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Inside the walls of a bankrupt Nashville radio station, Dave Ramsey took his seat behind a mic.

As a guest on a local program, he proceeded to answer a few financial questions over the air waves. Low and behold, the phones started lighting up—a rare occasion that prompted the station to ask Dave if he was interested co-hosting a show. They couldn’t afford to pay him a dime, but it would be fun and give him a opportunity to push that little book he had written, Financial Peace.

In a nutshell, that’s how “The Dave Ramsey Show” began 15 years ago. Some of you have heard or read this before. For others, you may be completely new to selling Dave Ramsey, and until now knew little about him. In either case, it’s always good to have an answer when a client asks, “Now who is this Ramsey guy? What’s his story? How long’s he been in radio?” And even more so, knowing a bit of his story helps you understand what makes Dave tick, and how that can translate to bringing on a great advertiser.

In the show’s infant stages, listeners knew it as “The Money Game” (becoming “The Dave Ramsey Show” in ‘99). But Dave’s degree in finance wasn’t what gave him an edge in offering compassionate, yet stern, advice toward the average joe’s money woes. It was the fact that he’d been there himself, rock-bottom bankrupt, just a few years before. An entrepreneur at heart, he was a real estate millionaire at age 26. But the high roller rug was soon yanked out from under him. Too many short-term real estate loans resulted in financial ruin, and Dave lost everything by age 30. Long story short, he vowed to never borrow money again. He’d take a common sense approach to his personal finances. It would be “God’s and grandma’s way of handling money.”

Dave was counseling folks one-on-one and selling his self-published book out of the trunk of his car, when he hosted his first radio show in 1992. In 1996, “The Dave Ramsey Show” gained its first affiliate in Oak Ridge, TN, and launched itself into the world of syndicated talk radio. To this day, “The Dave Ramsey Show” has always been independently owned and syndicated. Every affiliate clear has been scraped and clawed for, and serving our affiliates is of utmost importance. Now as the show approaches its 15th anniversary, it has grown to 320+ affiliates, equaling about 3 million listeners each week.

In the last few years, The Dave Ramsey Show has grown tremendously, and Dave himself becoming more of a household name in many cities. As he puts it, “We’ve been doing this for 15 years, day-in and day-out, and suddenly we’re an overnight success.” This may be how some people see it, people who don’t realize the long road that Dave and The Dave Ramsey Show have traveled.

In addition to the success of the radio show, Dave has also written a handful of New York Times bestsellers and does regular national media appearances on MSN, Fox News, CBS’ The Early Show. Dave’s Financial Peace University has gone from teaching 5 families his financial principles on an overhead projector, to a class currently offered nationwide in companies, churches, community groups and military bases. Last year alone, 120,000 people across the country graduated from this 13 week course.

Contact: Amy Severson
Affiliate Relations/ Local Sales Specialist
The Dave Ramsey Show
1.877.410.3283 ext. 178
fax 615.620.6340
http://www.daveramsey.com/