Paul Harvey… Good day

Tampa, Fl – It is with great sadness that I learn yet another media legend passed. Paul Harvey died Saturday at the age of 90.

He began his radio career at the age of 14 and it seems to me I heard him on the air not all that long ago. His radio show, “News and Comment by Paul Harvey” was carried around lunch time on radio stations across the nation and the Armed Forces Radio Network around the world for as long as I can remember. In that show he brought the headlines, the offbeat and the obscure along with his take on things.

I remember once he talked about someone in a Spiderman costume that scaled a skyscraper somewhere. He said something like, “I’m sure the attention seeking daredevil would love for us to mention his name…” Then he went on to the next story without doing so.

Most of those stations also carried “Paul Harvey’s the Rest of the Story.” This is where we learned the story behind the story. There were so many and sadly I cannot remember one to share here.

As with anyone running their own radio show, Harvey had sponsors. Fiercely loyal to “those people that write my checks” Harvey would make the sales pitch himself and in his own way. A handful of people with nothing better to do raised a fuss saying that Harvey was misleading consumers. 

Harvey was heavily traditional and conservative in his leanings. In later years that brought attacks to his credibility. Some feared his views and enormous popularity would sway voters, especially in states like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa where he is a household word. Various organizations began simultaneous smear campaigns consisting of statements falsely attributed to Harvey and his radio show.  All of those claims were shown through transcripts to be false or twisted completely out context. (Thinking people with even a dash of common sense would have realized that all those shows are archived on tape.)

Harvey had a platform that reached millions. He could have blasted these people and organizations in a way that would have swung public opinion against them for years. But he said nothing, choosing to ignore the storm and just keep doing what he did best.

Harvey often spoke of his wife, Angel. It was clear his love for her was deep and caring in everything he said. Angel passed away last May. As is often the case with elderly couples, I think it is possible that Harvey missed her so much that on some level or another he simply chose to join her.

I hope they have a radio station where ever they are now.

-30-

I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist.
- Paul Harvey