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Aug. 1, 2008 - Rush Limbaugh Program
33:49
August 1, 2008, Friday, Hour #3
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Greetings, my friends.
The views expressed by the host on this program make more sense than anything anybody else out there happens to be saying.
Because the views expressed by the host of this program are right.
It's Friday.
Lots to do.
Let's go.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's open live Friday.
And we'll get to as many of your phone calls this hour as we can.
Telephone number is 800-282-2882.
The email address, LRushbow at EIBNet.com.
I want to update you on the situation in the House of Representatives.
Representative Mike Pence, Republican Indiana, who is single-handedly trying to kill the fairness doctrine forever, is one of the organizers of this session that is taking place in the House of Representatives today.
He says that up to 40 Republican members are prepared to keep the proceedings going.
His quoted is saying that I'm prepared to stay here as long as we can.
He added that before the Democrat motion to adjourn was adopted, some 100 Republicans, 100, had signed up to speak for five minutes each about gas prices, but the adjournment vote precluded that.
Nancy Pelosi, if you haven't heard, shut down the House, turns the C-SPAN cameras off, the microphones off, and the lights off.
The Republicans that were there, anywhere between 35 and 40 of them, kept going, demanding the Democrats come back to discuss oil and drilling and gasoline prices.
The Democrats skipped town, got on their own private jets, making their own carbon footprint, and flew away.
The Republicans are there.
These kinds of tactics, folks, are exactly what is called for.
This is worthy of your support if somehow find a way to let these guys know that you are appreciative of what they're doing, that they're finally standing up and that they are fighting the Democrat majority on this and taking it to them on an issue that matters greatly to a vast majority of the American people.
I want to congratulate them and encourage them to keep up these kinds of legislative tactics.
They've been absent for way too long.
This is gutsy and it's courageous, and it will stand these guys in good stead.
It will inspire their voters.
It will inspire them, and you can inspire them by letting them know you appreciate what they are doing.
Also from Stratford, now Stratford is, if you're subscribed to Stratfor, George Friedman and his wife Meredith run this outfit.
It's almost like subscribing to a CIA daily brief.
And a dispatch today from Stratford, the United States, attempting to verify reports that a July 28th airstrike in northwestern Pakistan resulted in the death of al-Qaeda deputy leader Eamon al-Zawahiri.
This is, according to U.S. sources, who have mentioned this to Strat4 today.
An announcement from the U.S. government, according to Stratfor, can be expected soon, the sources told Stratfor.
So Eamon Al-Zawahiri may be room temperature, ladies and gentlemen, as a result of a U.S. airstrike northwestern Pakistan on July 28th.
As you know, we're reminiscing.
We're going back to the archives of the EIB network and reliving some of the music, some of the phone calls, some of the subjects discussed over the last 20 years.
We always get a lot of requests for Barbara Chennault Law.
So great Barbara Chennault Law in Dallas.
My mother loved that.
That was one of my mother's all-time favorite musical editions.
Ladies and gentlemen, two hours ago, I was here opening today's program, today's excursion into broadcast excellence.
And I was right in the middle, I was fired up.
I was passionate.
I was right in the middle of explaining the latest insanity.
Oh, by the way, there's a new McCain ad out.
We're getting the audio for it right now.
This new McCain ad attacks the divine Obama.
That's going to really tick him off.
If the Paris Hilton stuff ticked him off, wait till they see this.
Cookie getting the audio now.
I haven't had a chance to listen to her to look at it.
I'll do that soon.
Anyway, I was preparing to give you the rhyme and reason on Obama and his silly, stupid idea for another stimulus check of $1,000 paid for by big oil.
And everybody started waving at me on the other side of the glass.
And I had no clue what's wrong.
When they do that, only something is wrong.
What's wrong?
Brian kept pointing for you to look somewhere.
I said, what?
Look down?
Look at the desk.
What's on my desk?
What do I know?
Is there a tarantula here?
I'm thinking, what's going on?
Finally, he got on the intercom and said, the president is on the phone.
Hello.
Oh, jeez.
The president... Mark Limbaugh?
Yes, sir, Mr. President.
President George W. Bush calling to congratulate you on 20 years of important and excellent broadcasting.
Well, thank you, sir.
You've stunned me.
I'm shocked.
But thank you.
I just do.
No, I didn't.
I'm here with a room full of admirers.
There's two others that would like to speak to you and congratulate you, people who consider you friends and really appreciate the contribution you've made.
Thank you, sir, very much.
Put them on.
How are you doing?
Well, this is my swan song.
If this is all you got for me, I'm moving on.
No, the show's yours.
Take as much time as you want.
Well, I'm just calling along with President 41 and the former governor of Florida.
We're fixing to have lunch here, and I said, listen, we ought to call our pal and let him know that we care for you.
So this is as much anything as a nice verbal letter to a guy we really care for.
Well, thank you, sir, very much.
I'm overwhelmed.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate this and how much you surprised me.
Well, that was the purpose of the phone call.
Well, you succeeded.
Good.
They were waving at me, trying to tell me you were on the line, and I didn't know what was going on.
So it was a.
You succeeded here in the surprise.
How are you doing, sir?
I am great.
We're doing very good.
Thank you very much, sir.
And no concerned about our economy, obviously.
But no, we need to be drilling for some oil and gas in order to take the pressure off the gas prices.
And I'm pleased with the progress in Iraq.
Have you heard what Senator Obama wants if he wants another stimulus check of $1,000 to every American paid for by the oil companies?
Yeah.
Well, what we ought to be doing is encouraging oil companies to find oil.
And that's the best way to take the pressure off the gasoline prices.
We're on a very strong push to get the Congress to allow for there to be offshore drilling.
And most Americans understand now that an increase in oil, particularly here in America, will help take pressure off of price.
And I tell people I'd rather be buying American oil instead of sending our money overseas.
You know, Mr. President, it's amazing.
In 2004, during your campaign, Senator Kerry was constantly criticizing you for not jawboning with the Saudis enough to bring the price of oil down.
Now, four years later, they're doing everything they can to keep the price from coming down.
Apparently, they want it to remain high.
Well, they may want to, but the American people want to see some relief.
It'd be like a massive tax cut when the gasoline prices decline.
And so we're in times of economic uncertainty, and the more money people have in their pockets, the quicker we'll be able to recover, in my judgment.
And so, but you asked how I'm doing, my spirits are high.
I'm going to finish strong.
I love my family, and I'm spending two days here with mother and dad before I head overseas.
Well, that's right.
You've got China on your agenda.
I do.
But listen, President 41, you might remember him.
I do.
Yes, I do.
You know what?
Remembers you.
Good.
Fondly, I might add.
Anyway, here he is.
Congratulations.
Thank you, sir, very much again.
Yes, sir.
Hey, Rush.
Mr. President, sir, how are you doing?
I'm never better.
I am so glad that you three called me.
I'm just stunned here.
It's great to hear from you.
It's been a long time.
I got some advice for you.
Tell me.
Slow down your backswing.
That's all I'm doing, is giving advice.
I remember playing with you and enjoying it.
And how are you?
I'm great.
I'm proud of you.
Well, thank you.
I'm doing great.
And you, you're looking well, too.
Well, yeah, I'm kind of on the sidelines, but I can't do golf and all that stuff anymore.
But life is good.
It's wonderful.
And it's great having the family up here in Maine.
And all is well.
Do you see our man Ailes at all?
Oh, yeah.
I saw Roger at Tony Snow's funeral.
Oh, did you?
Yeah, and a couple of times earlier this summer.
He's on.
We're on the radio, are we?
I didn't know that.
I've cleaned up my act here.
I'm glad they tell me.
Yeah, we're on the radio.
You don't have to.
It's wonderful talking to you, I'll tell you.
Thank you, sir.
It says the same here.
All right, now wait a minute.
Jeb, Governor Jeb wants to speak to you.
Oh, that's great.
We got the whole family lined up.
Put him on.
All Limbaud fans.
Now, just say, here.
Hey, Rush, congratulations on your longevity.
Thank you, sir, very much.
This is a thrill for all.
One of the highlights of one of the great things about your show is broadcast in the Sunshine State, for which a whole lot of Floridians are very grateful, including me.
It's a great place to live, Governor.
It really is, as you well know.
We got a few challenges, but it's not a bad place at all.
No, what's your future?
What are you going to do?
I'm staying below the radar.
That's what I'm doing.
I love policy, and I have an education policy to try to help folks that are running for office be bold on education reform, which I think is a huge challenge and a great opportunity for our country.
So my political stuff is really focused on that, which I love.
Well, good.
Keep at it because that's a, if there's something that needs reform in this country, it's certainly that.
Absolutely.
Particularly public education.
Well, thank you guys so much.
This is unexpected and a real honor for me to hear from all of you guys at the same time.
All right.
Take care.
Thanks, sir, very much.
Bye-bye.
I was flabbergasted.
I heard more of what they said this time listening to it than when I was actually talking.
Two presidents and one governor in one phone call.
Quick timeout.
An obscene profit break coming up.
We'll be back and continue right after it.
El Rushbo, Al Michaels here wishing you a happy, glorious 20th.
You know, the world's greatest iconic athletes are exalted because they perform at the highest level year after year after year.
You are the radio equivalent of these legends.
For two decades, you've always been prepared, and when I turn on the radio, I know that you'll be topical, informative, interesting, thought-provoking, and funny.
You are an everyday treat and a usually important figure in this country.
And on a personal level, Rush, having gotten to know you over the years, you are a man whose friendship I am extremely grateful for.
Your loyalty knows no boundaries, and your friends are the lucky beneficiaries.
Rush, here's a toast of the past 20 years to 20 more and to 20 more after that.
Cheers, Skoll, Oh Chaim, CEN, and congratulations to you in a hundred languages.
Al Michaels.
I met Al Michaels when I auditioned for Monday Night Football.
And actually, no, I met him.
I met him at a charity golf tournament and then had the, no, no, take it back.
I did meet him first time when I auditioned for Monday Night Football.
He has become a close friend, part of the annual April Spring Fling here.
Bring a bunch of them in for a three-day weekend, and he's always in the group.
This is overwhelming to me, all these accolades and tributes, even though I know they're true.
And even I can't just, they make me speechless.
I'm sorry.
You, ladies and gentlemen, have got to hear the audio coming next of the newest ad from Senator McCain's campaign, but you really have to see this too.
It's linked at thedrudgreport.com.
You've got to see it, but here is the audio.
It is entitled The One.
It shall be known that in 2008, the world will be blessed.
They will call him The One.
A nation healed.
A world repaired.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
And he has anointed himself, ready to carry the burden of the world.
To quote Barack, I have become a symbol of America returning to our best traditions.
He can do no wrong.
Do you have any doubts?
Ever.
Can you see the light?
A light will shine down from somewhere.
It will light upon you.
You will experience an epiphany.
And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack.
And the world shall receive his blessings.
This is the moment when the rise of the Asians began to slow and our planet began to heal.
He ruled his mighty hand.
Barack Obama may be the one, but is he ready to lead?
That ad is, now I didn't hear basically approved.
I guess it's McCain ad.
I didn't watch it long enough to see if there's an approved by John McCain on it.
But at the very end of that ad is Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea, and out of the floor of the Red Sea comes the Obama presidential seal that he had designed and used until he was humiliated into withdrawing it and taking it down.
I'll tell you, if the Obama people got mad and fed up over the Britney Spears Celebuchard ad, this is going to frost him.
This is fabulous.
This is Barack Obama's words right back at him.
This is what Obama has said, and it's fun.
It's having fun.
Yes, it said, but it's his own words thrown right back at him.
Get back to the phones.
It is Open Line Friday.
We go to Wenatchee, Washington.
This is Blaze.
Thanks for holding.
Nice to have you here.
Hey, Rush.
I just want to say congratulations on 20 years right off the bat.
Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it.
And I just wanted to mention that yesterday I was flipping through the channels and having to see Ben Stein on CNN talking about how it really is the race card that people are voting for Barack Obama.
And I just wanted to say that I knew you said it first.
And when he said that, it finally, you know, it was the clincher right there.
Well, what did he say?
The race is one of the reasons people are voting for Obama.
Yeah, he basically said, you know, Americans feel guilty for the things they've done in the past.
And I forgot exactly what show it was on CNN, but he said, oh, that's insulting.
And Ben Stein said, yeah, but it's the truth.
And we shouldn't feel guilty for it because it's not what, you know, we didn't do that, but we do feel guilty for it.
And that's why we're voting for Barack.
Not only that, not only should we not feel guilty, we ought to feel sort of proud.
Look at the steps that we've taken since those days.
Look at the progress that's been made.
I'll tell you, there's a racial component to this.
There's no question he's playing the racial component for all it's worth.
But they're going to have to have at least a 15-point lead in the polls for him to win because I think some of this poll support is not genuine.
When it comes time to vote privately, Wilder Effect, Bradley Effect is going to rear its head.
Right now in those polls, it's basically tied.
He can't win that.
Hey, Rush, on behalf of the entire staff of the Sullivan Group, we want to thank you for 20 years of your business measuring the accuracy of your show.
And as you know, we're now using the latest technology, the Disgronificator 5000, and amazingly, you have never dipped below 97.6%.
Best wishes for your continued success.
Tom Sullivan, who was one of my best friends out in Sacramento at KFBK, and he's now in New York working for the—you told me there were no surprises.
He's working at the Fox Business Channel now.
No surprise.
And still doing his own radio show.
All right.
For those of you watching on the Ditto Cam, you can see what is happening.
An anniversary cake has been brought in and glasses of champagne and one of these little confetti bombs that you see at the Super Bowl are now going off and being launched.
Ooh, look at it.
It's excellent.
And I happen to know it was already in the refrigerator, so none of you Tightwads bought it.
Now, look, am I allowed to consume adult beverages while hosting broadcast excellence?
You are.
Really?
You are.
Absolutely.
From all of us at the EIB, every single employee, all of your friends, your family, your listeners, you are a friend to all and an inspiration to every last one of us.
Thank you for 20 fantastic years of friendship, leadership, inspiration, and downright fun.
Thank you.
Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Lied to me again today, and no surprises.
Who said that from New York?
Who said that?
Oh, oh, that's right.
New York told me there were no surprises.
New York did not lie to me, but you people did.
When you drink something on the radio, you have to slurp it so people know that you're doing it.
Otherwise.
All right.
That is good.
Thank you, guys.
Thanks very much.
We've been sitting here reminiscing, ladies and gentlemen, some of the things that have happened in the past over the course of this program.
And one of the, we didn't find the tape of this.
I wish we had, but there was an incident early on, shortly after we had secured WLS Chicago as our Chicago affiliate, which to me was huge.
I grew up listening to WLS and KXOK in St. Louis at KMOX as well.
And to be on WLS was a real, real, real, I mean, that was major.
And shortly after the clearance on WLS, I just, playing around, horsing around here, I'd found a word in a dictionary that I found fascinating.
And after I looked at this word, I said, you know what, we have found, ladies and gentlemen, a way because they were worried about highway safety back then.
Something happened and highway safety was a problem.
And I said, one of the things that we can do to really clean up highway safety is to get women to stop farting in their cars.
If you could get that stopped, and you can see it every time it happens, if you get that stopped, get women to stop farting in their cars, then they'll be paying attention to driving and it'll be a lot safer out there.
Well, all these people started calling.
I can't believe what you're saying.
What am I saying?
What are you talking about?
Well, how do you know that somebody's doing what you said when they're driving?
Because you can see it.
And I said, I'll tell you something else.
Men don't do it.
You will never see men parting in their cars when they're driving.
And this went on.
And finally, Tom Trattiff, who was running WLS, pulled me off the air, canceled me for 45 minutes and called Ed McLaughlin to say, this is not what we signed up for.
This is not the kind of garbage we signed up in.
And Tom said, by the way, I'm sick and tired of hearing that Ted Kennedy song, too, The Philanderer.
And so Ed, Ed, I don't think Ed was even aware of what we were doing.
I mean, they didn't monitor every minute of the show, but I knew exactly when I heard this.
I said, this is great.
Of course, the word was fard, F-A-R-D.
And you just run that pronunciation real quickly, and people think you're saying the other word.
And it means to apply makeup.
It's a French word to apply makeup.
So I was on solid ground.
I had not uttered an obscenity.
I had not even said anything off color, but people thought so, including Tom Trattiff.
Speaking of Ed McLaughlin, he had a great tribute earlier in the program.
I want to tell you a little bit about Ed.
I've written about him extensively in my first book, The Way Things Ought to Be.
In that book, pretty much explained how the EIB network started.
But it really was all the things that people have heard about this network, the program, all of the myths out there that there was some giant strategic meeting between powers in broadcasting and politics to fill a conservative niche in the media.
That's not at all what happened.
This was a wing and a prayer, and it was started with very little money.
Ed was the president of the ABC radio networks for many years after having worked at KGO in San Francisco.
And when ABC merged with Capital Cities Communications, as is want, the Capital Cities management wanted slots for their own people, and they gave certain ABC executives retirement packages.
And part of Ed's package was two hours of satellite time from noon to two.
It was currently being filled by a host named Owen Spann because ABC had this, the ABC Talk Radio Network or something.
They were syndicating four or five people, Michael Jackson, Owen Spann, some others in the daytime.
It wasn't working.
And nobody could figure out why it wasn't working because these people were fairly talented.
So they came to the conclusion it wasn't working because nobody wanted to hear a national show in the daytime.
Radio had to be local, local, local.
We had local issues, local hosts and local phones.
And if you didn't have that, then it wasn't going to work.
And that's why this wasn't working.
So eventually, Owen, something happened.
Owen threw his back out or did something.
And Ed plucked me out of Sacramento.
That's its long, that's another long story, too, that I won't bother you with, but it took some contractual maneuvering to bring that about.
And it would not have happened if I had not secured a clause in my contract saying I could leave for an offer in a top 10 market.
And so the deal was put together that I would go to New York and do a local show from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
I would not be paid for that show, but WABC would run our national commercials so that we could tell our advertisers we were in the number one market.
Even though we weren't airing, sponsors didn't really care.
They just wanted their spots to air in the number one market.
I then did a national show from noon to two.
So it was four hours.
And the national show we started with about 56 radio stations, which is what Owen Spann had.
They had not signed up because they thought I was great.
It's just they had nothing else to do.
They're small little stations, and that's where we started.
And this was really a wing and a prayer.
And Ed, Ed McLaughlin and his wife, Pat, the definition of like a mom-and-pop operation, they did it.
I mean, they were both involved.
There was a guy named Lee Vandenhandel who still is a guy named Lee Vandenhandel, who was the affiliate relations generally.
He did all the clearances.
He was making all the phone calls to all the stations telling about this wonderful new show, the Rush Limbaugh Show, and putting up with the abuse and the declines and so forth.
And Ed would do the same thing.
It was clear working on the large market stations.
And I was just doing the radio program, and it was winging a prayer when we started.
The one thing I quickly figured out, because it took off fast, as those of you who have been around for all 20 years know, it took off quickly.
And one of the reasons that it did is because we were only asking for two hours a day from a radio station when we first started.
Whereas the ABC Talk Radio Network was asking stations to give up five and six hours to syndicated programming.
We were just one station, our one show.
Now, Ed was syndicating Dr. Dina Dell, but he was already established.
So there wasn't even any packaging.
We were just going out by ourselves, getting these clearances or trying to, and advertising and the whole mess.
And I just, you know, my ambition was uncontrollable.
And my vision for this getting big was uncontrollable.
And Ed was, I think we were all shocked by how fast it grew.
And Ed had to go ahead and hire a couple people to come in and actually run the day-to-day operations.
He brought in John Axton and Stu Crane, and they had both been at the ABC radio networks in sales and management.
And Stu and John were there with Ed when all this growth was happening.
We went from 56 radio stations to 500 stations in three years long before Bill Clinton came along on the national scene.
We added maybe 112 stations after Clinton came on.
The drive-bys all say that it's Clinton that made this show.
It's clueless about it.
But these guys were just working tirelessly, and we're all having fun at the same time because it just, it was exploding.
And everywhere the show aired, it worked.
Still does in unbelievable ways.
We're just getting, we're not really supposed to talk about this, but we get ratings every month here, but they're broken down into quarters of the year.
And we just got the spring report that came in.
It's through the roof.
A lot of it's probably Operation Chaos, but I mean, it literally threw the roof, nine and ten shares in places.
It's just, it's just great.
It's just been fabulous.
But it would not have happened if Ed McLaughlin hadn't taken the risk.
It wasn't really a big risk for me because everybody expected it not to work.
And if it had not worked, I would have just been the last and latest valiant effort.
And I'd have gone back to Sacramento or maybe Los Angeles or wherever and continued my talk show career.
And, you know, it was Ed, he's the one that put his money on the line.
And he was just supportive as he could be.
We were just, I mean, he didn't know me from Adam.
He was clued into my existence by a guy named Bruce Maher, who was a great program director at KABC in Los Angeles for a while, and he'd gone in a consulting business.
He was consulting KFBK Sacramento, where I worked.
By the way, Bruce Marr was instrumental in making sure that the show you hear today is the show you hear.
Because as the case everywhere, when I got to Sacramento, after a while, a program director said, you got to get guests in here.
You can't do this without guests.
Everybody in talk radio has guests.
You've got to get some guests.
I said, I'm not going to get guests.
I want to be the reason people listen to the program.
Go worry about some other show.
So Bruce was the front man, and he stood in the way.
He said, he can do it.
He doesn't need guests.
We'll worry about something else.
And something similar happened in New York at WABC.
There was some format pressure on my local show.
I mean, you've got to get some guests in here, Rush.
I don't, you know, people in New York aren't going to understand Clarence Frogman Henry and a homeless update.
That's bushley.
You got to get some guests in here.
I said, why?
You've got guests out the wazoo on every other show on this station.
So Ed went in there and provided the buffer for that.
So none of this, point is none of this could have happened without the help and the courage and the risk-taking of a whole lot of people, particularly Ed McLaughlin.
I remember going through the negotiating session with him.
He wouldn't budge in what he was offering at first.
He was a businessman pure and through, and this was a business proposition.
But he was taking a real flyer.
He had come out to Sacramento and he had listened, and he'd taken Bruce Maher's advice, thinking this would be a good guy to fill his two hours on the satellite.
But he would have been happy with a couple hundred stations nearing retirement age.
This thing just blew up, got larger than anything anybody expected except me.
You know, my intention was to come here and own everything.
I didn't go to New York to be number five or number four.
And then, of course, there's all of you.
Because after all of these people that gave me the support system and the encouragement and were working tirelessly on my behalf and in theirs as well, they're you, the audience.
And you are the ultimate determining factor of the success of this program.
The fact that you listen and that you admit to it is a I don't mean that to sound funny.
It's a serious component of it.
It has always blown me away.
The bond and the depth of loyalty that I have with all of you in the audience is something that I still marvel at to this day.
It is special and it is unique.
It is, I think, a great testament to the true power and intimacy that radio as a medium provides.
Because you're not looking at anything as you listen to this.
You're listening.
And as such, there's only one hearing or one sensory perception.
You're hearing.
You're more focused.
No background listening.
You don't have this on the background doing anything else.
When you're here, I own you and you own me.
And these three hours go by and it's like that.
Look at he split.
And this has led to a radio audience and host familial type relationship that is unparalleled in the modern era of radio.
Before TV started, these kind of audiences existed and they were huge in size.
So a lot of people to thank.
It's difficult to mention them all and give them the tribute that they all deserve.
And I'm a little over time here for my windfall profit timeout anyway.
So I got to take that.
We'll come back.
We'll continue and wrap it up, reminisce a little bit more when we come back after this timeout.
Thank you.
Speaking of Operation Chaos at the new Limbaugh Virtual Museum of Broadcasting, now found at rushlimbaugh.com, you can actually take the elevator down to the basement of the museum and see Operation Chaos Headquarters.
You've got to see the museum.
There's nothing like this on the World Wide Web.
Ladies and gentlemen, I know this is going to happen.
We have a lot of archival items that I'm not going to possibly be able to squeeze in in our remaining moments.
And no reason to stop.
We can throw a couple of them in next week on a day or two because they're fun.
The gurgling cod was one I had coming up next that I received on my first trip to Boston.
But it just, its length is too much.
It won't squeeze in.
And I wanted to spend a little bit more time on the whole appreciation.
You know, every Thanksgiving and Christmas, I get very sentimental about all the good things that have happened.
Probably more so at Christmas than I do Thanksgiving.
Don't know why it just happens that way.
But I get very sentimental about the blessed life that I have.
And I try to do as much as I can to share it with as many people as I can in any number of ways.
And I get to do that with all of you each and every day, telling you some of the stories, some of the things that I'm doing, the people I'm getting to meet, and so forth.
And I enjoy sharing it with you.
You're like family.
And then it's nothing.
You all are really the ones that are responsible for it as a result of your listenership and patronage of the program.
And that will never, ever be something I take for granted.
I do not take it for granted every day.
I have yet to, as the term goes, phone in a show.
I still work as hard preparing a radio show today as I ever did.
Well, at least as many hours.
But it's gotten so large now.
I mean, back when this show started, 1988, basically there was a CompuServe service and you could get the AP wire, but there was nothing like the Internet.
Basically, I prepared the show with five newspapers every day.
And there's no way you could prepare the show with five newspapers a day because the news in newspapers is old by the time it gets printed.
And there's just too much on the internet for one person to keep up with.
So there are a number of people who have joined the effort of research and news gathering.
And we're all working at it 24-7 and sending things to the printer all night long and all morning long.
And it's in the morning I come in here and look through it all and decide what I want to use and what I don't.
But it's become a rather large operation from the newsletter to the website to the radio program.
And it's much more than just one person.
It's a whole lot of people who are all very happy we had.
Anybody leave this staff?
A couple secretaries.
Nobody's left in these 20 years.
Some may have wanted to.
We didn't let them.
But the, well, Sterling left, but he came back.
So I want to thank all of you on the staff for helping make all of this possible, too.
Have a great weekend, folks.
I'll be back, and we'll see you on Monday.
I also need to thank the staff.
They gave me $20.
A dollar for every year.
See you Monday, folks.
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