BRETT: Let’s go out and talk to Larry in Raleigh, North Carolina. Larry, welcome to the Rush Limbaugh Show. What’s on your mind today, sir?

CALLER: Thank you so much, Brett Winterble. I just want to say, eternal dittos out to Rush. Thoughts and prayers for his whole family. This is a privilege. I’ll try to get my story real quick here. Rush is the best friend I never met. I learned to listen to Rush from my father back in the ’90s, and my father would carry the radio around, listen to Rush.

Rush has helped me paint more rooms in my home. He has helped me while I was under a car changing the oil or working on my motorcycle. He’s been with me while I rewired my entire boat.

BRETT: Yep.

CALLER: I can remember things where Rush was quoted for saying, you know, “I hope [Obama] fails,” and I can visualize exactly where I was in my yard raking my leaves that day.

BRETT: Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.

CALLER: The experience with Rush has been incredible, and he is missed dearly.

BRETT: You know, it’s a great testimony to his power in your life, his impression on your in your life, and on the lives of so many millions other people. That’s why we’re doing these programs in the way we are, because so much of what he said throughout the years is exactly spot-on and the analysis stands up regardless of the circumstances that are moving at a given point, Larry.

And it also speaks to something else — and I’m so happy you talked about this component, because Rush obviously loved the broadcasting medium, loved radio. He succeeded at every medium he took on. But in terms of radio, this is the most intimate medium there is, and we are there during all those times, the good times and the bad times.

And there’s that connectivity between Larry in Raleigh and Rush Limbaugh, and that connectivity that you heard earlier today between the businesses in this country and Rush and the award that was given out by Kathryn Limbaugh earlier today to help these businesses continue to thrive. This is a relationship that, believe me, is symbiotic, and it goes both ways, and I’m so happy you were able to call and express those feelings, because I can tell you firsthand that this audience meant the world to Rush Limbaugh, and that’s why we’re carrying it forward.