Talk radio was never about exchanging ideas. It was about letting someone talk about their opinion for hours on end with occasional callers who were screened to either reinforce the host’s opinion, or let on to be sneered and laughed at before cutting them off.
I may agree with a lot of what Rush had to say, and even went through the usual (thankfully brief) Yeshiva Bachur phase of enjoying to listen to him, but let’s not pretend he was anything more than he was. A cheerleader who could yell his opinions really loud.