RUSH: Tim in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, great to have you on the program. Hi.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. I’ve been listening to you since 1987 when I visited my parents over in Pismo Beach and I heard you on a Sacramento station, and all these years I’ve been hearing you in the intro to your program saying, “I’m a highly trained broadcast specialist.” Well, my question is, who in the world trained the master? Where did you get your training and how come we don’t know who that person is? ‘Cause I mean who trains the master?
RUSH: (laughing) You are very shrewd.
CALLER: I’m serious.
RUSH: That’s one of those things you’re not supposed to ask.
CALLER: I’m sorry.
RUSH: That’s okay. Actually, it’s a good point. I have to be real careful here. You know the old saying: “Success has many fathers, and failure is an orphan”?
CALLER: (laughing) Yeah.
RUSH: Do you know how many people there are — well, you don’t know — in the realm of radio consultants who are, and have for a long time, claimed that they were instrumental in my success. I don’t think the ones who told me I wasn’t gonna make it are claiming credit for it. The ones that fired me, I don’t know that any of them are taking credit for it. The reason why it’s a good question is that I only became successful at this when I finally got the chance to do it my way. And it’s a performance business. A lot of people tried to help me over the years, and a lot of people did in a lot of ways, but every expert in the world said, “You can’t do a talk show without guests. You just can’t.” And I said, “Well, nobody else does, I want to try it.” I broke the rules. Most people said you can’t do it the way you’re gonna do it, and they wished me well. So I basically just followed my instincts, trained myself.