Speaker 1: just this sounds how did this happen? And Rush looks
Speaker 1: up and he's the I f B and says, listen,
Speaker 1: if that's the best that you can do, you might
Speaker 1: as well go home. And I freaked out, first of all,
Speaker 1: the freaking burn of the tears involuntarily, and then I
Speaker 1: said and then I got on the I f B
Speaker 1: and I said, well, I'm not going home, so you
Speaker 1: can forget that. And then I just wiped every call
Speaker 1: off the board and started all over again. But I
Speaker 1: was furious. I was angry. I was hurt. I was furious,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, I was appreciative and here
Speaker 1: so so through that order. So Mommy Dawn said, stop it.
Speaker 1: It's okay. We're all family in here, and you know
Speaker 1: that he doesn't mean it to hurt you. Brian. It's like, I,
Speaker 1: come on, we've been through this before. Everybody has a minute.
Speaker 1: Everybody has a minute, and and just just chill out.
Speaker 1: I was still so hurt. I went back to my
Speaker 1: office and I picked up the phone and I called you, said, Craig,
Speaker 1: You're not gonna believe what just happened. He just told
Speaker 1: me to go home. And and and you did what
Speaker 1: you always do. You listened, first listened, and then you said, listen,
Speaker 1: I understand. I understand how you would feel the way
Speaker 1: that you feel, which was the second thing, you understand him.
Speaker 1: And the third thing was kind of like without saying it,
Speaker 1: not get your hands back to work without without saying
Speaker 1: those words. But see, this is what this is. But
Speaker 1: this is the thing that I walk away with. So
Speaker 1: after all the emotions subsided, this is what I come
Speaker 1: out of that story with. And this this wasn't like
Speaker 1: ten years ago, this was two years ago. And this
Speaker 1: is the one of the things that I love about Rush.
Speaker 1: This show two years ago, by the way, is five
Speaker 1: hundred shows ago. Think about we talked about Rush performing
Speaker 1: in front of a microphone for three hours a day,
Speaker 1: five days a week, fifty or fifty one weeks of
Speaker 1: the year. You in the capacity that you have, look
Speaker 1: at a bank of telephones and the lines coming in,
Speaker 1: and you go through probably twenty or twenty five phone
Speaker 1: calls before there's one person that you believe is talking
Speaker 1: about what's interesting to Rush in an articulate form on
Speaker 1: a good cell phone connection that's never been on the
Speaker 1: radio before. That can make the host look good and
Speaker 1: can get to their points sixcinctly, and that's it. So
Speaker 1: you run through the gauntlet and that fifteen hours a week. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a hard job, the one that you had, a
Speaker 1: really hard job of the one you had. But I digress.
Speaker 1: That was two years ago, and we had a great
Speaker 1: conversation on the phone, and you came back to work
Speaker 1: the next day. Right. And the thing that always blew
Speaker 1: my mind, and it still blows my mind, is that
Speaker 1: Rush was always the show was the thing. The first
Speaker 1: time I ever screwed up with Rush was I thought
Speaker 1: the show was over because we were at the last
Speaker 1: at the end of the last commercial break, and so
Speaker 1: I was starting to prepare something for that we needed
Speaker 1: for post production. This was in our studios in New York,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it's like a minute left
Speaker 1: and he's like looking for a phone call that had
Speaker 1: dropped her something. And I was caught totally flat footed.
Speaker 1: And after that he called me in the studio he said, listen,
Speaker 1: I don't care what's gonna happen after the show. The
Speaker 1: show is the thing. Never ever let that happen again. Right,
Speaker 1: And so to me, it's the same thing all these
Speaker 1: years later, all that success later, the most important thing
Speaker 1: to him was that show and making every single solitary
Speaker 1: moment of that show happened. And that's the professional That's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons I love I love working with
Speaker 1: Rush and I love him because he always was that.
Speaker 1: He always set that bar of excellence when he said
Speaker 1: excellence in broadcasting, and he came up with that as
Speaker 1: the slogan for the network that he wanted to do.
Speaker 1: He meant it. He wanted everything to be excellent. And
Speaker 1: so I will say and close that with you this way, Craig,
Speaker 1: your career has been one of excellence. And and don
Speaker 1: what is it that's Donna and Brian had been in
Speaker 1: the room all this time, By the way, what is
Speaker 1: it that you want to say? Don wait, wait, get
Speaker 1: a microphone, Come and get to a microphone. Boss. Why
Speaker 1: don't you ask Craig a k A. Ray Donovan if
Speaker 1: he has been a firsthand knowledge of how tough it
Speaker 1: is to be a call screener, because you just did.
Speaker 1: You can't ask somebody to do something for a living
Speaker 1: if you don't try it yourself. I know what kind
Speaker 1: of official recorder of the radio program I could be
Speaker 1: I don't dare try to do what Dawn did, although
Speaker 1: I studied it intensely to understand every tool that she
Speaker 1: needed in her undivided attention. When you translate the phone
Speaker 1: calls from a caller calling in with a deep accent,
Speaker 1: and Rushi needs it in real time to be able
Speaker 1: to hear those words and read those words, and read
Speaker 1: the emotion in those words, so that on the air.
Speaker 1: Because the show is the thing and excellence is the thing,
Speaker 1: Rush did not want to delay his response because he
Speaker 1: had an audience expectation to meet. Right, we're having a conversation.
Speaker 1: You hear me, I hear you. The same thing is
Speaker 1: true with Brian's expertise in the studio as well. How
Speaker 1: do you, as a broadcast engineer, put a man on
Speaker 1: the air who has lost the ability to hear himself,
Speaker 1: let alone any other sound effect or voice in the world,
Speaker 1: and make him sound like he is present with that? Right, James,
Speaker 1: your job was one that I actually could at least
Speaker 1: audition for, and I saw it as being a place
Speaker 1: where humanity came into contact with the program in a
Speaker 1: I did not learn how to do that so that
Speaker 1: I could help you in a world that transformed from
Speaker 1: being landline to cell phone, from being one conservative talk
Speaker 1: program to fifteen on the air in any given day,
Speaker 1: where the listeners are actually more informed and smarter than
Speaker 1: ever before. When the number of opposing liberals who wanted
Speaker 1: to get on the air and get past you the
Speaker 1: gatekeeper to embarrass the host. Occasionally Rush would take a
Speaker 1: day off and allow Todd Herman to fill in for him.
Speaker 1: Occasionally James Golden A K A bow snrdly deserved to
Speaker 1: take a day off so somebody could fill in for you.
Speaker 1: I was happy to do it. Thank you. Yeah, how
Speaker 1: was it? Did you like it? You felt, at the
Speaker 1: end of three hours as if you were emotionally exhausted.
Speaker 1: You felt like you had just done battle in meeting
Speaker 1: eighty or ninety people for the first time on a
Speaker 1: phone call and got them queued up, and maybe, if
Speaker 1: you were lucky, nine of them would be on the
Speaker 1: air over the course of three hours, if were lucky.
Speaker 1: But a fresh had a day and the monologues were
Speaker 1: going in is in, his witticisms were happening, and he
Speaker 1: was firing on all twelve cylinders. Maybe only four phone
Speaker 1: calls would get in, But you didn't worry about the
Speaker 1: fact that you just put all that effort into getting
Speaker 1: the best callers because you knew that he was absolutely
Speaker 1: in command of what needed to happen. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: the excellence wasn't just for the radio program, the Russian
Speaker 1: Bull Show, greatest radio program that ever existed. The organization
Speaker 1: that you built amazing, the organization that still stands today
Speaker 1: even though you formed a new organization amazing. Thank the
Speaker 1: team of people that we got to be with totally amazing,
Speaker 1: all four. But more importantly than that one put than
Speaker 1: any of that to me, Greg, is that any time
Speaker 1: that I needed to have a friend that I knew
Speaker 1: had my back, I could call you when you always
Speaker 1: there and you always had my back. And so thank
Speaker 1: you trusting me, Craig, all of that. More than anything else,
Speaker 1: I mean you, to me, you had the single greatest
Speaker 1: radio executive that ever lived. And that's all cool, that's
Speaker 1: all well and good. I don't think that impresses God.
Speaker 1: I think that God gets impressed by what you do
Speaker 1: for you fellow man, and the way you treat people,
Speaker 1: and Craig, when it comes to that, you have no second.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, thank you, James, thank you very much.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm truly humbled, ladies and gentlemen. I I actually
Speaker 1: never thought this would happen, um, and I am I
Speaker 1: am truly gratified to to all of those responsible for it.
Speaker 1: And the list is long. I'd like to start with
Speaker 1: how this radio program actually started. Five years ago. I
Speaker 1: was brought to New York by Ed McLaughlin to whom
Speaker 1: I probably owe everything as far as this national career
Speaker 1: of mine has has gone. And we wanted to try
Speaker 1: something that everybody in the business said wouldn't work. We
Speaker 1: were going to syndicate a national program in the daytime,
Speaker 1: without local issues, without local phone numb Bruce and so forth,
Speaker 1: and nobody in the business thought it would work. And today,
Speaker 1: if I might say, most radio stations looking to succeed
Speaker 1: are looking to syndicated programming for their salvation. And Ed
Speaker 1: McLaughlin is the man responsible for this, and I would
Speaker 1: like to tip my hat to him tonight for the
Speaker 1: courage to take on that which nobody thought could be done.
Speaker 1: I would also like to thank the American people. I
Speaker 1: have often been asked to go speak to associations, broadcast associations,
Speaker 1: and I've I've always turned down the request because I
Speaker 1: don't know what I would say to them. I say
Speaker 1: what I say to the American people. In any chance
Speaker 1: I have a chance to speak to them, I do,
Speaker 1: and I am so grateful and so honored for the
Speaker 1: the overwhelming change in my life that they have brought. Uh.
Speaker 1: Regardless of what I mean to them, I am certain
Speaker 1: that I will never mean as much to them as
Speaker 1: they mean to me. When I moved to New York,
Speaker 1: I didn't plan on becoming a political spokesman, and fact
Speaker 1: politics X was the last thing I factored in in
Speaker 1: determining whether or not I would be a success. I
Speaker 1: was coming to be on radio and media guy, and
Speaker 1: I love radio. I do television too, But that microphone
Speaker 1: is right here in that cameras twenty feet away, and
Speaker 1: there's intimacy on the radio, and there's naturalness on the
Speaker 1: radio that can never be replicated on TV. TV is
Speaker 1: the medium of our time, There's no question. But I
Speaker 1: am proud to be part of the marvelous resurgeons of
Speaker 1: radio as a political force in this country. Four years ago,
Speaker 1: when people went to vote, people said, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: there aren't enough people voting. There's apathy. The people don't
Speaker 1: care today, the Congress of the United States is attempting
Speaker 1: to shut talk radio up because people care too much,
Speaker 1: and I am proud to be a part of the
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this the third episode in our
Speaker 1: twelve part series Russ loom Law The Man Behind the
Speaker 1: Golden E I B Microphone, And thanks to our guest
Speaker 1: today Craig Kitchen, join us for episode for you won't
Speaker 1: want to miss it coming up next week, David Limbaugh.
Speaker 1: Russia Limbaw The Man Behind the Golden E I B
Speaker 1: Microphone is produced by Chris Kelly and Phil Tower, the
Speaker 1: best producers in America, production assistants Mike Mamone and the
Speaker 1: executive producers Craig Kitchen and Julie Talbot. Our program distributed
Speaker 1: worldwide by Premier Networks, found on the I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: app or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. This
Speaker 1: is James Golden, This is both Nervely, This is James Golden.
Speaker 1: I'm honored to be your host for this in every
Speaker 1: single episode of Russia Limbaugh The Man Behind the Golden
Speaker 1: E I B Microphone, and thank you for being with us.