RUSH: Andrew in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hello.
CALLER: Rush, thanks for having me on.
RUSH: Yes?
CALLER: Rush, the question I’ve always wanted to ask you is, ‘Where did you come up with the name Rio Linda?’
RUSH: I didn’t come up with it. The place actually exists.
CALLER: It does?
RUSH: Yeah. It’s in Sacramento. I don’t want to insult Sacramento by calling it a suburb, but that’s the best way to describe it. When I moved to Sacramento in 1984 as a struggling young media personality, you drive around town getting to know the community, trying to learn about it, where things are so that even on your first day on the radio you can sound educated and informed. I’m driving out by one of the Air Force Bases, McClellan. Anyway, I’m driving out there, and I ended up on a road that had one of these green signs that denotes city limits, and it said ‘Rio Linda.’ There was no number on it indicating how many people lived there, so I thought, ‘Well, that’s interesting. Maybe the residents won’t admit it.’ So I drove through town, and through the main drag I saw the most incredible sights. I saw houses right off the main drag, a two-lane road, and some of them had two cars jacked up on concrete blocks, in the front yard, washing machines on the front porch!
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: I said, ‘Oh, this is cool.’ So one of my little techniques back then was to make fun of a local community now and then, in a good-hearted and nice way. I offered to move there if they would rename the town Limbaugh, California.
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: I tried that in West Sacramento, too. I failed in both places. I was rejected in both places. But when I say, ‘For those of you in Rio Linda…’ I’m just trying to help them understand things that other people do but they need a little work on. But the place exists. It’s an actual town. Property values have skyrocketed out there since I have called attention to the place. They’ve made some improvements. Some of these houses now only have one car on concrete blocks in the front yard. So, they’ve shown progress. This attention has helped them improve themselves.
CALLER: All right. Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: All right. I’m happy to explain it. That’s a great Open Line Friday question.