The Limbaugh Letter

James Golden chats with the staff of arguably the most successful political newsletter in American history: The Limbaugh Letter. "Editrix" Diana Allocco (as Rush referred to her on the air) and Graphic Designer Denise Mei both share stories of their unique and very special relationships with Rush, plus details from behind the scenes about how each issue of the Limbaugh Letter came to be. This episode also contains an appearance from actor and proud conservative Scott Baio, who narrates a special feature dedicated the Obama era of the Rush Limbaugh Show.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you've missed any episodes of Russia Limbaugh The Man
Behind the Golden E I B Microphone, you've missed more
great stories from some of Russia's closest friends, family, and colleagues.
All previous episodes are available now on I Heart Radio
or wherever you listen to your podcast. Today on Rush
Limbaugh The Man Behind the Golden E I B Microphone

(00:22):
a special treat we are going to examine closely the
Limball letter. Whether you listened every day, you are at
the E I B Network and the Russia Limbaugh program,
heard on over six hundred great radio stations where every
now and then nation's leading radio talk show, the most
eagerly intersepted program in America, are the stories you've never

(00:43):
heard from the people behind the scenes who knew him
best and loved him most. Rushman Ball having more fundly
human being, it could be allowed to have Rush Limbaugh
The Man Behind the Golden EIP Microphone, hosted by James Golden. Hey,
James Golden here. You might remember I told you a
few weeks ago that my pillow had sent me their

(01:04):
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to my pillow dot Com, click on the new radio
listener specials. Use the promo code icon. That's I C
O N. You'll find lots of incredible office right now.
That's my pillow dot Com romo code icon. Oh, we

(02:11):
have with us the edit tricks of the Numball letter.
Diana a loco. Welcome Diana. How are you? I am wonderful.
It's so good to hear your voice, jays Well, thank
you so much. Now where do we begin? Let's begin
at the beginning day. Hey, I got it, I have
I have an idea. How about I asked you a question,
is that okay, do you remember the day that I

(02:35):
cut off radio stations from the studio? No? No, So
I wanted to tell that story before you started asking
me questions because it is so hilarious in retrospect. At
the time, it was very traumatic for everyone. But if

(02:56):
you remember what happened when I first started, they wanted
me to sit in the studio to absorb all that
I could of the atmosphere, and I sat to the
right of you for a few years. If you remember,
you were screening calls, and then I sat to the
seat next to you. Then there was Mike, Mamone and
Kit in the room typically, and this one day Rush

(03:21):
was remotely broadcasting. I think he was in California, but
as long as he was there, it didn't really matter
where here was. I don't remember where it was, but
he was broadcasting remotely. And at the time you would
speak to him by pushing a button on the board
every time you wanted to add or he had a

(03:43):
question for you, so you would keep up your repartee
that you usually did well. I used to have comments
that he invited me to also make comments and I
would tell you, because you were right near the microphone,
and I would tell you my comment, and then you
would tell Rush I comment. And after a while, I
think you got tired of it, and you said, hey,

(04:04):
why don't you push the button yourself if you have
something to say to Rush. So, fortunately, James, this was
during an advertisement, an advertising break. I had something to
say to Rush, and I pushed the button and I
went to make my comment, and all of a sudden,

(04:25):
Kit and Mike and You started standing up and scrambling around,
and it was like the e R pushing buttons and
redoing this and doing that, and I was like, what happened?
And you said to me that I had cut Rush
off from his entire e I V network of five,
the main field. So fortunately you all scrambled and you all,

(04:51):
you know, got the connection going again during the advertising break,
and so Rush basically as you, Hey, what the hell happened?
And you did not throw me at underbus. I'm still
grateful for it. You said, oh, yeah, there was a
satellite uploop glitch of some FOD and you covered me.
And as far as I know, Rush never knew what

(05:15):
really happened. That you had some woman in the studio
basically pushed the wrong button. So, okay, let's talk about
um you for a minute. When did you first hear
Russia Lamball? When did you first become aware of that
there was this guy on the radio Russia Lumba. Well,
it is a really cool story. Actually, I was the

(05:37):
one of the four issue editors at the Reader's Digest,
and it was my job to choose all the material
for one full issue. There were four of us and
we rotated, and so I was working on I believe
it was the possibly May issue, and I was in

(05:59):
charge of picking all the stories. And there had been
I believe, in Atlantic profile of Rush Limbaugh, and that
was the first time I had ever heard his name.
It was a wonderful profile, very positive, and I thought, man,
this will be just perfect for the issue. It a
round it out. It's different this this guy has such personality,

(06:21):
and it's radio, which we didn't have a lot of
material on, so I scheduled it for that issue. When
I was putting together and one of the editors who
was working underneath me, whose job it was to edit
it condense it. Of course, we condensed everything at the
Reader's Digest, she brought it in finished ready for my keen,

(06:43):
and she said, by the way, you should listen to
this guy, because I said, Wyn, he sounds so cool.
She said, nothing competes with hearing him yourself. And that
woman's name was Susan France, and I later hired her
for the Limball let or believe it or not, but
she was the one who introduced me to the idea
that you had to hear him. And I went out

(07:05):
on my lunch break, turned on the radio in my
car and I was immediately hooked. I know everyone has
those same experiences. And from that time I spent every
lunch hour in the editorial library at the Reader's Digest
secretly listening to Russia show as much as I could.

(07:27):
So it actually was, you know, necessary for me to
work for him, because it was kind of unethical to
be paid by the Reader's Digests and spending an hour
listening to the Russia Limbo. So how did it come
about that you became the Limba letter the edit Tricks
of the Limb, as Rush calls you of the letter. Well,

(07:52):
right after that, I think a month or two after that,
I heard through the grapevine that Rush was starting a publication,
and I thought, man, I'm made for that. And I
saw an advertisement in the New York Times. That's how
we found there was no online applying for jobs or
searching for jobs in those days. This was the early nineties,

(08:14):
and so I read the New York Times. I was
in publishing, and that's where the want ads were for
the publishing world. And so I saw this little two
line um ad wanted editor for new publication combines humor
and conservative politics. And I knew, I'm like, okay, there's

(08:36):
only one person on the planet who combines humor and
conservative politics. And since I already had gotten win that
there was a new publication starting, and so I sent
to the company. I sent a two line letter that said,
I hear you're starting Excellence in Publications and I am

(08:59):
very interested, and I gave my contact information. So they
called me and I had an interview. You know what's fun.
The second interview was with Rush himself, and I did
not know it at the time, but it was because
of something I didn't say in the interview process that
I got the job. I didn't ask anybody about benefits.

(09:23):
I didn't ask any aboue about vacation time, I didn't
ask anybody about anything other than what they wanted in
the job itself. And I learned later that that was
just a bug a boo that Rush had that he
couldn't stand people who just wanted to know as soon
as they were being interviewed, what are the benefits and
when's my vacation? And so the fact that I didn't

(09:44):
ask those what put me in the plus column. Yeah.
I remember the day you first that you were first
introduced to the staff. Beautiful dark haired woman comes in
and I'm like, Wow, who's that. That's That's the person
that's going to start the Russ lumbab newsletter, and and yeah,
and so you hung out with us in the studio
a while and then out rolls issue number one, and

(10:05):
issue number one I still half of the limbo letter,
and it was what it was like, four pages. I
think when it first was it four pages? It wasn't.
It was eight eight pages. They started with basically two
color news print eight pages. And you know, to me,
they had given me a few months to sit in

(10:25):
the studio and absorb Rush as much as possible. And
my job was to try and contain lightning in a
bottle basically is to distill that down somehow into eight
pages every month a daily radio show about the news.
So that was a you know, my greatest professional challenge,

(10:46):
I think, was to figure out a way of containing
him into print and you know, as much as it
is possible. And that's why I immediately said, well, eight
pages is never gonna be enough, and we bumped it
up to well and then to sixteen, which is what
lasted its whole life, and then we went full color
because it had to be to contain Rush. So it

(11:10):
was a real interesting thing to figure out a way.
And I noticed that he talked big picture as well
as news, and so I was trying to every month
hit on for the cover story, help him, you know,
basically convey his main theme of that month. So there

(11:30):
we're big picture items that would fit in a monthly publication.
And that was the fun of it, is to write down, oh, yes,
he's talking about this important subject, education or whatever it was.
And then you know, the smaller items we could do,
the news items, the funny things, and the stupid quotes.
So we try to combine both humor and substance. And

(11:53):
he always wanted to do original research in the newsletter,
So it wasn't a duplication of what was on the radio.
Know it all all right? Tell us what it was
like working with Rush? First time you met him, it
was the interview? What about after that? What happened? How?
How did you What was your relationship like with Rush? Well?
Rush was wonderful. I mean, I'm going to get choked up,

(12:15):
but I loved him and he was the best boss
ever because he, as I think you said earlier, he
would choose self starters and people that he felt would
be independent, work independently and just let us go. And
so he was not a person who looked over the

(12:37):
shoulder or micromanaged. He trusted us and that trust was
such an honor and it really got the best work
out of all of us. I think we all wanted
to please him, and we all wanted him to be
approving of what the work was, and so we gave
it our very best every single day. And also we

(12:58):
knew that's what he was doing, so he set the
tone for excellence. You know, basically the entire team wide,
and everyone worked well together because of that. We all
had the same mindset. But you know, if you don't mind,
I have a memory of a pretty funny thing where

(13:19):
I think I got my nickname at a tricks and
this was in He wanted to do a reprint not
only of the thirty five Undeniable Truths of Life, but
also update them. So we had a new thirty five Undeniables.
But as I was talking to him, he was standing

(13:40):
in my office. I had the office next to him
at the time, and he came in and were discussing it,
and I corrected him on uh, the number twenty four.
Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women of
access to the mainstream of society. And I said to him, hey, Rush,
you just worded that wrong. You've got too many words

(14:03):
in there. It should be Feminism was established to allow
you don't need the sow as to it's just superfluous.
And so he looked to me after kind of giving
me that one eyed look, and he said, let me
tell you. He says, you have three hundred and twenty

(14:23):
five radio stations and then you could write it however
you want. And I looked at him and I said,
point taken. And I immediately he laughed. He was he
was being very funny, but he had a boy and
I laughed and he left, and after that he started
going atriss. So I think there was a little bit

(14:45):
of dominatrix soon because I had argued with him and
I wanted to correct his ridic So I got a note.
I got an email here from the edit Drinks and
the limb Ball letter that's the most widely read politic
the newsletter in America. Dear boss, I sadly think your
caller is right. I think Hillary is going to be

(15:07):
on a higher platform to make her look equal to Trump,
a podium, and she's got dictionary definitions here, as though
I don't know what these things are. A podium. A
podium is the raised platform on which the speaker stands
to deliver his or her speech. Podium derived from the

(15:30):
Greek word as a podiatrist. A lector is a raised,
slanted stand on which a speaker can place his or
her notes or secret teleprompter. Electorn is derived from the
Latin word electus, a past participle of the verb legear,
which means to eat vegetables. The word elector comes from

(15:50):
the same source. So I was confused anyway. It's a
long way of saying that the corner might have been
right that they're gonna have her jacked up. Each week
One Russia Limbaugh, the man behind the Golden E I
B Microphone. We delve into Russia's biographical journey with the

(16:13):
help of his friends, colleagues, and family members. Today we
welcome one of America's most loved actors and patriots, Scott Bao.
The Life of Russia Limbaugh, Chapter ten, narrated by Scott Bayo.
On November fourth, two thousand and eight, America made history

(16:33):
by electing its first black president, and known for his
signature cutting edge analysis and insight, Russia. Limbaugh was quick
to explain how Barack Obama was able to convince so
many Americans to vote for him. In fact, Russia was
very detailed as to why Obama's election victory was so decisive.
The main reason Obama was elected was a bunch of
people in this country very distressed and fed up but

(16:56):
the ongoing allegation that they and the rest of the
country were bunch of racists and bigots, and they believed
that if they participated in electing the first African American president,
that they could do away with that charge. They could
do away with that notion that idea. I firmly believe
that the vast majority outside of the Democrat but the

(17:19):
vast majority of white votes for Obama were made with
that hope. After eight years of conservative leadership on the president,
George W. Bush Rush was eager, willing, and ready to
resume his role as chief conservative critic in opposition to
the Obama regime. As he frequently labeled, and it fits
what the hell else is it? But not a regime.
It didn't take long for Rush to start making waves

(17:40):
with only four little words just before inauguration, they I
hope he fails. I wanted Obama to fail so that
my country would not. I wanted Obama's liberal agenda, his
socialist community organizer agenda, to fail. I did not, and
never have and never will want a are it could
have failed, Never, no way. I wanted America to be saved.

(18:05):
Rush soon found plenty more to criticize and what became
the signatures of the Obama administration. From Obamacare to the
closing of GIBMO. They ran nuclear deal to Obama's border tactics,
and much much more. For Rush Limbaugh, the Obama years
were chock full of policies and bad politics to dissect
for tens of millions of listeners daily, and throughout Obama's
two terms in office, rushed to great pride in telling

(18:28):
his listeners that he had no doubt the president was
one of them. As he often explained on air, not
only was Obama paying attention to him, he was fixated
on him. The Republicans are only concerned about what's on
Fox News or what Rush Limbaugh saying, and Democrats are
looking at the New York Times or Huffington Post. So
Obama comes into office telling Republicans that they can't listen

(18:49):
to Rush Limbaugh anymore and get things done. That's just
not how it happens in Washington. And he's leaving office
having failed to remove one of his and impediments from
his equation, and that would be me. So after eight years, Obama,
he comes into office with me living rent free in
his hand, and I'm still there. It could be said

(19:12):
today that during the Obama administration, Rush Limbaugh was at
his best, staunchly defending conservative principles and standing up for
America and its exceptionalism. But in the end, whether at
his best or even on a bad day, a few
could touch Russia. Limbaugh the Obama chapter was but just
eight years of more than thirty of unprecedented broadcast excellence. Unforgettable.

(19:40):
That's the impression that you, the Russia Limbaugh audience made
with your support for Russia's last charitable effort while Rush
was still with us through the Stand Up for Betsy
Ross campaign. Your generosity resulted in a five million dollar
donation to the Tunnel to Towers found a. Rush said

(20:01):
it best. We chose Tunnel to Towers to be the
beneficiary of the campaign because we love the work they
do and the story about how they started. When a
family experiences significant loss the mother or father passes while
serving our country, Tunnel to Towers steps in freeze that

(20:22):
family of a major worry during their time of crisis.
Tunnel to Towers pays off mortgages in full for these
families and provides them with the comfort of a home
when their world has literally been turned upside down. The
foundation does the same for first responders and also build
smart homes for our most catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.

(20:48):
More heroes need your help. Do good by donating eleven
dollars a month to Tunnel to Towers at t two
T dot org. That's the letter T, the number two,
the letter T dot org. So this was a relationship

(21:11):
that started in the nineties and and and continued right
up until the time that Rush left us. And so
all those years, I mean, what what what what's your
takeaway from working with with Rush? Although those years, well,
you know, I don't know if you remember the Nightline appearance.
I think it was April of and he had been

(21:35):
on along with Carville and some other you know, one
New York Times writer, and it was a town hall.
It was supposed to be about Hillary and healthcare. And
this was before the midterm elections where the Republicans took over,
as they used to quote the Republican takeover. So this

(21:56):
was still in the honeymoon phase of the Clinton administration.
And Ted Copple really liked Rush at that point and
had him on. He was the only one who wasn't
physically in the town hall I think Iowa. And he
was supposed to talk about healthcare and Hillary Care, and

(22:16):
he was the first person up and he immediately changed
the subject, did not talk about anything other than all
the lies that these people that Clinton's had been promulgating
about Whitewater, and he started talking listening them. He rattat,
you know, the billing records, Whitewater, and went on and on,

(22:36):
and the rest of the group was there to talk
about healthcare, and they simply just ignore, basically what Rush
had said. They didn't respond to it. And the next
day we were all you remember this, We were all
standing in the hallway before the show, and I said
to Rush, Hey, Rush, did you notice that you basically

(22:59):
accused them on television, national television of being liars and
they didn't defend her. And he did what you and
I used to call that sponge thing. He would look
so intently at you when you were talking, and he
wouldn't necessarily say anything. And this was the first time
I had experienced it, and he had this piercing look,

(23:24):
and he listened to what I had to say, and
he didn't respond. He just walked down the hallway to
the studio. And then he kind of used that as
his jumping off point. And then a few days later
there was the Pretty and Pink conference because Hillary knew
she had not been defended by her own people on
national TV, and so that was the first time I

(23:47):
knew he was probably the best listener that I have
ever encountered in my life. He had the ability, and
even after he lost his hearing, he had the ability
to absorb information, filter it into this amazing creative mind

(24:07):
he had, and be able to then transform it and
bring it out as the Rush take, because he would
take things that we all would suggest or give a
line or whatever, and he would make it into something
miraculous and amazing. And to watch him do that, live
that ability to spontaneously think on ninety different levels at once,

(24:31):
I tell you that was We all have talked about
how much we love him and his generosity and his character,
and all those things are true. And the thing that
I also appreciate so much as his mind, the most
brilliant human being that I have ever been in the
presence of, and yet very very gentle and kind and

(24:54):
of all good character. But his brilliance was aside. To behold,
we will never ever ever be in the presence of
someone as brilliant as him. Again, you made a reference
to it, and I want to just get you to
expand on it. The Sponge Rush had this uncanny ability
to absorb information like nobody else. He could read something

(25:17):
and and pick out points that and and find points
in it and talk about points that no one else
saw in an article. It could be a sentence and
he could then launch into an original take from that
that would turn into a monologue. He would talk to
people and and something a sentence that they would say.

(25:37):
He could develop an entire line of thought that no
one else in the media would have. This guy he
took everything in and he would say, show prep is
life is show prep. He would take everything in. He
read an incredible amount of material every single day he

(25:57):
had to in order to do a show. And but
he would also listen him and you you you pointed
that out too. He would listen to people on the staff.
He would talk with them, and you didn't get a
lot of time. It was, it was, it was. It
was just the most uncanny thing, absolutely, and I think
you hit on something so important and I'm sure other
people have mentioned it, but not the conventional wisdom. The

(26:20):
fact that he could not stand group thing. He hated
the conventional wisdom. It was almost physical with him, and
so that natural inclination to ignore what everyone else's take
was on something that he wanted to make sure that
whatever his observations were, and his conclusions from that were

(26:44):
were absolutely original, and that is why everybody tuned in
every day. And you and I, if you remember, we
used to try and predict an event would happen, and
we'd say, what do you think Russia's taken? And you know,
we would sometimes be close, but these we were with
him all the time, and we couldn't predict on a

(27:07):
regular basis because it was so original. And that is
something that I think so many people, especially as critics,
took for granted about him because they didn't understand that
was why so many people tuned in every day. And
you and I both know that he used to say
something like, you know, saying more in five seconds than

(27:28):
you know, most hosts say in a lifetime, and that
was so true. Once he moved to Florida and I
started working from home, I could not leave my radio,
I could not use the facilities in the house because
I would miss two seconds of what he would say
coming back from a break, and it would be important
and significant. And so that hanging onto every word was

(27:52):
due to his original thinking and because he was hilarious
when you when you look back on it on and
I asked the question want to ask it again. First
of all, doing what you did is not easy, because
Rush never wanted to quote unquote cannibalize the radio show,
So he didn't want the same things in the newsletter

(28:13):
exactly as he laid it out on the radio. And
he would say that he did not want to cannibalize
the radio show. But you had the job of making
sure that this profound thinker who could articulate things so well,
also was represented in the print medium. And the print

(28:34):
medium is very different than the spoken word medium. Yes,
and that was a hard Chalee. I'll talk to you
about the issue that came out right after Rush past.
It was almost as if I don't know it was
god thing, I guess because it was, you know, I'm

(28:54):
with God, you know God is with me. Actually, how
did that issue happened? Did you kind of was there
some sort of sense of knowing? What? What? How did
that issue come about? Well? It was really interesting how
that came about, because I think Rush knew because that

(29:17):
was a throwaway line in a long monernologue about something else.
And I thought that the sentence that he said on
the air was so poignant, and he said God is
with me, and I put that on the list of suggestions. Um,
it wasn't the first because he was talking about other things,

(29:39):
but I did put that on because I thought what
a powerful sentence that just was. And he chose that
for the cover. And at the time, of course I
didn't know. We knew he was very ill, but we
didn't know, and I think he may have and that's
why he picked it. And he chose the art of
him basically with praying him, and that was a beautiful cover.

(30:04):
And I felt so honored to have helped that come about,
because I know Catherine held that up at the Sea
Pack meeting and so that meant a lot to her,
and it meant a lot, I think to all of us.
How are you going to remember Rush? You know, I
mostly as great just his greatness, and you know, you

(30:30):
know when you're in the presence of greatness, and he was,
so he didn't wear that on his sleeve. He was
so wonderful to be around, fun just you know, hilarious,
and he always interacted with people as equals, you know,
it was there was never a sense I'm the great
one and kissed my ring. There was none of that.

(30:51):
He would just joke around with everybody and enjoyed that.
And however, just being in his presence and knowing how
wise and wonderful and brilliant and how he helped this country.
I remember when I first was hired that at that
time there was the similar feeling in the country you

(31:15):
couldn't say out loud of things you thought, and here
was this guy on the radio. Do you remember people
used to call up and say, are you allowed to
say this on the air? People were shocked to keep
hear that their own ideas and wisdom reflected back at
them in such a compelling way. So what he did

(31:39):
was he gave voice to all of us. And I
have been so honored to have at the part of
my career as well is just to be to be
a supporter of getting his message to as many people
possible that America is wonderful and we will fight for her.
So I would say, his great is and I think

(32:00):
the term you used was, you know, a second generation
founding father, and you wrote the cover story for that
for the Limbo Letter last month, and that he is
going to be remembered as one of the greatest Americans
who ever lived. I miss him. So before we wrap

(32:21):
up on masks one more time, anything else that you'd
like to add that you haven't said. Just what an
honor it's been personally for me to be part of
this team. And you know I will remember with just
great love and joy every single moment that I was
a part of the Rush team. Now I'm gonna just

(32:41):
say this to you, Um, the folks. Diana is one
of my best friends on the face of the art. Um.
She There was a time when I first started working
with Rush that Um and Diana had come on board,
and I realized how brilliant this woman was, and I

(33:05):
felt almost inadequate, and I remember asking, how how do
I It was so funny, how do I get as
smart as you people? You guys, do you remember that?
Do you remember those conversations? You don't remember. I don't
remember that because it was because it's obviously so not true.
I mean, you are way quicker than me, and you

(33:27):
are got all kinds of wit and wisdom, and if
anyone could predict a Rush take, you were as close.
So what I did was though you you recommended that
at the time, because I kept pressing you on it,
so you recommended that. I watched two or three different shows.
I won't reveal what they were because they're all going
now anyway, Um, you said, every night, if you really

(33:51):
want to get to where the landscape is politically in
this country, watch this, this, this, this, read this, this, this, this,
and with then two or three months, you'll you'll have
it down. And I did, and I did. What good advice? Yes,
what good advice? And uh but but beyond that, you know, um,

(34:14):
you have with the Limball Letter, like every like every
body else that that reads the Limball Letter, it's an
impressive it is an impressive body of work that that
you and Rush put together there. And I hope that, uh,
that limb Ball Letter is looked at by historians and

(34:36):
by educators for what it is. It is truly reflective
of a time, those thirty three years, those those that
thirty period. How how many years did you you didn't
start at the beginning? How many years? Nope? Started in
the first issue was the October issues, so we we
will this October will be our twenty nine. So only

(35:00):
nine years, almost thirty years, the Limball Letter stood as
the the number one political newsletter in America. And and
you are largely responsible for that, along with Russian what
an amazing thing. Then well, Russia is the one the
inspiration for it all. And I have to say, at

(35:21):
the time a lot of people copied him, and there
was the various newsletters I won't name for other hosts
who I won't name, and they lasted maybe a year
or two, and Rush has lasted this long and it's
because of him. But I gloat. No, you recite history honestly.
Low alright, Diana, thank you. I really appreciate you. Thank you.

(35:44):
James ye parable about pictured worth a thousand words. The
Limbaugh letter this this month was worth the whole library.
It was great of Limbo letter. It said it all, well,
thank you sir. You know, we don't get a lot
of calls about the Limball Letter, but when we do,
everybody on that staff just loves it. The Limball Letter

(36:06):
is sixty. People don't know how difficult that is because
look at fifteen hours a week here on the radio.
That is that is then reproduced on the website, and
then here's the sixteen page monthly publication that's not on digital.
What do you do to put things in it that
that haven't been said? It's a it's a monthly challenge
and the people that put that together are excellent at it.

(36:27):
I agree, it's good. It's good magazine and they follow
my example. That's why it's great. And but really it
all candor. It is it is fifteen hours a week.
What is They're not said? It turns out a lot.
And the newsletter is the repository for So I'm really
flattered that you mentioned that whoever had to cover that

(36:48):
was that was brilliant. That was brant. Today you get
a chance to hear from Denise and May, who is
the creative director not just for the Limball Letter, but
for I Heart Media and Premier Networks. And Denise welcome,
how are you? I'm good? How are you? James? It's
so good to hear your voice. And well, that's good
to hear your voice as well. Now listen, you came

(37:08):
on board. I remember when you came on board. You
were a young thing. Yeah, it was four years old.
I mean I can't even like, Yeah, it was amazing
and so um all I remember we started the newsletter
Diana a loco, who's the edit tricks of the Limball Letter.

(37:29):
And then the next person that was hired was you.
So let me ask you a question. The first time
you met Rush? What was that? Like? Oh my god.
It was at a party and um, I was invited
to when we were doing some sort of dinner and
he was standing there and it was a group and
I think it was John Axton who said, you know, Denise,
come over here. I want to introduce you to Rush.
And I remember like being completely awestruck. Just be like, Hi,

(37:55):
I'm a big fan, That's what I said, and he went, oh,
thank you very much, right, And I was like, oh crap, Like, well,
I'm such a ding dong, you know. I just you know,
when you meet him, he's you know, he's got such
a presence. And obviously I was just in awe of him. Okay,

(38:18):
so now you so now here you are twenty four
years old and you're in New York City and and
here's this this job, and what's like, what's it like
working with Rush? Oh my gosh. It was such a gas.
I mean we I mean, well, we were all about.
We were all at w ABC Radio. We had these
small offices at the end of the hall, and um,

(38:42):
we just had so much fun um interacting and we
would sit in the studio while Rush was talking and
obviously the Limball letter is a product of the radio show,
um where we you know, and take content from what
Rush is talking about and expand upon that and create

(39:03):
new content. So it's super important for us to like
listen in and hear what he was saying, and it
was so inspiring. And then and on top of it,
like you know, hanging out with you and Kit and
Mike and UM, we just it was just such an
inspiration to be there and and to experience that energy.

(39:23):
You know, it continue to grow and and get more
and more subscriptions, and we all grew with the show
and kept going and so finally we reached the point.
Um that brings us to one of the reasons that
I asked you here to do, Russ this announcement. What
what you were on the phone? I think Diana called
me and told me at the time, you know, I've

(39:45):
never known anybody to have stage four lung cancer, and um,
I've known people that have survived cancer. So at the time,
I think I thought, if anybody can do it, I mean, obviously,
you know, we've been there through a lot of adversity
that rushes fast, you know, and I thought, well, this

(40:07):
is just one hurdle that we're all gonna like pull
together and do what we do best, and you know
he's going to pull through and he'll get to the
other side. I was with you. I mean, I was
sad that he had to go through all this, but
I absolutely thought he was going to beat it. Yeah.
And were you were you listening at the moment that

(40:27):
Catherine made the announcement or were you did you find
out about the I did. I mean, obviously I heard
Catherine and make the announcement. I was told beforehand. Um,
it was awful. I mean, we it was a Wednesday.
We were going on pressed with the Limball letter on
a on the Thursday that following day, so we were
like crazy busy on deadline. Um, the Limball letter is

(40:49):
written in first person, and it's just you know, it's
just it was just so like surreal because we were like,
you know, we have we always have Rush on the cover.
And I think it was Monday, Diana and I had
a conversation and we were like, you know, it's weird.

(41:11):
We just had a feeling like things were not good.
What do we do like and and so we had
we had talked about how we should probably in the
in the case that something should happen to Rush have
something as a backup cover, because we can't have Rush
on the cover if he's if he's not here anymore

(41:32):
in the in the same capacity as we have in
the past. So we came up with an alternate cover,
and um that was really that was really difficult because
it was the first cover in thirty years that I've
designed that he um was not on the cover, and
I just I couldn't imagine doing Milamo Letter without him

(41:55):
on the cover. You know. It just it's just such
a staple of of what we do and how we
we visualize the Limball letter and the whole Limba Letter
is written obviously in his you know words, and as
I and you know, we had to kind of rethink
that and it's just, you know, after thirty years, it's

(42:16):
just unimaginable to think about how we could do that.
And I have the I have so many amazing memories
about him and and just hang out with him and like,
and I just didn't I just didn't see it coming.
I really didn't when Katherine, you know, even when Katherine
was talking about it on air, I just was just like,

(42:37):
oh my god, I can't I can't. And it was
you know, we had this issue to get out, and
we were working full blasts and the only thing I
kept thinking about is that Rush would want me to finish,
and we have to keep going and we have to
keep doing what we're doing, and you know, that's what
we do. And so we pulled the you know, pulled

(42:57):
the cover and put the alternate on and and we
moved and you know, we've been moving forward and you know,
trying to Well, let me tell you something about that
cover I have. That cover was perfect. Yeah, you know,
God is with me. That cover was the cover we

(43:17):
did before he died. That was the cover before. The
cover that we did when he died was the one
of just the microphone, right, Okay, Well, the cover that
was out the limbo letter that was out when he died.
It was almost like the time. It was perfect. I know,
it really was, and it was almost surreal because when
we did it, it was interesting. We had we when

(43:39):
I presented covers to Russia, I often did like a
couple of different covers for him to choose from, and
we had a couple of different ideas for that cover,
and honestly, we were surprised he chose that one and
we were like okay. And you know what, Rush is
never wrong ever ever, Like you know, sometimes Diane and

(44:00):
I are like, oh, maybe we'll do this, and we
show him something and he goes with something else and
it's always perfect. It's always somehow per sees the future.
I don't know how he does it. And so that cover, yeah,
he chose that one, and we were like, oh, okay, great,
and you know, we moved forward. And then later on

(44:21):
when we looked at them, I mean, Katherine held it
up at Seapack and it was just like, yeah, he's
with God. It's like, it's amazing. And I was in
the room when Catherine held that up up and that
was just I'll tell you, that's a moment I won't forget. Yeah. Yeah,
and those people that could see it, you know, they
had they had monitors people that could see it, and

(44:43):
you could hear the reaction through the room. Yeah, it
was really impactful. And yes, and Rush shows that he
Rush chose every cover. He was very involved in the
covers and yeah, and I missed that so much. But
let me hear one of those in using stories about Rush. Okay,
so I know which one you're talking about. So when

(45:04):
we were in New York, and I know you you
were probably there for this, and you might never remember this,
but we used to go out all the time, right
and go to like, um fancy restaurants like Rus Crisp
and twenty one Club, and we always had a private
room in the back, and um we entertained clients when
they came in, like advertisers, important advertisers. And once a time,

(45:27):
I remember I was I think I had just I started.
I think Rush was curious about like what I was
like or who I was, you know. So I was
sitting next to him at dinner and we had a
great time there was you know, we were always having
you know, so much fun, giggles, lots of giggles with
all of us. But at the end of the dinner,
he turned to me and he said, you know, his niece, Um,

(45:49):
we're gonna we're gonna smoke cigars. Do you mind moving?
And he kind of like gave me this like sheep's
grin like and I was like looked at him and
I didn't want to move. I was having way too
much fun. I listened to him. I go, well, Rush,

(46:10):
you're not going to offer me a cigar, like I
like smoking cigars. And he started to laugh and he
was like, sure you could have a scar. I didn't
know you smoked cigars. And he had a human door,
and um that he always you know, we at those
types of things, there was always a humid door. We
were always smoking cigars. You know, it was a different time.

(46:31):
It was a long time ago, you know. And he
opened up the human door, and of course you know
now the challenge. He goes, well, which one do you want? Now? Right,
I know nothing about cigars. I was totally bluffing, right,
I mean like and I turned to him and I go, well,
which one is the most expensive one? He's laugh because

(46:53):
that was the only thing I knew that there were
probably an expensive cigars in there, and they were probably
really expensive cigars. And if I was gonna do this,
like I gotta have the best, right so I um
so he says, well, this one's the most expensive one
or something like that, and I go, well, then I'll
have that one. And I love that story because we

(47:14):
just we were giggling and it was just sort of him.
That was sort of him, like he liked to kind
of like test you kind of a little bit to
see and it was it was fun. We just were
That's how we interacted, and we had such a good time.
And remember just enjoying that cigar. And I think I
held onto the cigar for I didn't smoke the whole thing.

(47:36):
I couldn't smoke the whole thing, but like, um, you know,
holding onto it for a really long time because it
was just such a great memory of us all hanging
out and and having such a good time. I read
a post that you put a tribute on your Facebook
page to Rush, and I want you to read it.
What do you feel comfortable reading from it? You don't

(47:57):
have to read it all, you know, if you want
to skip a were a few things, that's fine too,
But give us the gist of that Facebook post if
you don't mind. So you know, it was really important
to me when he died, and it took me a
really well long time to sort of like think about
how I wanted to honor him. And I have a
lot of people who were asking me about my relationship

(48:20):
with him, how I was doing. And you know what, people,
and I'm sure you encountered this, like what's he really like?
And I wrote this post it was important to me
to put down in words like what I was feeling
about Rush, and I told in the beginning of the post.
I told a story that I just told about the
cigar because I wanted to give context, like to how

(48:42):
he and I kind of interacted. But I do want
to kind of read some of it if you don't
mind it, because I want you to share this, all right,
So I'm gonna start sort of in the middle. So
his friendship was unconditional that he was first foremost my boss.
Today it's unheard of to work for thirty years for

(49:04):
one person, but I'm not alone in my tenure. His
commitment to family values meant unwavering support for his staff's
family that instituted unprecedented loyalty. When I proposed something unheard
of in telecommuting, he did not blink an eye and said,
do it, show me how it can be done. This

(49:26):
was during a time the internet was in its infancy.
He was a visionary and self professed techie. This new
idea of working from home intrigued him, and he trusted
me to show him the way. He also supported my
desire to move to Rhode Island, where my fiance lived
and keep my job. I packed up my equipment, drove
to Rhode Island, fired up my computer and modem, and

(49:49):
launched a will. I sent him a test email, and
in return I received an enthusiastic congratulations, and we never
looked back. Over the next six years, we exchanged thousands
of emails. Our mutual respect meant he had trusted me
to work from home with very little oversight, and eye

(50:09):
in turn worked tirelessly to support him to ensure work
move forward, even when he had the misfortune of personal
troubles that impacted his ability to work and took him
away from the office for months at a time. He
had no allusions that his great success was done on
his own. Every person who worked for him received recognition

(50:30):
for their valuable contributions. He did not often share his
appreciation in writing or verbally. It made him uncomfortable. Instead,
he sent numerous surprise packages over the years, at great
personal expense without warning. His generosity knew no limits. He
also worked tirelessly for many charities and gave millions of

(50:52):
millions of dollars to support them. He did not boast
about his charity work because it was not something you
did for recognition. It was just some thing you did
because it was the right thing to do. It is
purposeful that I do not mention him by name, because
his name is often wrongfully mischaracterized, creating an unfair bias

(51:13):
in many people. It's important to me to share the
person I knew without these overshared shadowing misnomers, to share
that we did not always agree, nor did he expect
me to. That He always applauded individual thinking and welcome
discourse that differed from his own. There's no denying he
said and did things that he admittedly regretted, but haven't

(51:36):
we all. The difference is he was brave enough to
do it under the public eye, knowing the unfriendly media
stood at the ready to pounce, to lie and twist
contexts to suit their agenda. Many people, including my own family,
have tried to discredit him, who never took the time
to really listen to him. He was not impervious to

(51:57):
this injustice aimed at him. He described himself as quote unquote,
a lovable fuzz ball, and there is no true words.
It was his unwavering passion for his convictions that fueled
his ability to continue his mission that made him great.
This mission firmly rooted in his belief in God, individual freedom,

(52:20):
and love for his country, his bravery to continue to
always speak his truth. It is for this reason he
will be remembered as one of the most important men
of our time. This man, this legend, Rush Limbaugh gave
me an opportunity when I was twenty four years old
that turned into a great grand adventure, so that the

(52:40):
precipice of fifty four will be one of the crowning
achievements and honors of my life. Many tributes have been
made about Rush since his passing from people who are
more well known than myself, but it was important for
my own healing process to express my experience. I know
my role will not be mentioned in the big picture
of the Rush Limbaugh legacy. I am good with this

(53:04):
because I know he thought my contributions were significant, that
he valued me, and then I made him proud. My
wren regret will be that I did not have the
chance to really thank him, share with him how much
he meant to me, and tell him how much I
loved him, and say goodbye to my dear friend. I
take comfort knowing roses with God and that we will

(53:25):
meet again and share a good laugh over an adult beverage.
But for now I will move forward the way he
would want me to and continue to make him proud. So,
in closing, using Russia to signature, sign off an appreciation
that you have done me the honor of reading this far.
Thank you for listening. It means a lot. It means
a lot. As we mirror the final episodes of Rush

(53:49):
Limbaugh The Man Behind the Golden EIP Microphone, we'd like
to offer you sincere thanks for listening to the podcast,
and a special thanks for those of you who have
shared your own store and Rush memories, or have taken
the time to write and share reviews of this series.
Thank you one and all. Rush Limbaugh, The Man Behind

(54:10):
the Golden e I B Microphone is produced by Chris
Kelly and Phil Tower, the Best producers in America, Production
assistant Mike Mamone and the executive producers Craig Kitchen and
Julie Talbot. Our program distributed worldwide by Premier Networks, found
on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you listen

(54:31):
to your favorite podcast. This is James Golden, This is
both Snerdley, This is James Golden. I'm honored to be
your host for this. In every single episode of Russia, Limbaugh,
the man behind the Golden e I B microphone, thank
you for being with us.