20 years of Excellence in Broadcasting.

On August 1, 1988, I was a month away from starting my second year of college. At that time in my life I really didn’t have a lot of cares in the world since I was still living at my Mother’s home for free. I was working at a convenience store on the West side of St Paul just for spending money. In fact, I was more concerned about my Minnesota Twins repeating as World Series champions than a Presidential election that was a mere three months away. It should have been a historic time for me given that I would be casting a vote for the first time in my life. But since the only political slant I ever heard was from my liberal Father and paternal grandparents, I planned on just blindly voting Democrat across the board.

Little did I know that 20 years ago today the one individual who would eventually open my mind and heart would be making his debut as a national talk radio host.

It was the Spring of 1992 (and I was a month away from graduating college) when I heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time. And it was actually by accident. I had been listening to the Minnesota North Stars the night before on AM 1500 KSTP when I turned on my radio that afternoon. Upon doing so, I heard a rather self-assured gentleman talking passionately and eloquently about things like patriotism, capitalism and democracy. It immediately grabbed my attention since such terms were scoffed at by my Political Science professors at my University. Combining a high intellect with a witty repartee, Rush’s radio show became an instant favorite! His show also taught me to be optimistic and how I could indeed make my own destiny as opposed to accepting the doom and gloom doled out by the mainstream media on a daily basis.

Before long, I would become a “Rush junkie.” When his TV show debuted that Fall, I stayed up late every evening to watch it! I would even take notes when he presented actual statistics documenting how cutting taxes actually generated more tax revenue. I even purchased the first book he ever wrote, entitled The Way Things Ought To Be. Not only that, I actually read it cover to cover in about a week! Indeed, this transformation had my head spinning. Despite vowing to never take another class or read another book after four five years of college, I found myself excited to learn about subjects other than sports!

So today I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge Rush Limbaugh on this his 20 year anniversary on the national airwaves! May your indelible passion and optimism continue to light the torch of liberty for many more years to come.

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