Legendary radio personality Paul Harvey died at the age of 90.
His fifteen minute news segments were broadcast on 1,100 terrestrial U.S frequencies and over 400 Army frequencies, reaching a staggering daily audience unheard of in modern radio.
He came from the old school of broadcasting, not subscribing to any real particular “listenership” or group of people: merely focusing on delivering the news in as unbiased a way as it could be presented. During the Vietnam war he received a lot of clout from listeners who thought that as one of the most heard voices in America that he should at least have somewhat of a solid opinion. However, Mr Harvey only ever once changed his non-biased opinion on the matter when he famously declared “Mister President, I love you, but you’re wrong”.
At 81 in the year 2000 he signed a $100 million dollar ten year contract to keep broadcasting. How many other 81 year olds do you know that have $100 million contracts?
When asked “how he did it” the best answer can be found in an interview from 2002 where he told the Chicago Tribune “I’ve got an old country boy’s philosophy. When the car’s running, you don’t look inside the carburator. Just keep rolling.”
He got his start in Tulsa at the age of 14 when a teacher said he had a great voice for radio. He began helping out at local radio station KVOO-AM and within a year was speaking on the air. Until his death he was based in Chicago, and would often take his Lear jet out for corporate and commercial speeches.
Paul’s famous “and now you know… the rest of the story” line goes up there with all the great broadcasting lines. Like Harry Carey’s jubilant expressions and Orson Welles’s famous “War Of The Worlds” broadcast, Paul was probably best known for his almost melodramatic pauses and his frank matter-of-fact delivery. Practically everything Paul Harvey did for nigh on sixty years in radio was pure broadcasting excellence. And for that, we salute you.
