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A true story about the power of Paul Harvey

frankberry

frankberry

Administrator
Inactive User
While I didn't agree with Paul Harvey in several areas, through his radio program, he was able to solve a problem for me.
The problem, ongoing for at least two years, was USAF fighter jets that would fly at very high speed, between the transmitting towers of WGTO-AM, Cypress Gardens, Florida.
These military exercises were troubling. If the aircraft veered left or right more than 200', there was the very real possibility that it would clip a guy wire.
I contacted the Air Force. They denied everything.
As a last resort, I called Paul Harvey and spoke with his Assistant.
His Assistant took down the information and this is what Paul said during his midday program the following day.
"Air Force pilots in their fighter jets have been hot-dogging between the towers of WGTO, Cypress Gardens, Florida.
Gentlemen .... Now you cannot say that you have not been warned."
We never again saw a fighter jet in the area.
 
frankberry said:
While I didn't agree with Paul Harvey in several areas, through his radio program, he was able to solve a problem for me.
The problem, ongoing for at least two years, was USAF fighter jets that would fly at very high speed, between the transmitting towers of WGTO-AM, Cypress Gardens, Florida.
These military exercises were troubling. If the aircraft veered left or right more than 200', there was the very real possibility that it would clip a guy wire.
I contacted the Air Force. They denied everything.
As a last resort, I called Paul Harvey and spoke with his Assistant.
His Assistant took down the information and this is what Paul said during his midday program the following day.
"Air Force pilots in their fighter jets have been hot-dogging between the towers of WGTO, Cypress Gardens, Florida.
Gentlemen .... Now you cannot say that you have not been warned."
We never again saw a fighter jet in the area.
Click to expand...

You forgot something:

"Page 2"

By the way, if anyone really wants to know how to do a "live read", study Paul Harvey tapes.
 
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All of the "replacements" for Paul Harvey have been a disaster. He was one of a kind, which is a shame. There is definitely a huge opening for a short form commentary show.
 
Small Market Guy said:
All of the "replacements" for Paul Harvey have been a disaster. He was one of a kind, which is a shame. There is definitely a huge opening for a short form commentary show.
Click to expand...

Sadly, it is a void that will probably never be filled. Paul Harvey didn't spring forth on the world fully formed. He developed his style and following over many, many years. Today, with most local stations being little more than pass-along conduits for satellite programming, there is no "minor leagues" where someone with some raw talent could develop into someone with the polished skills of someone like Paul Harvey.
 
Small Market Guy said:
All of the "replacements" for Paul Harvey have been a disaster. He was one of a kind, which is a shame. There is definitely a huge opening for a short form commentary show.
Click to expand...

Not exactly one of that kind. Basically, he lifted his "style" from Bill Stern and Walter Winchell and his point of view from the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune back in the day. And it was Angel who put all that together and invented "Paul Harvey." (Now you know..... the rest of the story.)

Military lifers loved Paul Harvey. And he was willing to stroke his affiliate and anybody who paid him the big bucks to come give his canned speech. He was good at what he did but the man was a consummate ho.

A station where I worked had an LP he cut with some of his most popular rants. In one he was arguing that all "men" are NOT created equal - the constitution says. He cited a specific article and section. Maybe the thought his groupies wouldn't notice but it was the section that slaves should be counted in the census as three-fifths of a person.
 
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Avid Listener said:
Today, with most local stations being little more than pass-along conduits for satellite programming, there is no "minor leagues" where someone with some raw talent could develop into someone with the polished skills of someone like Paul Harvey.
Click to expand...

Huh? Most Top 100 markets have local stations filled with local talent.
 
It is hard for us today to see the "farm club leagues" of radio in comparison to the era when Paul Harvey began.

Getting your first gig at KVOO in Tulsa was not exactly "out in the weeds" farm club. Salina, KS.... Meh! I worked there years later. It was "in the prairie grass!"

We could debate at length that maybe most of the stations today that are now conduits for satellite programming didn't exist in the 1940s, the 1950s... so how do we compare today's minor leagues to the minor leagues of Paul's beginnings?

The world has changed. Back then you could walk into a radio station unannounced, and ask for a tour, ask to be allowed to look around, and you could make a productive day of exploring stations. AND YOU COULD FIND THEM!!! You could have conversation and someone would suggest to you a "farm club" that was currently looking for a new team member.

Today you walk up to a locked-front-door in many cases where no one is home, and nobody will or can really talk to you about "openings" because of the non-discrimination rules in hiring.

Yes, satellite delivery routed through an automation machine does make the world a different place, but there are a lot of other changes in the route to becoming a star.
 
FredLeonard said:
Not exactly one of that kind. Basically, he lifted his "style" from Bill Stern and Walter Winchell and his point of view from the editorial pages of the Chicago Tribune back in the day. And it was Angel who put all that together and invented "Paul Harvey." (Now you know..... the rest of the story.)

Military lifers loved Paul Harvey. And he was willing to stroke his affiliate and anybody who paid him the big bucks to come give his canned speech. He was good at what he did but the man was a consummate ho.

A station where I worked had an LP he cut with some of his most popular rants. In one he was arguing that all "men" are NOT created equal - the constitution says. He cited a specific article and section. Maybe the thought his groupies wouldn't notice but it was the section that slaves should be counted in the census as three-fifths of a person.
Click to expand...

Wait. Did you just call Paul Harvey a "ho"?
 
FredLeonard said:
He was good at what he did but the man was a consummate ho.
Click to expand...

Well that was unexpected. lol

I guess anybody who does anything for money is a "ho".

Chris Rock is a comedy ho.
My dentist is a tooth ho.
The plumber is a toilet ho.
I just got a letter thanks to the mail ho.

And then there's the Pope....
 
Somebody who does things for money and has integrity is a pro.
Somebody who does things for money without integrity is a ho.
This is a distinction few in radio will understand.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Getting your first gig at KVOO in Tulsa was not exactly "out in the weeds" farm club. Salina, KS.... Meh! I worked there years later. It was "in the prairie grass!"
Click to expand...


Sure it was. Tulsa's population in the 30s was 144,00 and change. This is Grapes of Wrath era; people were fleeing Oklahoma. Oklahoma had been a state for less than 30 years. The post war - post a/c boom in the South had not started. The fact that the station is hiring high school kids and putting them on the air should tell you something. Kids - plural. A couple of years later the station hired Tony Randall from the same high school.
 
FredLeonard said:
Sure it was. Tulsa's population in the 30s was 144,00 and change. This is Grapes of Wrath era; people were fleeing Oklahoma. Oklahoma had been a state for less than 30 years. The post war - post a/c boom in the South had not started. The fact that the station is hiring high school kids and putting them on the air should tell you something. Kids - plural. A couple of years later the station hired Tony Randall from the same high school.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you are ready to defend a debate on the history, the place in society, the financial powerhouse sitting at the edge of a desert... a place known as TULSA? My parents, across the border in Texas were people of the depression. I can tell you that as a kid living in South Texas that in the late mid to late 40s, taking my little Philco Portable to bed with me at night, tuning in "KVOO, broadcasting from high atop the Philtower in Tulsa" was a "Mecca" for those of us who did live out in the weeds.

Your survey of the geography and the economy overlooks the fact that Tulsa does not sit out in the true dust bowl, but sits in the foothills of the green Ozarks. Your survey of the economy overlooks the fact that a small portion of Oklahoma was at the height of a growing 20 year oil boom when KVOO came along, and Paul Harvey got his break there a few years later. The owner of KVOO was Mr. Skelly... who had made a fortune with his oil speculations. The Phil tower was owned by a man who had liquidated his oil fortune (Phillips Petroleum) and was turning downtown Tulsa into a small arichtectural version of European greatness with multiple buildings, including the Phil tower. Your survey of Tulsa overlooks the fact that the face of Texas music in that era.... Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys made Tulsa their home base in the 30s.

The "power" behind creating Route 66 was headquartered in Tulsa and driving through Tulsa was one of the "crown jewels" of a trip from Chicago to LA.... even in the 1930s!

I understand that if you look up the population of Tulsa in that era it may look anemic.... like a weed patch, compared to NYC, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia. But when you have lived "in the weed patch" and you traveled to Tulsa... you knew you had exited the week patch when you got to Tulsa.

And if you closely study the history of radio in the 1930s, you know that a lot of stations, including some we came to recognized as "the biggies" employed some very young folks and opened doors to the industry. One of my favorite radio station owners in my early days used to spin yarns about sleeping on the floor of the transmitter building at the NBC station in Little Rock as a very young man. On the wages of the day (in the 30s) he couldn't afford a traditional room or apartment. I have this idea that some of the GREAT stations of the era considered it a "badge of honor" to be the entry point for young, young talent.
 
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