Yesterday was a sad day. It was announced that radio news pioneer Paul Harvey died at his winter home in Arizona on Saturday. His voice was heard by millions upon millions of radio listeners since he first when national in 1951, and currently boasted about 22 million listeners a week. He was 90 years old.
I think the first time I heard Paul Harvey on the radio was with my dad in his 1961 Buick LeSabre. I remember it being in the early evening, and he was doing his "And now you know...the rest of the story" bit. I always loved hearing those quirky stories that Mr. Harvey liked to bring to his listening audience.
My liking of Paul Harvey News and Comment only grew from there. This may sound lame, but when I was in high school I would always listen to Paul Harvey. There was something soothing about hearing his voice on KONA 610 AM from noon to 12:15. And it wasn't just me who enjoyed him either. Through my Sophomore and Junior years, I went to lunch with the same group of guys pretty much every day, and we would always try to make it back out to the car by noon every day so we could hear him deliver news that for the most part did not pertain to us in the least. We even had an 8x10 glossy of good ol' Paul in the car!
Once out of high school I never seemed to have the time to tune into Mr. Harvey on a regular basis. But since then whenever I am in a car by myself, and the time of day is switching from Ante Meridiem to Post Meridiem, I would try to find him on the AM dial. But with those days now over, I am left with remembering the fun times I had listening to good ol' Paul.
I just have one more thing left to say to Paul Harvey. Gooood day.
I just have one more thing left to say to Paul Harvey. Gooood day.
Paul Harvey Aurandt
September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009
