I’d like to digress from my series on how even those of us from the north have had it with winter to talk about an item that has greatly impacted the media world.

Rush Limbaugh was a divisive figure. You might have loved what he said; you might have hated it. But regardless of your position on his politics, he was a pioneer.

At the time, radio hadn’t become so saturated with political talk shows [nor had it become so saturated with commercials for products that promise a better irrigated colon]. When Rush Limbaugh started, he was described as a “political vaudevillian.”

The anger didn’t come right away. He was someone whose background was in radio. He knew how to entertain, and that was what he did first. If he knew something would draw an audience, that’s what he talked about. On Mondays, he’d talk about the weekend’s NFL games.

He was, at least early on, an entertainer, not an activist.

It wasn’t until later, after his niche was copied again and again [and again and again and again] that the format became so divisive.

Every host needed to be angrier, edgier and more in-your-face. A lot of talk show hosts don’t take the time to make the same connections with their communities anymore.

When I lived in Portland [a town that can be perceived as ever so borderline to the left], the talk show hosts could call the mayor if there was a crisis. The mayor knew they skewed right, but he also knew if things started going gunny-sack, our station would get the word out. The hosts would turn off the shtick and work with the reporters to pass along information.

Now the company that owns that station has cut so many corners, the afternoon drive-time host is someone from Texas. It’s now the third-ranked information station in Portland. It still performs well overall, but back in my day [and I’m not an old man], it was right behind NPR, which in Portland, is a behemoth.

This is a politically charged period. Today, it had warmed up to a sultry 31 degrees, so I decided to hit the road for some microphone shovin’. I was asking people if they feel ways about ERCOT finally ending rolling blackouts.

Without me even asking, some folks brought up how they’re upset with Ted Cruz for going to Mexico while the rest of us wonder if a snow shovel is a good investment.

So Republicans don’t have a monopoly on in-your-face political stances.

When I started at WBAP, I anchored afternoon newscasts. One day, Sean Hannity declared he could get one more call in before a break and brought a guy on.

The gentleman explained Hannity had mentioned having lunch with a congressman in the previous segment. Hannity [I’m almost positive it was during Hannity’s show] had to break character to explain that just because he’s Republican, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have friends who are Democrats.

The caller was nearly agog that a conservative icon would socialize with the other side.

That brings us back to Rush Limbaugh. Other hosts started out trying to replicate him. Then they started to replicate each other, trying to outdo each other’s anger, and that was passed on to the audience.

But Limbaugh knew he was doing a show. He could be funny. He interacted with callers instead of just declaring someone an idiot if they disagreed.

With Limbaugh’s death, corporate radio should acknowledge that replicating the same thing over and over again [and again and again and again] will not generate a new audience. Limbaugh was hugely successful because he was doing something different.

Would you watch the same TV show over and over again all day long? Okay. You might. But what if that show was not Perfect Strangers?

Similarly, the relevance of AM radio is shrinking because corporate leaders keep trying to find the next Rush Limbaugh [or bizzaro Limbaugh] instead of the next great idea.

Perhaps my social media network, Cram It, is more relevant than ever. Rush Limbaugh spawned angry talk show hosts, making the other side angry. And Cram It will tell you: Two wrongs don’t make a right.