The passing of radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh made me think about the form of talk radio from 30-plus years ago and the way it is today.

Although my friend Michael Harrison, the publisher of Talkers, the bible of the radio talk show industry, knows the history of the medium much better than me, I feel confident to say that talk radio was locally or regionally produced media back then. If the format was in your town, chances were the subjects on the shows reflected those in the community.

That’s the way it was here with WACE in Chicopee, WHYN in Springfield and the station where I worked, WREB in Holyoke from 1982 to 1987.

The Federal Communication Commission’s Fairness Doctrine as defined by Wikipedia, “It required broadcasters to devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, and to air contrasting views regarding those matters. Stations were given wide latitude as to how to provide contrasting views: It could be done through news segments, public affairs shows, or editorials. The doctrine did not require equal time for opposing views but required that contrasting viewpoints be presented.”

The Fairness Doctrine was part of a federal philosophy that stated a license for a TV or radio station came with responsibilities.

I certainly remember from my days as a talk show host on WREB that we were required to make sure opinion and information from all sides were presented. Yes, the three of us who worked there Monday through Friday had our own views and we expressed them freely. Ron Chemelis was the conservative, I was the liberal and Jonathan Evans was sort of moderate Libertarian.

No one told us what to say but the Fairness Doctrine guided us to how we needed to structure our programs.

In 1987 the FCC did away with the Fairness Doctrine and that opened the gate to programming that did not have to accommodate an opposing viewpoint.

With the Fairness Doctrine gone, another development shaped radio: the syndication of a political talk show. There was syndication before this time but the new model had an allure for station owners. A syndicated show could be broadcast on a local station for free as long as that station ran the commercials that came with the program. The syndicated shows had time built in for locally sold commercials. The system was called “barter.”

What caused local radio personnel to lose their jobs was the growth of the barter shows that featured politics and Limbaugh’s show was the first of its kind.

Yes, there had been politically aggressive talk show hosts before Limbaugh, such as a Joe Pyne, a generally conservative host whose shtick included insulting his callers. He once instructed a listener to “take your false teeth out, put them in backwards, and bite yourself in the neck.”

Limbaugh and his producers shrewdly took advantage of the changes in radio and the popularity of President Ronald Reagan to create a show that became a powerhouse in the medium and inspired dozens and dozens of hosts with similar political opinions.

The changes in the industry stifled political diversity in the medium and killed local shows and local opinions. These shows were as important to the a local media landscape as the community newspaper was.

Personally I despised his style. The way Limbaugh spoke about issues was more destructive than the nature of the opinions themselves.

Here are some classic Limbaugh remarks:

• Responding to a caller who said black people should have a greater voice on issues: “They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”

• “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.”

• “When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult; it's an invitation.”

The FCC’s action put this nation squarely on the path of the division and extremism we see today. A guy such as Rush Limbaugh was smart enough to understand what to say to build a cult of personality and to capitalize on it. With his passing it would be great if we could re-evaluate the nature of political speech – but you and I know that won’t happen for years, if it ever does.