Rush The DeeJay: What He Thinks About Radio Today

In a prior life, back in the early 1970s, Rush Limbaugh was a Top-40 jock named Jeff Christie on WIXZ/McKeesport, Pa., and KQV/Pittsburgh.

According to Richard Wagoner, a San Pedro-based freelance columnist covering Southern California radio Limbaugh developed many of the formatics you hear today on his syndicated talk show.

According to Wagoner: 

Basically, like all Top-40 jocks of the era, he had to develop a personality to stand out. Little time was given to talk between the hits, but the best — The Real Don Steele comes to mind, as does Bobby Ocean and many more — figured out how to shine in those rare seconds and would work their way toward the great stations in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. 

Limbaugh, er, Christie never had that kind of fame as a Top-40 jock, but listening to airchecks you can hear that the potential was there. Add in Limbaugh’s success as a talk host and there is some reason to give him some credit for knowing radio. 

Back in 2010, a caller to his political talk show asked an off-topic question: Could Top-40 radio (as done in the past) make it today? Limbaugh’s response, presented as a transcript was spot-on. Here are some highlights: 

“I think it could be made to work. If John Rook could come back around and put WLS (Chicago) back together the way it was in the ’60s and ’70s, it would be fun to try it; it could be interesting to see. 

“I’ve always believed that all media, but particularly including radio, it’s content, content, content. That will determine whether something will have an audience or not, not so much the format, not so much the frequency, just content, content, content. I’m convinced that a number of you, if you had to, would use string and tin cans to listen to this program ‘cause if that was the only place you could get it, that’s what you would do. 

“The primary competitor (to Top-40 radio today) would be iPods or MP3 devices, which is the thing facing all music formatted radio today.” 

And what can’t listeners get if they play music on their iPods instead of radio? 

“They can’t get great talent; they can’t get great disk jockeys. (To work today, Top-40 radio would have to be more personality-oriented radio than it ever was allowed to be. )“I think it could still be done.”

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Listen to Rush Limnbaugh as DeeJay Jeff Christie: Click Here.