Farewell to Paul Harvey (1918 - 2009)

On February 28, 2009, one of the best radio personalities we will ever know passed away. I have listened to Paul Harvey on and off for most of my life and the news of his passing made me realize how talk radio has changed. Today, talk radio is filled with hate for one side or the other and it is loud and obnoxious. Most of today’s radio talk shows are nothing but opinion masquerading as real news or facts. But with Paul Harvey, people would stop what they were doing and actually lean towards the radio to listen to, the rest of the story. 

 

Paul Harvey (1918 – 2009)

Paul Harvey Aurandt was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and used to make crystal radio sets in cigar boxes as a boy, by the time he was a 14 years old he was already hanging around radio stations. In 1933, he started in radio as an unpaid clerk at radio station KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then moved on to KXOK in St. Louis as a newsman. He started doing the national news for ABC radio in 1951.

He received 46 awards in his lifetime including being inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters hall of fame, The Peabody Award, The Golden Radio Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom award.

As many are saying, Paul Harvey invented blogging; he just did his blogging on the radio. In radio, one of the things you aren’t supposed to do is let there be dead air. But Paul Harvey was a master at using dead air, it seemed to make people just wait for the next words instead of turning the dial. He understood the value of a pause and when to use it. He is credited with popularizing or inventing phrases like Reaganomics and skyjacker.

In 1941 he added “The Rest of the Story” to his newscasts and in 1976 it became its own series, that and his trademark ending of the news with “Good Day” was heard on more than 1200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network affiliates with 24 million listeners and 300 newspapers.

Were some of his stories slightly fictitious, maybe, but they were different, interesting and sometimes funny to listen to. Some people didn’t agree with his conservative stance on many subjects, but they still listened. Paul Harvey had the famous broadcast that said to President Nixon, “I love you…but you’re wrong” and he denounced the expansion of the Vietnam War.

 He talked about muddled headed politicians and the ballooning deficit. Just last month on his show concerning the stimulus bill, he called on congress to do its job and not “sit on the economic skillet and let the pork sizzle”.

 At times conservatives even called him a turncoat conservative when he was supportive of such things as being pro-choice and the Equal Rights Amendments. Most talk shows last several hours, Paul Harvey could read the news and say what he had to say in 15 minutes a day. He just kept delivering the news and the Rest of the Story for over 50 years.

Copyright © 2009 Sam Montana