NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 26, 1989 – THE EIB NETWORK. “This past Friday I did a Rush to Excellence Tour event in Minneapolis,” paraphrasing Rush Limbaugh on his Monday, June 26, 1989 live talk show. “And I have to tell you about this man up there who hosted the tour stop – Dave Racer. He is the most unflappable man I’ve ever met. Nothing rattles him…”
“All you people up there in the Land of the Loons. Now there’s hope. Dave Racer’s Minnesota Report…” Rush said in a radio ad he recorded for me.
I’m not telling this story to puff myself up. Only because it’s a fun and fascinating story, and because Rush is very ill – cancer is taking his life.
From 1986-1990, I had a monthly newspaper – Dave Racer’s Minnesota Report. I did investigative stories, mostly about government officials and bureaucratic boondoggles. I loved writing about elected officials and their foibles, especially Democrats. For several years after, until 2001, I had a talk radio show – The Dave Racer Show (isn’t that clever?). I used to promote it as “Rush to Racer.”
Rush often says about media bias, “I am the balance.” He countered the liberal media, he’d claim. And he did. So did my newspaper.
My sales guy told me about Rush early in 1989, and I started listening. Needing to raise money to support my newspaper, I called KSTP AM 1500 radio and that led to me contacting Rush. We picked a date for him to come to Minnesota for a “Rush to Excellence” event, which I would host with KSTP doing the promotion.
Rush’s fee at the time was $2,500, plus all expenses of course. A few weeks after talking and my setting up the details, Rush and I closed the deal. “I hate to say it,” Rush said, “but my fee has gone up to $6,000.” He offered to do it for $3,000. Whew!
When Rush landed at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on Friday, June 23, I had a security crew there to bring him to a swanky Minneapolis hotel. Yes, I felt a bit in awe of him. At the time, Rush was obese – doctors would say morbidly obese. Later he slimmed down and has kept the weight off.
That evening I hosted a dinner for Rush with 11 others – my staff, my wife Rosanne and a few from KSTP. (The bill was nearly $600. Ouch. We’re talking 1989.)
You all know Rush as bombastic, full of himself, egoistic, a know-it-all. That is not what we all saw at that dinner. We saw and heard Rush humbly explaining that no one knew whether his new program would work. He expressed amazement at his success. At that time, he was on 120 stations with 600,000 listeners. Today, the Rush Limbaugh Show is on nearly 600 stations with an audience he claims as 20 million.
We staged the program at the Historic Orpheum Theatre, on Saturday evening, June 24. Before we were ready to take ticket orders, Rush made a quick mention of the event on his show. We didn’t know it, because the show was a delayed broadcast, but we started receiving calls for tickets immediately.
Every time KSTP ran an ad to promote the show, I’d hear my daughter Deb shout, “Oh no, it’s about to happen.” Our phones lit up for the next 20 minutes. We took more than 1,200 orders over the few weeks leading up to the event. We had a ton of fun doing this.
On June 24, before the show, we hosted a fundraising dinner. Perhaps 40 attended including my dad and mom, and everyone received a photo taken with Rush, which he later signed and sent back to us. Great fun. (The one with my dad and mom are the wallpaper on my computer.)
The theater’s air conditioner didn’t work well, and Rush sweated like crazy. I interrupted him at one point, walking out and handing him a towel. “I’ll never again do a show in a hot building like that,” Rush said (paraphrased) afterward. But the show was a huge success.
Except Rush forgot to promote my book, Smokie’s Last Job, and my newspaper – Dave Racer’s Minnesota Report.
After the show, we had a reception. Rosanne had decorated a cake to look like a radio. I don’t remember how many pieces Rush ate. But what I do remember is that he apologized for forgetting to promote my book and newspaper, and he handed back to me the check I’d given him for recording a commercial for me. Then he promised he’d make it up to me on his Monday show.
Hence, Rush labeled me the most unflappable man he had ever met. I’m pretty certain he’s met far more unflappable people since then.
For a couple years I had his phone number in New York. I think we talked twice. Maybe somewhere in the EIB museum there is a record of the June 24, 1989 event. It’s in the museum of my mind.
President Donald Trump gave Rush a Medal of Freedom Award during the State of the Union Address in February, 2020. Rush never knew it was coming. A great public moment, and the event was a revelation of his heart.
Rush Limbaugh’s effect on our great country is undeniable. This is true even if you strongly disagree with him, this is true.
Very soon he will do a final monologue – maybe as I write this or soon after. I hope to hear it. Dave, the unflappable man, will weep.
