Rush Limbaugh Leaves a Mighty Void

(By Andy Bloom) Just after noon Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, alerts and texts sent my phone, and probably yours, buzzing when Rush Limbaugh’s wife, Kathryn, opened the show by informing his devoted audience that Rush lost his battle with lung cancer that morning.

To call Rush legendary, iconic, great, or any of a million adjectives is overstating the obvious. Rush, beyond question, is one of the most important radio broadcasters of the past 50 years. He is widely and deservedly credited for saving AM radio, among many credits that are now filling columns about him.

Within a few minutes of Kathryn Limbaugh’s announcement, Fox News sent out the first text alert. About five minutes later, The Hollywood Reporter followed with a text.

How fitting that the first two alerts were issued by the conservative flagship Fox News, while The Hollywood Reporter “focuses on the Hollywood film, television and entertainment industries.”

I didn’t really know him, but I had a few opportunities to speak with “El Rushbo,” The first two news organizations to alert people about his death matches what Rush said. He was the voice of American Conservatism, and his “priority was to entertain.”

But truthfully, who sent out a text alert a minute earlier or later matter as much now as when music stations used to get a new major album the Friday evening before it was released (nobody cared).

The question colleagues and friends wanted to discuss is, “Who will fill the void?”

My response was not always well received. Anybody doing Conservative Talk Radio has incorporated an aspect of Limbaugh’s persona or traits, at least to some degree. None, however, do it as well as the original.

Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, and many others offer a twist to Limbaugh’s creation, but none do it as well as the original.

Sean Hannity has ridden Donald Trump’s crest the past several years. He shares Limbaugh’s humility, as those who know both will attest, but he never claims to be Rush.

If the prior paragraph triggers any bells, it’s because Donald Trump is probably the one person with the ego to believe he could do the job of “America’s Anchorman.” He can’t. But it will be curious to see if Trump thinks he can do what Limbaugh did.

In 2016 I wrote a column for Radio Ink titled, “Who is Radio’s Next Great Storyteller?” The article names music jocks, sports personalities, including the “Mount Rushmore of storytellers;” Garrison Keillor who had just retired; Paul Harvey, who died a decade earlier; and Howard Stern, who moved to satellite ten-years prior. Even then, still rebuilding advertisers after the Sandra Fluke story, I noted, “Rush’s future is debated in the trades daily.” The need to fill “voids” didn’t just occur with Limbaugh’s death. Talent development has been a decades-long conversation. The industry has just failed to do anything about the problem.

Now, more than 15 years since Paul Harvey passed, who filled his void? Nobody, not even his son, could fill his shoes.

Five plus years later, there’s no new-day Prairie Home Companion either.

Give then CBS Radio management credit; they didn’t “fail to plan.” Long before Howard Stern left the company, it had people in various studios across the country. David Lee Roth didn’t just wing it on Day One. No, I believe he’d worked with people in Boston for months. How’d that work out?

TV doesn’t fare any better.

Did anybody ever fill the void Walter Cronkite retired as America’s Most Trusted Voice? Many tried, nobody came close.

In 1992, Bruce Springsteen sang, “57 channels and nothing on.” The same year, Johnny Carson retired. Leno and Letterman tried, but Johnny remains the King of Late Night TV.

For that matter, who filled the void left by Oprah? America may need a politically neutral Oprah back on television, giving away trinkets to the audience to soothe our souls again.

Five years ago, I wrote a column for this publication that warned the radio industry to develop storytellers. Since then, many of the best storytellers have become “budget cuts” or “RIF-ed” off the air. Cuts, not investments, are the lingua franca of the era.

So then, what are the characteristics the decision-makers are looking for? Fox News, NewsMax, and others have developed a stable of pundits, former Members of Congress, and other government branches. None that can live in Limbaugh’s shadows meet the standards to permanently sit behind the “Golden Microphone” and are brave enough to stand firm in the face of withering criticism from people with different views.

They’re looking for people who have built enormous successes multiple times. Many ESPN personalities developed magnificent creations at ESPN. Some left and received bigger paychecks. Do any have larger audiences or more influence now than in their ESPN days?

Some interesting, current broadcasters/podcasters include sports guys that have developed multiple careers, such as; Clay Travis, Joe Rogan, perhaps Dave Portnoy. While each holds some conservative opinions, none are truly conservative. It’s far from certain that any could interface with the current Limbaugh audience?

If I can choose anybody with a first-round draft pick, my organization has already talked to Tucker Carlson. Back on Earth, Carlson has a contract with Fox News. Whether it would allow Carlson to do another show is anybody’s guess. Hannity has such a deal grandfathered in when there was far less at stake.

Assuming the two companies agree, WHY would Carlson agree? Is there enough money to motivate him to try? Is his ego big enough to take on such a challenge? He has many of the same traits as Limbaugh. He’s had multiple successes, growing with new ventures. He has the same twinkle in the eye, the same wit; he uses the type of irony and parody. Most notably, he may be the only person able to aggravate the left as much as Rush. I’ve never met him, so I have no idea.

Today there is an enormous void. An American original is gone, history suggests, Rush can’t be replaced. God called back the talent he loaned to Rush and appreciated by fellow Ditto-Heads over the past four decades.

Andy Bloom is president of Andy Bloom Communications. He specializes in media training and political communications. He’s regarded as one of the leading radio programmers in the country. Andy served as communications director for Rep. Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio. For more information, his website is www.andybloom.com.