A Memory of the Early Rush Limbaugh

Started by SGOS, June 12, 2018, 06:34:30 AM

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SGOS

I know Rush Limbaugh is not the topic he used to be.  He doesn't have the trigger effect he once did, and is no longer the sole voice that at once remolded conservatives into their current ranting image of anger and hatred.  America doesn't need him anymore.  We have enough leaders who mimic his shrill speak before you think style who have entered the political stage as more than just a voice on a radio.  Donald Trump learned the Limbaugh shtick and turned into presidential gold.  "Tell it like it is,"  or, "Tweet everything in your brain", but that's close enough.

I just had a flash back to the early years of Rush Limbaugh when he made a very brief attempt to break into television.  You may have caught an airing.  It lasted for maybe a week or so and then failed, and I just happened on it by accident and had to watch the way one has to watch a train wreck.  And it wasn't all his fault, unless he also directed the attempt.  He spoke from a podium, or was it a desk, in what appeared to be in front of a live audience, but the audience may have been in a different room, and the producer (probably Limbaugh) apparently could not afford to pay an audience bigger than 30, who filled four rows of seats, or was it a tiny four tier bleacher, and seemed to be watching a single message reader board lighting up "Applaud" every 15 seconds.  Limbaugh may have been in the same room with them, but I'm not sure.

Possibly it could have worked. Limbaugh had the charisma, vain as it was, and he got people's attention, except maybe not for the zombie audience watching the reader board in another room.  But a call in show doesn't work as well on TV.  I mean who wants to watch a guy at a podium talking on the phone to some conspiracy theorist named Phil from Bazooka Springs asking why the Clintons have gone deep state, so that Limbaugh could explain the details and motivation and then thank the caller for his perceptive insight?  Some things work on the radio, but on TV they can become surreal.

It was embarrassing but fun in a perverted sort of way, and I wondered if anyone remembered it the way I did.

Baruch

I listened to him on radio awhile 20 years ago.  The charm wore off quickly.  And the TV show was cringe-worthy.

I have a direct family connection to shock radio ... one of my grandfather's business partners produced and acted out, the first on-air radio porn (he made out with a woman in the recording studio while the mike was "on".  The FCC wasn't amused.

Speaking of has-beens ... Glenn Beck anyone?
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

SGOS

#2
Quote from: Baruch on June 12, 2018, 06:41:33 AM
I listened to him on radio awhile 20 years ago.  The charm wore off quickly.  And the TV show was cringe-worthy.

I have a direct family connection to shock radio ... one of my grandfather's business partners produced and acted out, the first on-air radio porn (he made out with a woman in the recording studio while the mike was "on".  The FCC wasn't amused.

Speaking of has-beens ... Glenn Beck anyone?
Did he recently self-destruct, after a gradual decline in popularity?

How about Lou Dobbs.  He started out OK and had a confident authoritative delivery, and then he ended up sounding a ranting old fool, raving about the gumament all the time.

Lou Dobbs

SGOS

#3
I couldn't remember the name of Roger Mudd, who used to fill in for Walter Cronkite, and who was beat out by Dan Rather when Cronkite retired.  I just remembered he was related to a guy involved in the Lincoln assassination, so I had to search images associated with John Wilkes Booth to remember his name.  I was disappointed when they gave the job to Rather, who turned out to be a good choice, but I thought Mudd was a superb anchorman.  He didn't have Rather's personality.  He just reported.  He wasn't trying to impress anyone, never raised an eyebrow, and his only goal was to tell you what was happening, which he did with authority.

Roger Mudd

Mike Cl

Listened to Limbaugh for awhile about 20 yrs ago; was drawn to what I thought was humor then--like Andy Williams 'Born Free' played with the gradual increase in volume of rifle fire overlaid on the song.  But then I made the mistake of actually listening to what he was saying and then stopped that silliness.  I'll throw one out there that probably nobody has watched on early TV--The Smoot Report.  Anyone see any of those?
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Mike Cl

My favorite radio personality had to be Joe Pine.  He was late night and featured all kinds of guests.  What I remembered most was the 'aliens are among us' people he had on.  But nothing was beyond his reach--one never knew what weirdo was going to be featured each show.  Fun stuff, usually.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on June 12, 2018, 06:55:07 AM
Did he recently self-destruct, after a gradual decline in popularity?

How about Lou Dobbs.  He started out OK and had a confident authoritative delivery, and then he ended up sounding a ranting old fool, raving about the gumament all the time.

Lou Dobbs


Glenn Back got kicked off of Fox News ... in 2011.  He was too intellectual, had to deal with the ego of Bill O'Reilly, and ran counter to the agenda of Roger Ailes.  He is now an independent content producer.

Lou Dobbs refused to be a shill for the Globalists ... including the George W Bush presidency.  So he left the R-party in 2001 (became Independent aka Libertarian), and left CNN in 2009.  He joined Fox News in 2011.

Of course anyone older than 30 is a ranting old man ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Mike Cl on June 12, 2018, 08:46:06 AM
My favorite radio personality had to be Joe Pine.  He was late night and featured all kinds of guests.  What I remembered most was the 'aliens are among us' people he had on.  But nothing was beyond his reach--one never knew what weirdo was going to be featured each show.  Fun stuff, usually.

So you watch Alex Jones now? ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: Mike Cl on June 12, 2018, 08:41:47 AM
Listened to Limbaugh for awhile about 20 yrs ago; was drawn to what I thought was humor then--like Andy Williams 'Born Free' played with the gradual increase in volume of rifle fire overlaid on the song.  But then I made the mistake of actually listening to what he was saying and then stopped that silliness.  I'll throw one out there that probably nobody has watched on early TV--The Smoot Report.  Anyone see any of those?

Never heard of The Smoot Report ... looked it up, Mr Smoot was an old FBI agent who was finding communists under every bed.  Too bad he was right.

I liked this one ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpN1yp-Q2pY
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

Quote from: SGOS on June 12, 2018, 07:28:07 AM
I couldn't remember the name of Roger Mudd, who used to fill in for Walter Cronkite, and who was beat out by Dan Rather when Cronkite retired.  I just remembered he was related to a guy involved in the Lincoln assassination, so I had to search images associated with John Wilkes Booth to remember his name.  I was disappointed when they gave the job to Rather, who turned out to be a good choice, but I thought Mudd was a superb anchorman.  He didn't have Rather's personality.  He just reported.  He wasn't trying to impress anyone, never raised an eyebrow, and his only goal was to tell you what was happening, which he did with authority.

Roger Mudd


Those were the classic guys, who were reporters in WW II.  Dan Rather tried to hard, and failed.  The Republicans set him up over George W and he took it hook line and sinker.  Roger Mudd was descended from the doctor who tried to fix the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Mudd
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

I listened to the Hindenburg (to wit: a flaming Nazi gasbag) in the mid '80s when he was merely wrong, but still entertaining.  Most of the time I kept thinking, "He can't really believe this shit, can he?"

In the late '80s/early '90s, when he transitioned from entertainingly wrong to cruel and deliberately dishonest, I stopped.  My grandfather, the card-carrying Democratic Socialist, still listened.  He said it was therapy for low blood pressure.  Grandma didn't listen so far as I knew, although she always knew when it was on because the words "You lyin' sonofabitch!" inevitably came floating out of the living room at *some* point during the show.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Gawdzilla Sama

Lush Rimjob is a product of his environment. I know it well, we were born within a few miles of each other on the same day. I got the flock out of there early, parents moved north when I was five.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

SGOS

Quote from: Mike Cl on June 12, 2018, 08:46:06 AM
My favorite radio personality had to be Joe Pine.  He was late night and featured all kinds of guests.  What I remembered most was the 'aliens are among us' people he had on.  But nothing was beyond his reach--one never knew what weirdo was going to be featured each show.  Fun stuff, usually.
I remember listening to Joe Pine with my college roommates in Billings, Montana.  He was the forerunner of shock radio.  I could never figure out why anyone would call in.  9/10 callers would get ripped apart, and then all of a sudden he would be real nice to some caller, and I could never figure out why.

Cavebear

When my parents were still able to drive from NH to FL and back, they used to stay with me a couple days in the 90s.  As we were driving to the grocery store, my Dad found Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh on the radio.  I wasn't familiar with them, but was shocked at the anger and craziness.  Dad was angry.  I changed the radio to classical music.

Dad was angry.  I explained to him "my car, my radio, my house, my TV".  Which was what he always said to me about what we listened at home before I left for college.

He had a really hard time understanding that he did not control things in my car and house. 
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!