0:02

Thank all of you for listening to this podcast.

0:04

Were as you know, this

0:06

podcast is devoted

0:09

to russlan Ball, my hero,

0:12

my friend, my boss, the

0:14

greatest broadcaster in my opinion,

0:17

whoever lived. And

0:19

behind every great broadcaster, though there's an

0:21

organization, there are people that

0:24

make what happens happen.

0:27

You don't just go into a room one day

0:29

and decide, Okay, I'm gonna be a broadcasters.

0:31

Somebody's there turns on the mic, well okay,

0:33

and here you are. Know this happens as a

0:35

result of a lot of hard work, not just on the

0:38

part of what in the industry is referred to as

0:40

talent. That would be what wrestling ball

0:42

would be the talent, But

0:44

behind every person that's the talent, there

0:47

have to be so many other jobs. And people

0:49

don't really realize a lot of people

0:51

don't that are not in this industry. What it takes to

0:53

have a very successful radio career. Well, you need

0:55

people that have a radio

0:58

stations number one, and

1:00

they want to put you on those radio stations.

1:03

But you are not going to those radio

1:05

stations yourself. There are people that

1:07

do that for you. There are people who

1:09

sell your program for you so that you have advertisers.

1:12

There are people who market your program for

1:14

you so that the country knows who

1:16

you are the way that you want to be framed. There

1:18

are people that do so

1:21

many jobs, and we

1:23

have what in arnest is called traffic.

1:25

Most people wouldn't know what that is. What traffic

1:28

deals with the commercials,

1:30

how they're placed, where

1:32

they are placed. We have engineers like

1:34

the great engineers like Brian Johnson and

1:37

Mike Mamone, who you hear from at

1:39

some point in this podcast series. But

1:42

then there are the executives, the

1:44

guys that say yay, the guys are saying nay,

1:47

the guys that make things happen behind the scenes.

1:50

And in the radio industry,

1:52

there is a man and I've referred

1:55

to him in earlier episodes who

1:57

would be the equivalent of a household name.

2:00

You cannot be in the radio industry or not know

2:02

who he is because

2:05

he is the

2:07

most successful executive

2:09

there is in the broadcast industry. He's

2:11

brought more people that have talent to

2:14

light. He is

2:17

one of the nicest men you

2:19

will ever meet in life, unless

2:21

you cross him, and then

2:24

he'll be your worst enemy. He is

2:27

um. People don't know the generosity

2:29

of his spirit. Maybe I'll be able to get

2:32

some of that out because I know some things about him

2:34

over the years that a lot of people don't. But

2:37

he was with Rush for the last twenty

2:39

years or some more. And

2:42

he also runs This will show you the stature

2:46

the Radio Hall of Fame. He's a

2:48

legend. His name is Craig Kitchen, and Craig

2:50

is here with us today. Whether

2:54

you listened every day, you are at the E I

2:56

B Network and the Russia Limball Program

2:58

heard on over six hundred great radio

3:00

stations where every now and then nation's leading

3:02

radio talk show, the most eagerly inticipated

3:05

program in em are the stories you've

3:07

never heard from the people behind the scenes

3:09

who knew him best and loved him most.

3:12

Rushman War having more fundily human being,

3:14

it could be allowed to have Rush Limbaugh, the

3:16

man behind the Golden E I D Microphone,

3:19

hosted by James Golden. Through

3:22

the Stand Up for Betsy Ross campaign,

3:24

you changed the lives of dozens of hero

3:26

families in need. The campaign

3:29

benefited The Tunnels Are Towers Foundation

3:31

Tunnel to Towers Bills mortgage

3:34

free smart homes for

3:36

our nation's most catastrophically injured

3:38

veterans and first responders

3:41

to give them their independence.

3:43

For gold star families and fallen

3:46

first respond to families with young

3:49

children, Tunnel to Towers

3:51

pays off mortgages in

3:53

full for these families and

3:56

provides them with the comfort of a home when

3:59

their world has literally been turned upside

4:01

down. And thanks

4:03

to this campaign to Stand Up

4:06

for Betsy Ross campaign, you

4:08

have seen to it that

4:10

we have been able to send a charitable

4:13

donation in total of five million

4:16

dollars to Tunnel the Towers.

4:19

Your kindness, generosity and patriotism

4:21

brought hope when it was needed most

4:24

but more of America's heroes in their families

4:26

need your support. Donate

4:29

eleven dollars a month to Tunnel

4:31

to Towers at T two

4:33

t dot org. That's the litteral

4:36

t the number two t dot

4:39

org. So

4:45

Craig, welcome, Thank you, very

4:47

kind to where it's I'm not sure I deserve all

4:49

of them, but thank you you do deserve all of them. Now

4:51

let me ask you a question, Craig, how

4:54

did you meet rush? I met Russia? When

4:58

Premier Networks obtain the distribution

5:00

rights of Russia's program From Ed McLaughlin

5:03

and the FM Media a financial

5:05

transaction, the first one that really

5:09

really put Russia Lumball's radio program

5:12

value on the map for the industry. It

5:14

gave ed McLaughlin the

5:16

funds to retire very comfortably on

5:19

It gave rush Uh

5:21

an incredible stipend to

5:23

continue wanting to be on radio and

5:25

to focus on it. And most

5:28

importantly, it gave him the

5:31

the underwire and the current and

5:33

the background and the backbone to say,

5:36

I can do this for as long as I want to,

5:38

because I've got a company that's got my back

5:40

and got my resources and has every

5:42

last thing he needs. And that was

5:44

Premiere, and you founded Premiere Radio Networks.

5:47

There were six of us that founded Premiere, and

5:51

it took ten years of growth and hard

5:53

work to be able to earn the trust

5:55

of personalities like Russia Lumbaugh to

5:57

be able to say, that's a company that I can

6:00

be with that I know we'll have my back. How did

6:02

you get in radio? I mean, how do you what's your story?

6:05

I was an air personality

6:07

in nineteen eighty one, in

6:09

nineteen eighty two, and I was very mediocre

6:12

when I was behind the microphone, very

6:14

mediocre. But by eighty

6:17

three I had discovered that I was very

6:19

good behind the scenes helping people

6:21

realize their full potential,

6:24

and so I took some time to learn how to

6:26

sell advertising and how the radio industry

6:28

worked, and by nine eight seven

6:30

I had found half a dozen partners who

6:33

wanted to make what in the radio industry we

6:35

call a radio network, a place where air personalities

6:38

like yourself could come and be

6:40

their very best, and that radio network

6:42

would find radio stations to be heard on

6:44

and advertisers to pay your paycheck.

6:47

What was it like when you first met Rush? What

6:49

what when you for the first time? It

6:52

was in New York City and Rush was

6:54

broadcasting that week from w ABC,

6:57

And like a lot of individuals

7:00

that come to New York City and go to work, Rush

7:02

was suit and tie that day and

7:05

very very formal and very focused

7:08

on his radio program. And we had

7:10

arranged some time in the morning to have a meeting,

7:13

and in that time when

7:15

I met him, I had no idea how

7:18

focused he was between eight thirty

7:20

and noon when he first went on the air.

7:22

But for some reason, the meeting time that he

7:24

had set up was at ten thirty in the

7:27

morning, and so I went to have

7:29

a meeting thinking we're going to spend

7:31

the next hour, hour and a half talking until

7:33

noon. Because

7:36

Rush made it look and listen so

7:38

easy that to anybody who

7:40

ever has tuned in to listen to him,

7:42

it sounds like it is a gift from God

7:44

that the microphones open, the music plays,

7:46

and he just starts talking to you as your best

7:48

friend. I had no idea that he

7:51

spent the better part of fifteen hours leading up

7:53

to that moment preparing for that show. So

7:55

on that morning in New York City, I

7:57

find the equivalent suit and tie for that, and

8:00

I go to w ABC to meet the man

8:02

I'm just about to sign a new four year agreement

8:04

with and start working with. And I'm thinking,

8:06

we've got the better part of ninety minutes just to

8:08

get to know each other. And you

8:11

find out very quickly you have about

8:13

eight minutes, and

8:15

those eight minutes better counts. And so

8:18

we had a great eight minutes together, and

8:21

we understood that we were going to be working together

8:24

again, and he made it very clear to me

8:26

that he's got it really all figured

8:28

out, and I just and I needed to find my

8:30

groove and my rhythm and my

8:33

relationship with the different staff members that

8:35

he was working with at the time, but

8:38

he could not have been warmer

8:40

and more gregarious in that period

8:43

of time. Rush has an ability,

8:45

when he meets somebody for the first time, to

8:48

be singularly focused on you and

8:50

make sure you feel like you are the single most

8:52

important person in his mind.

8:55

And you have that. So I left

8:57

feeling absolutely fantastic. I'm sure

9:00

you have felt that, and others who have appeared

9:02

on this podcast is said the same thing. Do

9:04

you know who else that

9:06

that very description. There's one

9:09

other person I've heard that very description

9:11

about Bill Clinton, that

9:13

ability to focus

9:16

in on you so clearly

9:18

that you think you're the only one, You're

9:21

the only one that exists, and and he's there

9:23

for you every single moment. And you've

9:25

got that, You've got that that ability to Craig,

9:28

thank you. You know it's it's

9:31

it's either in your nature's or not in your nature.

9:33

I don't stop and take inventory of myself

9:35

that way. But um I certainly

9:37

saw that and felt that in the first time that

9:39

I got to meet Russian if I

9:41

were of the attitude that my primary goal

9:44

was to go in that studio every day and make

9:46

sure that America heard everything I said.

9:49

And acted on it. You know, the ratings of the show,

9:51

which is Plumber. I think I just happened to be saying

9:53

what a whole lot of people think they

9:55

don't have a chance to say themselves. That's

9:57

why they called me the most dangerous man

10:00

in America. As

10:03

you know, on this series, we've

10:05

been talking with some of Russia's friends, his

10:07

colleagues, and family members. Today

10:10

we have a very special guest on Russia, Limbaugh,

10:12

the man behind the Golden the I B. Mike. He's

10:14

a special friend of our program. In

10:16

fact, he's come down to our Southern

10:18

Command to interview Rush for his

10:20

television show any number of times.

10:23

Every time it was like a family

10:25

reunion, A dear friend to

10:27

Rush, a dear friend to the Russia

10:30

Limbaugh Program. Sean Hannity

10:33

The Life of Russia Limbaugh, Chapter

10:35

three, narrated by Sean

10:37

Hannity. After during

10:40

a painful year of college at Southeastern

10:42

Missouri University, young Rush Limbaugh,

10:45

he bid farewell to college life

10:47

and then immersed himself into

10:49

his next big radio job. After

10:52

loading up his nineteen sixty nine

10:54

Pontiac Lamans, Rush headed east

10:56

with dreams of making it big in the

10:59

Iron City. D J Rusty Sharp

11:01

from Cape Dorado, Missouri, was soon reborn

11:04

as Bachelor Jeff Christie,

11:06

first hosting an afternoon drive shift and

11:08

later holding down the morning show on

11:11

Wixie thirteen sixty, known

11:13

as one of Pittsburgh's premier top forty

11:15

radio stations,

11:19

continues with much slid

11:22

rock and goal seven three in the morning.

11:24

I wish he saw Jeff

11:26

Radio networked from sixte want to

11:28

have a big hand for Mr and Mrs Arnold Feluci,

11:31

a couple of new members for the Christie Radio network

11:33

this morning, celebrating refrigerator

11:36

favorites. Jeff

11:39

Christie lasted barely eighteen

11:41

months on w i Z before

11:43

he was fired. I was in the fall

11:45

of nineteen seventy two over

11:47

what were described as quote

11:49

differences over format. His

11:52

departure from Wixie thirteen sixty

11:54

quickly led to a bigger opportunity for Rush.

11:57

It's a k h Jeff Christie and in early

11:59

nineteen seventy three, Crosstown Top

12:01

forty competitor k q V Radio

12:04

Well they hired him to be their new nighttime

12:06

DJ. That afforded Rush an

12:09

even bigger platform and another

12:11

opportunity to further develop

12:13

his on air persona hey qu V three

12:23

g K Jeff Christy Rocky Roll radio

12:25

show Friday Night Johnson minutes away

12:27

from forty four not stopping right out of

12:29

statistics. Jeff Christie was beginning

12:32

to hone future on air skills

12:34

would eventually become the trademarks of

12:36

Rush Limbaugh's excellence in

12:38

broadcasting. Now, Rush would soon

12:40

learn success in radio is kind of fickle,

12:43

especially a station ownership change

12:45

his hands, and a dramatic turn of events.

12:47

The lame duck k QUB management

12:50

well, they pushed the new program director to fire

12:52

Rush, and ninety days later Rush

12:54

Limbaugh Jeff Christie was out of work. When

12:56

I got fired, I thought

12:59

I was finished. I'd given it a shot.

13:01

D J didn't work out. I

13:04

didn't want to do anything else. This

13:06

has been my one

13:08

passion. And then a stinging rebuke

13:11

that Rush would remember for decades. The station's

13:13

general manager told the twenty something

13:15

Rush Limbaugh that he would quote never

13:17

make it in radio as an air talent, and that

13:19

he should strongly consider the sales

13:21

end of the radio business. I had

13:24

an interview with a sales

13:26

manager at the station that the guy was a genuine

13:29

lunatic. He's I'm just me. I'm

13:31

interviewing for the job, and he's yelling and screaming at

13:33

me about what his demands will be and

13:35

what they are, and I said, he's not gonna face

13:38

this every day. So, after three years of trying

13:40

to make a go of it in Pittsburgh, while Rush

13:42

was out of another radio gig, Feeling defeated

13:45

and dejected, he returned to the security

13:47

and comfort of his home in Cape Girardo, Missouri.

13:50

Russia was down, but as we all know, far

13:52

from out, his determination

13:54

for success far outweighed the idea

13:57

of failure. The long version here

14:00

telling you that this has been That's why I'm

14:02

so fortunate I've I was able

14:04

to end up doing what I think I was born

14:06

to do. I've never had passion for

14:08

anything else, I mean, career

14:11

wise, like I've got for this. Not

14:15

long ago, Mike Lindell, the inventor

14:18

of My Pillow, and his team fit

14:20

me for my very own my

14:22

pillow. They also introduced me

14:24

to their other incredible products, like

14:26

their mattress topper, sheets, towels,

14:30

slippers, and more. Sleep

14:32

is important to me, and I assumed to you

14:34

too. It's time you give my

14:36

pillow a try and see for

14:38

yourself. Listeners have helped build

14:41

My Pillow into the incredible

14:44

company it is today, and Mike

14:46

Lindell wants to give back to you now.

14:49

Get great discounts on My Pillow

14:51

products by going to my pillow dot

14:53

com right now and cooking

14:56

on the radio listener special

14:58

Square. You'll see offers up

15:00

to sixty six percent off on

15:02

products like their pillows, mattress,

15:05

Tappa and Geza sheets as

15:07

well or new products like

15:09

their slippers, weighted blankets,

15:11

robes and waffle blankets. All

15:14

My Pillow products come with a sixty day

15:16

money back guarantee into promo code

15:18

icon. That's I c o N.

15:27

You've been with all of us for so long. Let

15:30

me go back through that that day because

15:33

that day was so profound. Like

15:35

I said, you could you called us at different times. Dawn

15:37

said, I didn't know until today that you had

15:39

talked to Dawn the night before

15:42

you talked to me that morning you talked

15:44

to Brian. When did you find out

15:47

what was going on with Rusha's illness?

15:49

And what was your reaction when

15:51

you heard it? And who did you hear it from?

15:53

I heard it from Rush and Catherine

15:56

and I had heard it the week before

15:58

and late in the week before, and

16:01

so I learned

16:04

in a very very difficult conversation

16:07

from Rush that he had advanced lung

16:09

cancer. And like you,

16:12

we had seen some irregularities

16:14

in his on air behavior and

16:16

his availability in a

16:18

couple of weeks leading up to that. Rush is

16:20

a very private person and if he chooses

16:23

to take a day off, it's for a very important

16:25

reason, and typically he does

16:27

not need to tell you you're on an information need

16:30

to know basis. But he had taken

16:32

several days off over the last three weeks

16:34

leading up to February three

16:36

UM, and so late the week

16:39

before we had an afternoon

16:41

phone conversation, which is rare because

16:44

Rush typically did not like to use the

16:46

telephone for conversations. Email

16:48

was one form, text messaging

16:50

may have been another form, but in

16:53

this particular case, he had asked to have a

16:55

phone conversation that afternoon, and

16:57

so he shared the new

17:00

news that he had advanced lung

17:02

cancer and that he had been

17:04

diagnosed not once but twice, to

17:06

get a confirmation that he was dealing with

17:08

that. In my time

17:11

with Rush, I have learned to um

17:14

work with him. When he lost his hearing like you

17:16

did. I have worked with him when

17:18

he's had some problems with other

17:21

parts of his body, you know, one

17:23

of them being you know, as a man gets

17:25

older in life, is your heart working regularly?

17:27

What do you do in terms of good heart health? All

17:30

of those things, And now

17:32

along I hear advanced

17:35

lung cancer, and I also

17:38

heard a confidence in his voice that he

17:40

had been diagnosed once but twice, but

17:42

that there was a good group of doctors, a team

17:44

of doctors and scientists that were going to come to

17:46

help him. And because I had lived through the

17:48

worst of life with Rush in

17:51

his health and a couple of different

17:53

capacities. To me,

17:55

Rush was a man who had

17:57

incredible mental capabilities if he put

17:59

his into something, if you focused on it, if

18:02

he looked for the answers. And I was

18:04

right behind him and saying, we're going to get all

18:06

the resources that you need for this, knowing

18:08

full well that he had his wife Catherine to help

18:10

him, that he had a good group of people

18:12

to go to. So he shared with me

18:15

several days before I had the chance to share

18:17

with you, and he asked me to

18:19

maintain my quietness, And

18:21

so I carried that conversation in

18:24

my mind apart from any

18:26

other human being until that Monday

18:29

when he wanted to be the one to share

18:32

with you. And aside from

18:34

you James, and and Don and Brian,

18:36

who were the nucleus the family

18:38

of four in the studio, there were

18:40

twenty more people that are on our team

18:43

and they're all over the United States, and

18:46

he felt it was important to

18:48

share the news simultaneously with

18:50

each of you because just like he has

18:52

relationships with you that are so

18:54

uniquely special, he has the

18:57

same with individuals

18:59

in New York and in Los Angeles and

19:01

and other parts of the United States that will

19:04

work together to make the program,

19:06

the website, the Limball letter, all

19:09

of those pieces. So that

19:11

was the day, and we took into

19:13

account everybody's schedule so that we could

19:15

get everybody together before the show. You

19:18

talk to everybody on the staff pretty much. I

19:20

did, so I tried my

19:23

best to get in touch with each of the staff

19:25

without disclosing to them what we

19:27

are going to be talking about, and without

19:30

putting fear and worry. You know,

19:32

one of our team members was

19:34

driving that morning six and a half

19:36

hours to get to that meeting, Dawn,

19:39

and the thing that

19:41

carried in My mind was, you don't want to tell

19:43

somebody news

19:47

that is gonna hinder their ability

19:49

to safely drive. You want her to arrive

19:51

safely for that meeting. Um,

19:54

So you find a balance, You find a way to get it

19:56

done and so that everybody is there together

20:00

for what it's going to be one of the toughest days of their

20:02

life. Rush was so stoic when

20:05

he did. I mean you, you know, there

20:07

was not a lot of emotion going on, except

20:09

which I still to this day, can I believe

20:12

that he actually apologized to

20:14

us and said that he and said somehow

20:16

he thought he was letting us down. That still

20:18

blows my mind. But aside

20:20

from that, he was he could have been.

20:23

He was so stoic about it all. He

20:26

started that conversation as if it was just

20:28

a staff meeting, and we did never had staff

20:30

meetings, right, right, two of them in twenty

20:32

five years of working together. Right. But you're

20:35

right he was stoic that moment. Did

20:37

you get any hint to whether he was scared

20:40

or what? You had another conversation with him, do

20:42

you? And and and like all of

20:44

us, we all have different relationships with him.

20:46

Your relationship with Rush was was different than

20:48

ourards. It was you as business partner.

20:52

Yes, So what was what

20:54

did you get from him? Um?

20:56

I got the fact that he was resolved to get

20:59

the best medical treat meant I got

21:01

the fact or I got the sensation that he

21:03

was up against something that he had never

21:05

come up against before. That it was

21:07

much more serious than losing his hearing

21:10

and making your living as a talk show host. It

21:12

was much more serious than um,

21:15

worrying about family health history

21:18

and having it happened to you. I

21:20

got mom Millie died of lung

21:23

cancer, and Milly was

21:25

for those I I had. I had

21:27

a lot of great interactions with Milly. Milly

21:30

would would mail

21:32

me cousettes of music.

21:34

We love talking about music together. Um.

21:37

When Rush in the early days, we'd go like

21:40

places, Milly would would be there

21:42

and Milli and I always hung out. I remember

21:45

rocking Kristen to sleep,

21:47

David's daughter when she was a baby while

21:49

I was, you know, speaking with Milly and

21:51

I were having a conversation when I was It's

21:53

like memories like that that that that stick

21:56

out. Would you remember

21:58

James, for instance, the fact that Rush talked

22:00

to his mom, Millie every day

22:02

until she passed away. How

22:05

many adult grown men who do

22:07

not live in the same city with their mother as

22:10

high profile and is busy and

22:12

in demand as that gentleman was, would

22:14

find time to talk to his mother every day.

22:16

Every day, I'd go home to visit my

22:19

mother, and I'd get there to be a hundred and fifty books

22:21

stacked up on the table in the dining room that

22:23

she'd collected from people have been sending them

22:25

in. And I said, Mother,

22:27

I'm coming here to get away from the no son

22:30

you, but these people love you. You got to send

22:32

me those books, and you've got to sign them so I

22:34

can send them back. I said, I'm not gonna have time to talk to

22:36

you. That's okay. You have

22:38

to pay attention to these people. She

22:40

just the fact

22:42

that people all over the country loved

22:44

her little boy just was

22:47

was the greatest thing that ever happened to her,

22:49

and she wanted to make sure that

22:52

they knew that our family appreciated

22:54

him. It's just like his dad all over.

22:56

He is just the

22:59

political his dad's

23:02

alcoholic city and got his smart from

23:04

his dad. And I must say silliness from

23:06

me. Do you know

23:08

I found a picture it's not

23:11

It's not the greatest picture in the world. But I found over

23:13

the weekend a picture of Rush

23:16

had had rented a yacht

23:19

for those of us on the show, and we

23:21

this was when we were still up at w ABC and

23:24

and so it was party night around Manhattan

23:26

in this yacht and Milly was there. And

23:28

I found a picture of Rush giving Milly a

23:30

kiss on the lips and it was just

23:32

the sweetest I just couldn't believe. It's like,

23:34

Wow, I don't even remember taking that picture,

23:37

but I but I found that picture. I'm glad you

23:39

have that. Yeah. Yeah, So

23:42

Craig, before we I want to get back to talking about

23:44

Rush, but I also want to talk about something that you do. Okay,

23:47

I'm gonna say one word and Africa.

23:50

I've been to Africa. What have you done in

23:52

Africa? What do you what brought you to Africa.

23:55

One of the other radio personalities that I work

23:57

with is a woman by the name of Delilah I

23:59

Love Ali, Glad to hear

24:01

it. She has a radio program at night where

24:03

she plays love songs and takes dedications

24:05

and I've had the chance to work with her every

24:08

day since two thousand and four. So for

24:10

the last seventeen years or so. Uh

24:12

Delilah took an interest in two

24:14

thousand and four in a woman

24:16

who wrote her a letter asking if

24:20

she would adopt her black children

24:22

from Africa, from Ghana, in particular,

24:25

because she had heard that she was a white

24:27

woman living in America who adopted black

24:30

children. And it's true. Delilah

24:32

has adopted some fifteen children

24:34

in her life and at that time she had adopted

24:37

six. Delilah thought the letter might

24:39

have been bogus, and later it turned out to be real.

24:41

And when she confirmed that it was real, she actually

24:44

traveled for the first time outside of the United

24:46

States, da Ghana, and when she was there, she

24:48

met eighty thousand Liberians,

24:50

or a population of eighty thousand Liberians

24:52

living in a refugee camp in Ghana

24:55

who had fled a war in Liberia,

24:57

a civil war in Liberia, and fled for their

24:59

lives. And she went on that trip

25:02

and came back very much changed

25:04

and said, these are people who live

25:06

without fresh water. I have to

25:08

get them freshwater. It's the only way they're going

25:11

to live. And she went on to tell me that

25:13

in the little clinic that was there serving all

25:15

of them, most of the

25:17

children born in that community passed

25:20

away because of poor

25:22

hygiene, poor water standards, and

25:25

so I from Afar

25:28

helped Delilah find a way to

25:30

raise the money to build water wells, and unfortunately

25:33

they turned out to be saltwater wells and they

25:35

were unproductive. And so in two thousand

25:37

and eight I took myself to Ghana four

25:39

times to negotiate with the

25:41

country of Ghana and the municipalities

25:44

there to bring fresh water to that population

25:47

of Liberians. Still to

25:49

this day they drank fresh

25:51

water for the equivalent

25:54

of about cents

25:56

per family per week because of

25:58

the generosity of Delilah and the intestinal

26:01

affortitude that I found and just making

26:03

a deal that the country of Ghana could

26:05

not refuse. Greig Kitchen is a deal maker.

26:08

But we have a nickname for you. Are you going

26:10

to reveal it or am I?

26:12

I think it's best coming from the hostess Ray Donovan.

26:15

We called Craig Kitchen. Ray

26:18

Donovan is

26:20

Craig gets it done, okay, like Brian

26:22

gets it done. Craig gets it done, but it's on

26:24

a whole another level, okay.

26:28

So I aspire to be as

26:30

productive and get it done as Brian Johnson

26:32

boy, I

26:34

thought it would be helpful to define

26:37

conservatism for people because nobody

26:39

else was Everybody has assumed

26:41

conservatisms this or about small government,

26:45

less taxes and all this

26:47

stuff. But it's really

26:49

about people. It's about our understanding of

26:51

people. It's about our faith trust

26:54

in people. It's about the

26:56

knowledge that it is people that make

26:58

a great nation, and it's ordinary

27:01

people pursuing an accomplishing extraordinary

27:04

things with the freedom the ambition

27:06

to do so. And I just thought it needed to be pointed

27:08

out the love and compassion

27:11

that you in this audience have shown

27:14

consistently for thirty

27:17

one years. Greig,

27:20

you know you were the first person I guess

27:23

that Catherine told to in our organization

27:25

would Rush. What was that conversation.

27:29

She was and is a

27:31

very strong woman when

27:34

it comes to so many things,

27:36

including looking out for the best

27:38

interest of Rush. And she

27:41

was very

27:43

composed and very strong

27:45

when she shared the news that

27:47

Rush was carrying cancer,

27:50

lung cancer, advanced lung cancer, and

27:52

she wanted to be there start

27:54

to finish for him in every way, to organize

27:58

the doctors that he could learn from the visits,

28:00

that he could take, the medicines

28:02

that he might benefit from

28:05

the care when he was away from

28:07

his doctors, that she could arrange

28:10

for the first time. She thought about the fact

28:12

that with all this high profile nature and

28:14

the tabloid press being what it is, that

28:16

maybe there was a need for security during

28:18

this period of time to ensure that Russia's

28:21

privacy was kept intact. Because she

28:23

shares a lot of interest

28:26

with Rush and the rest of the family

28:28

at that time that his legacy was very

28:30

important, she wanted to pay attention

28:32

to that too. So all

28:34

of that came in the form of

28:36

some of the first conversations that we had once

28:39

Rush shared with us that he had advanced

28:41

lung cancer. When

28:43

did you find out that Russia had passed in

28:45

the morning, two hours

28:48

before our radio program

28:50

was to go on. UM you had

28:52

seen him

28:54

um for the last time in the

28:56

studio on a Tuesday afternoon, I think

28:59

about three o'clock, and

29:02

as you know, he wanted

29:04

to be on the air on that Wednesday, wanted to be on

29:06

the air that Thursday, on that Friday,

29:08

and UM, each day

29:11

was a day by day circumstance. You know,

29:13

there was not a guarantee that he was going to

29:15

be on the air, but we had guest hosts

29:17

that were on standby and back up and made

29:19

available. And that morning, at

29:23

about ten o'clock Eastern, I heard

29:25

from Catherine that our beloved

29:27

Rush had passed away. And

29:30

UM, you prepare for that day

29:32

that it comes. I

29:35

wasn't prepared until that day comes,

29:37

and then you're not prepared. Nothing

29:39

prepares you for that. You could

29:41

be the strongest human being on the planet Earth, but

29:44

nothing prepares you for that loss. I

29:47

still I

29:51

always till the day that, till the day that

29:54

did you call me and you told me? I

29:56

thought that he was going to recover?

29:59

And then I back on some things, and I'm like, wait

30:01

a minute, I look back when things differently,

30:04

Like he would tell us, like we were in the studio

30:06

and he would say things like, well, I'm

30:09

I'm around in a second and I won my way

30:11

to third and I was like, okay, well

30:13

pretty soon you'll be home. And I thought home was,

30:15

um was you know, we missioned the recovery.

30:18

And lately I've been wondering about that. I

30:21

don't I wonder whether he knew what was going on

30:23

and he's you know, and whether he was really indicating

30:26

that he was really headed

30:29

to to home to return that talent back

30:31

from whence it came, you

30:33

know, So I wondered about that. I had a dream about

30:36

Russia the other night, which I still

30:38

don't continue to quite understand.

30:41

You know, he didn't have the beard his earnest

30:43

hemingway. Look, and in the dream, Brian

30:45

and Don and we were talking

30:48

with Rush and

30:50

um Rush, it was like present.

30:53

He said, Look, I'm gonna beat this. I'm I'm

30:55

we don't you guys, stop worrying.

30:57

I'm gonna beat this. Everything is gonna be fine.

31:00

And it's just weird. I'm wondering, like, well, what does that

31:02

dream about? And I think the more I think about that

31:04

one, the more that that I

31:06

think that he's telling us

31:09

to do what we need to do,

31:11

that he's cool, that he's fine. You

31:13

know, it's weird because he cared about Rush

31:16

had an ego that that any great

31:18

performance has to have. He had an ego about

31:20

his profession. He had an ego about

31:22

who he was in the radio business.

31:25

He had an ego about everything

31:27

that he did in the radio

31:29

business. At three o'clock, that

31:31

ego was gone, and

31:34

you came first. Whatever

31:36

it was, it was about you first and not

31:38

not him. He was really like

31:40

selfless. So

31:42

he worried a lot about like this notion

31:45

that that he's letting us down.

31:47

And he that's not the only time he said it. He

31:49

said before that that he has a lot of people

31:52

on the staff depending on him. Well,

31:54

unlike a lot of organizations

31:57

and a lot of businesses, there was

31:59

no turn off at the E I B Network,

32:02

And if it was, it was so rare we

32:04

could count them on less than

32:06

one hand. He never asked for

32:08

our loyalty. It just came

32:10

about because you witnessed him

32:12

giving you his very best, and

32:14

you wanted to give him your very best

32:16

in return. And you saw the talent on loan

32:19

from God, and you wanted to raise

32:21

your game to be able to do it in your

32:23

own way, in your own capacity. And so

32:26

no one left the E I B Network. And

32:28

so it's it would make sense that a man

32:31

who is as humble as he is, who

32:33

is appreciative of the fact that James

32:35

you stopped your life and your career

32:37

on air in the year two thousand

32:39

to come back to help Rush when he was suddenly

32:42

losing his hearing and he needed somebody

32:44

that he could trust to talk to listeners

32:46

and to help him in the privacy

32:48

of a three hour studio, just like he

32:50

welcomed Brian, just like he welcomed

32:52

On. That's a man who broadcast

32:54

by himself for years, turned

32:56

on his own broadcast equipment, figured

32:58

it out his own microphone, found his way

33:00

through compu serve and any other computer iteration.

33:03

He loved his privacy, So

33:05

for him to give up his privacy at a time

33:07

when you sacrificed your own on your

33:09

career was something he

33:11

never forgot. And I think

33:13

that he displayed it to you in the way

33:16

that he wanted to apologize to you for letting

33:18

you down that day. He never let me down

33:20

every but that day

33:22

that he was so together when

33:25

he shared the news with us at the beginning, I

33:27

think he felt that he needed to be strong

33:29

for us, and that

33:31

was honestly what that was.

33:34

He found it inside of himself to find

33:36

the strength to be strong for us

33:38

at a time when he knew we were

33:40

going to be at our weakest. And yes, he

33:43

went into the studio and he closed the door, and

33:45

he composed himself and at

33:47

twelve oh five and forty seconds, lights

33:50

on great program.

33:53

Even with all the nervousness that he knew that

33:55

a two forty five that afternoon he

33:57

had to tell his best

33:59

kept secret, the worst possible

34:01

news he could to an audience, because

34:04

he knew that a secret that pregnant,

34:06

no matter how guarded the doctors were, the

34:08

scientists were, it would get out. And

34:12

he knows what would happen if he did

34:14

not control the news. And

34:16

he always believed to be honest with

34:18

your audience. Over

34:21

the years, a lot of people have been very

34:23

nice telling me how much this

34:26

program is meant to them. But whatever

34:28

that is, it pales in comparison to what

34:31

you all have meant to me. And I can't

34:33

I can't describe this, but I know you're there

34:35

every day, I can see you. It's

34:38

it's strange how I but I know you're there. I

34:41

know you're there in great numbers, and

34:44

I know that you understand everything I say.

34:46

The rest of the world may not when they hear it

34:49

express a different way, but I know that you do. You've been

34:51

one of the greatest sources of confidence

34:56

that I've had in my life. I've had in my

34:59

life. So what's Russia's

35:01

legacy can be? He will be remembered

35:03

as a man who on air

35:06

changed the course of conversation in

35:08

America. He will be known

35:10

as somebody who made conservatism

35:13

cool. He will be known

35:15

as somebody who opened

35:17

up a genre of conversation on

35:20

radio that spread to television, that spread

35:22

to the Internet, that spread to the printed

35:24

word, that spawned hundreds of books

35:26

being published, where all of a sudden,

35:29

you could have a healthy discourse or you could

35:31

be proud of your conservative beliefs. He'll

35:34

be known as an entertainer who transformed

35:36

the radio medium one more time by

35:39

giving life not just two hundreds

35:42

of radio stations, six hundred and thirty three

35:44

of them to be exact when he passed away, but

35:46

at the same time, the thousands

35:48

of employees that worked at those stations, who have

35:50

families who depended on the financial welfare

35:53

of those radio stations, and the tens

35:55

of thousands of businesses who advertised

35:58

on those sixty three radio stays. But

36:00

maybe most of all, what he will be remembered

36:03

about is the fact that one voice

36:05

could communicate to thirty million people

36:07

a week and share his opinions

36:10

and leave them saying I just talked with my

36:12

friend, and he just shared with me what he felt and

36:14

made me feel like the world was going to be okay,

36:17

that's how Russia is going to be remembered. That will

36:19

be his legacy and we're watching

36:21

it start to unfold. This podcast

36:24

included, which is why I'm so appreciative

36:27

that you would bear your soul and get

36:30

others like Brian and

36:32

Don and Mike Mamone and

36:34

the other guests that are going to be on this podcast

36:37

to tell the real truth about just

36:39

a magnificent man. And

36:41

thank you. And speaking of bearing souls,

36:43

I have one more thing to bear with you, uh

36:46

Craig today, you you were to go

36:48

to Guy for a lot of things, but you wanted just to go to

36:50

Guy for tuning, You to go to Guy for follow

36:53

us on the staff, right. And I remember one

36:55

day in particular, this was and and there

36:57

are a few things I want to say about this because Don

36:59

and Brian in the room when this happened,

37:01

and Dawn is always mommy

37:03

comfort and when she needs to

37:05

be and don't take this seriously,

37:08

and Brian is always stoic, and hey, just

37:10

just whatever. So this particular

37:12

day, I had three bad calls in

37:14

the row, which never happens to me, but I had

37:17

three bad calls in a row. What

37:19

happened? Yeah, I mean it just this

37:21

sounds how did this happen? And Rush

37:24

looks up and he's the I f B and says, listen,

37:26

if that's the best that you can do, you might as

37:28

well go home. And I

37:31

freaked out, first of all, the freaking burn

37:33

of the tears involuntarily, and

37:36

then I said and then I got on the

37:39

I f B and I said, well, I'm not going home,

37:41

so you can forget that. And then I

37:43

just wiped every call off the board and started

37:46

all over again. But I was furious.

37:48

I was angry. I was hurt. I

37:50

was furious, but at

37:52

the same time, I was appreciative and here

37:55

so so through that order. So Mommy Dawn

37:58

said, stop it. It's okay.

38:00

We're all family in here, and you know that

38:03

he doesn't mean it to hurt you.

38:05

Brian. It's like, I, come on,

38:08

we've been through this before. Everybody has a minute.

38:10

Everybody has a minute, and and just just chill

38:13

out. I was still so

38:15

hurt. I went back to my office and I

38:17

picked up the phone and I called you, said,

38:19

Craig, You're not gonna believe what

38:21

just happened. He

38:24

just told me to go home. And

38:31

and and you did what you

38:33

always do. You listened, first

38:36

listened, and

38:38

then you said, listen, I

38:41

understand. I

38:43

understand how you would feel the way that

38:45

you feel, which was the second thing, you

38:48

understand him. And the third

38:50

thing was kind of like without

38:52

saying it, not get your hands back to work

38:57

without without saying those words. But

38:59

see, this is what this is. But this is the

39:01

thing that I walk away with. So after all the emotions

39:04

subsided, this is what I come out of that story with.

39:07

And this this wasn't like ten

39:09

years ago, this was two years

39:11

ago. And

39:14

this is the one of the things that I love about Rush.

39:17

This show two years ago, by the way,

39:19

is five hundred shows ago. Think

39:21

about we talked about Rush performing

39:24

in front of a microphone for three hours a day,

39:26

five days a week, fifty or

39:28

fifty one weeks of the year. You in

39:31

the capacity that you have, look

39:33

at a bank of telephones and

39:35

the lines coming in, and

39:37

you go through probably twenty or

39:40

twenty five phone calls before there's one

39:42

person that you believe is talking

39:44

about what's interesting to Rush in

39:46

an articulate form on a

39:48

good cell phone connection that's

39:51

never been on the radio before. That

39:53

can make the host look good and can get

39:55

to their points sixcinctly, and that's

39:57

it. So you run through the gauntlet and

40:00

that fifteen hours a week. Right,

40:02

it's a hard job, the one that you had, a

40:04

really hard job of the one you had. But

40:06

I digress. That was two years ago, and

40:10

we had a great conversation on the phone, and you

40:12

came back to work the next day. Right. And the

40:14

thing that always blew my mind, and it still blows

40:16

my mind, is that Rush was always

40:18

the show was the thing. The first time I ever

40:20

screwed up with Rush was

40:23

I thought the show was over because we were at the

40:25

last at the end of the last commercial break, and

40:27

so I was starting to prepare something

40:30

for that we needed for post production. This

40:32

was in our studios in New York, and

40:35

all of a sudden, it's like a minute left and he's

40:37

like looking for a phone call that had dropped

40:39

her something. And I was caught totally

40:41

flat footed. And after that he called

40:43

me in the studio he said, listen, I don't care

40:45

what's gonna happen after the show. The show

40:48

is the thing. Never ever

40:50

let that happen again. Right, And

40:52

so to me, it's the same thing all these years

40:54

later, all that success later, the most

40:56

important thing to him was

40:58

that show and making every single

41:00

solitary moment of that show happened.

41:03

And that's the professional That's one of the reasons

41:05

I love I love working with Rush and

41:07

I love him because he always was that. He

41:10

always set that bar of excellence when

41:13

he said excellence in broadcasting, and he came up

41:15

with that as the slogan for the

41:17

network that he wanted to do. He meant it. He wanted

41:20

everything to be excellent. And so I

41:22

will say and close that with you this way, Craig,

41:24

your career has been one of excellence.

41:27

And and don what is it that's Donna and

41:29

Brian had been in the room all this time, By the way,

41:31

what is it that you want to say? Don wait, wait,

41:33

get a microphone, Come and get to a microphone.

41:36

Boss. Why don't you ask Craig a

41:39

k A. Ray Donovan if he has

41:41

been a firsthand knowledge of how tough

41:43

it is to be a call screener, because

41:45

you just did. You

41:48

can't ask somebody to do something

41:50

for a living if you don't try it yourself.

41:52

I know what kind of official

41:55

recorder of the radio program I could

41:57

be I don't dare try to do what

41:59

Dawn did, although I studied

42:01

it intensely to understand every tool

42:03

that she needed in her undivided attention.

42:06

When you translate the phone calls

42:08

from a caller calling in with a

42:10

deep accent, and Rushi needs it in real

42:12

time to be able to hear those words and

42:15

read those words, and read the emotion in those

42:17

words, so that on the air. Because the

42:19

show is the thing and excellence is the thing,

42:22

Rush did not want to delay his response because

42:24

he had an audience expectation to meet. Right,

42:26

we're having a conversation. You hear

42:28

me, I hear you. The same thing is true with Brian's

42:31

expertise in the studio as well. How

42:33

do you, as a broadcast engineer, put

42:35

a man on the air who has lost the ability

42:38

to hear himself, let alone any

42:40

other sound effect or voice in

42:42

the world, and make him sound

42:45

like he is present with that? Right,

42:48

James, your job was one that I actually

42:50

could at least audition

42:52

for, and

42:55

I saw it as being a place where humanity

42:57

came into contact with the program in a I

43:00

did not learn how to do that so that I

43:02

could help you in a world that

43:04

transformed from being landline

43:07

to cell phone, from being one

43:09

conservative talk program to fifteen

43:11

on the air in any given day, where

43:14

the listeners are actually more informed

43:16

and smarter than ever before. When the

43:18

number of opposing liberals who wanted

43:20

to get on the air and get past you the gatekeeper

43:22

to embarrass the host. Occasionally Rush

43:24

would take a day off and allow Todd Herman to

43:27

fill in for him. Occasionally James Golden

43:29

A K A bow snrdly deserved to take

43:31

a day off so somebody could fill

43:33

in for you. I was happy to do

43:35

it. Thank you. Yeah, how was it?

43:37

Did you like it? You

43:41

felt, at the end of three hours as if

43:43

you were emotionally exhausted. You

43:46

felt like you had just done battle in

43:48

meeting eighty or ninety people for the

43:51

first time on a phone call and

43:53

got them queued up, and maybe,

43:55

if you were lucky, nine of them would

43:57

be on the air over the course of three hours, if were

44:00

lucky. But a fresh had a day and the monologues

44:02

were going in is in, his witticisms were

44:04

happening, and he was firing on all twelve cylinders.

44:07

Maybe only four phone calls would get in, But

44:10

you didn't worry about the fact that you just put

44:12

all that effort into getting the best callers because

44:14

you knew that he was absolutely in command

44:16

of what needed to happen. Yeah,

44:19

and so the excellence wasn't just for the radio

44:21

program, the Russian Bull Show, greatest radio

44:23

program that ever existed. The

44:25

organization that you built amazing,

44:28

the organization that still stands today

44:31

even though you formed a new organization amazing.

44:33

Thank the team of people that we

44:36

got to be with totally amazing,

44:38

all four.

44:40

But more importantly than that one put than

44:43

any of that to me, Greg, is that any time

44:45

that I needed to have a friend

44:50

that I knew had my back, I could

44:52

call you when you always there and you always had

44:55

my back. And

44:57

so thank you trusting me, Craig,

45:00

all of that. More than anything

45:02

else, I mean you, to me, you had the single

45:04

greatest radio executive that ever lived.

45:06

And that's all cool, that's all well and good. I

45:08

don't think that impresses God. I think that

45:11

God gets impressed by what you do for you fellow

45:13

man, and the way you treat people, and

45:15

Craig, when it comes to that,

45:17

you have no second. Thank you, Thank

45:19

you, thank you, James, thank

45:23

you very much. I'm I'm truly

45:25

humbled, ladies and gentlemen. I I actually

45:27

never thought this would happen, um,

45:30

and I am I am truly gratified

45:32

to to all of those responsible

45:34

for it. And the list is long. I'd

45:37

like to start with how this radio program

45:39

actually started. Five years ago. I

45:41

was brought to New York by Ed McLaughlin to

45:44

whom I probably owe everything

45:46

as far as this national career of mine

45:49

has has gone. And we wanted

45:51

to try something that everybody in the business

45:53

said wouldn't work. We were going to syndicate a national

45:55

program in the daytime, without

45:58

local issues, without local phone numb Bruce

46:00

and so forth, and nobody in the business thought

46:02

it would work. And today,

46:05

if I might say, most radio

46:07

stations looking to succeed are looking to

46:09

syndicated programming for their

46:11

salvation. And Ed McLaughlin

46:13

is the man responsible for this, and I would like to tip

46:16

my hat to him tonight for the courage to take

46:18

on that which nobody thought could be done.

46:23

I would also like to thank the American

46:25

people. I have often

46:27

been asked to go speak to associations, broadcast

46:30

associations, and I've I've always

46:32

turned down the request because I don't know what I would say

46:34

to them. I say what I say to the American

46:37

people. In any chance I have a chance to speak to them,

46:39

I do, and I am so grateful

46:41

and so honored for the

46:43

the overwhelming change in my life

46:45

that they have brought. Uh. Regardless

46:48

of what I mean to them, I am certain that

46:50

I will never mean as much to them as they

46:53

mean to me. When I moved to New York,

46:56

I didn't plan on becoming a political

46:58

spokesman, and fact politics X was the

47:00

last thing I factored in in determining

47:02

whether or not I would be a success. I was coming to

47:04

be on radio and media guy, and I love

47:06

radio. I do television too,

47:09

But that microphone is right here in

47:11

that cameras twenty feet away, and

47:13

there's intimacy on the radio, and there's

47:15

naturalness on the radio that can never be

47:17

replicated on TV. TV is

47:19

the medium of our time, There's no question. But I am

47:22

proud to be part of the marvelous resurgeons

47:24

of radio as a political

47:26

force in this country. Four years ago, when people

47:28

went to vote, people said, oh

47:31

my gosh, there aren't enough people voting. There's apathy.

47:33

The people don't care today, the Congress

47:35

of the United States is attempting to shut talk

47:37

radio up because people care too much, and

47:40

I am proud to be a part of the Thanks

47:55

for listening to this the third episode

47:57

in our twelve part series Russ

47:59

loom Law The Man Behind the Golden

48:02

E I B Microphone, And thanks to our guest today

48:04

Craig Kitchen, join us for

48:06

episode for you won't want to miss it coming

48:09

up next week, David Limbaugh.

48:12

Russia Limbaw The Man Behind the Golden

48:14

E I B Microphone is produced

48:16

by Chris Kelly and Phil Tower,

48:19

the best producers in America,

48:22

production assistants Mike

48:24

Mamone and the executive producers

48:26

Craig Kitchen and Julie Talbot. Our program

48:29

distributed worldwide by Premier Networks,

48:31

found on the I Heart Radio app

48:33

or wherever you listen to your favorite

48:36

podcast. This is James

48:38

Golden, This is both Nervely,

48:40

This is James Golden. I'm honored to be your

48:43

host for this in every single episode

48:45

of Russia Limbaugh The Man Behind the

48:47

Golden E I B Microphone, and thank you

48:50

for being with us.