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Paul Harvey

J

jboyd

I guess the youth of this Board attests to the fact that there has been no
recognition of one of the oldest REAL newsmen on the networks, who has now left us. In his later years, he calmed his approach, but he was in his earlier days, a real stauch supporter of the conservative movement. Pause, please, in memory of him! JBI
 
You are correct, J. Boyd. I can remember running his TV comentary on WABG in the mid-70's and listening to his radio news & comments every morning on WKOR after I got off my airshift at WSSO in Starkville circa 1978. Truly we have lost one of the greats of our industry.

Dr. Bob
 
He lived a long, wonderful life and will surely be missed. He was truly one of the few true legends that radio has left these days. I know that Paul was a big part of my daily routine for a long time and I will miss hearing him on WOKK. At least now he knows the rest of the story.

His passing did get me to thinking about the legends thing a bit earlier. The modern jocks who are "famous" really aren't that great. They certainly aren't a Paul Harvey, Cousin Brucie or Casey Kasem and I would venture to say that in 20 years very few people will recall their memory in the way we would, say, a Paul Harvey. When people like Ryan Seacrest *shudder* are the ones who are considered the greats, that's scary. Radio now is nothing more than an extention of E! TV or Extra. It doesn't take talent to rip a story off of TMZ and relay it to the listening audience. No one is coming up with anything original... it's all cookie cutter and it's depressing. I hope someday there will be some jocks who rise above the crap but I honestly don't expect it. It's a shame... radio was once great. Now it's mostly a wasteland.

Jonathan
 
jboyd said:
In his later years, he calmed his approach, but he was in his earlier days, a real stauch supporter of the conservative movement. Pause, please, in memory of him! JBI
Click to expand...

I did some overnight listening to WGN out of Chicago the last two nights. Morning Man John Williams summarized it all this morning when he said: "I hope that civility in news and commentary didn't die with Paul Harvey."

The overnight team of Steve King and Johnnie Putman (husband a wife... a GIRL name Johnnie) take a view of life just a little bit left of what Paul did. They would sometimes take an excerpt from Paul's mid day broadcast, replay it at night and open up the line for discussion. They said Paul enjoyed them doing that as he listened to their show on his way to work in for what are "the wee hours of the night" for most of us.

I guess what I am mulling over this morning is this: Did Paul "calm his approach" in later years, or did the rest of the broadcast world just get so rowdy he seemed calmer in the comparison?

He indeed will be missed.
 
Paul Harvey could always come up with a good story. One in particular that I always like was the one about the midwestern couple traveling down the Natchez Trace. They got off the Trace in Kosciusko to eat lunch. They went in and the girl at the counter asked if she could help them. They replied yes but first, could she tell them how to pronounce the name of this place. The girl was a little confused at first and after a brief hesitation, she mouthed out very slowly in her Mississippi drawl, " D a i r y Q u e e n".
 
Paul Harvey could always come up with a good story. One in particular that I always like was the one about the midwestern couple traveling down the Natchez Trace. They got off the Trace in Kosciusko to eat lunch. They went in and the girl at the counter asked if she could help them. They replied yes but first, could she tell them how to pronounce the name of this place. The girl was a little confused at first and after a brief hesitation, she mouthed out very slowly in her Mississippi drawl, " D a i r y Q u e e n".

I actually remember Paul Harvey telling this story. At old WKOR-AM 980, we recorded PH three times a day.

In 1970 or 1971 Paul Harvey flew his LearJet into the Starkville airport to speak at one of the civic groups or on campus. Don't really remember which. Back in those days I was working in radio in Columbus. I was sent to try and get a quick interview, but got to the airport just as he was getting into a car to leave the airport for his appointment. The next day or so I remember hearing him talk about Starkville with his usual...."over my shoulder a backward glance...".He had some unique phrases.

I have a really good Randy Bell story from old WKOR that always reminds me of Paul Harvey. Let me know if anyone wants to hear it.

G James, Starkville
 
jboyd said:
Let's have it...and what are you up to these days? JBI
Click to expand...

Still in Starkville. I have a home repair business now. Spent 35 years in radio and network. Enjoyed it all, but really like what I'm doing now.

I'll have to work on the Randy Bell story. It's kind of long, but I'll get it.

Been to the islands lately, JBI?
 
I, too, can attest to being familar with Paul Harvey. Never met him, but we spent an aweful lot of time together. As the mid day guy on WKOR in the mid 80s I ate my lunch in the control room while he was on the air. Unlike the automation systems of today, it was blissful to run the 15 minute program. The only break was at page 3 when you inserted the Teletronics, Templeton Motors, or JL Teel spot. Other than that you had about 6 or 7 minutes to eat a sandwich or grab a Coke. I also remembered that we recorded it on a giant reel out in the news area. The feed came down at either 1006am or 1020am- don't remember which ones. "Hello Americans, this is Paul Harvey.... stand by for news...."
 
Was talking to a former ABC radio executive today and he related that in 1978 the Paul Harvey revenue machine was greater than their best producing market cluster with a very small fraction of the overhead. In lean years, he was the profit.
 
During the prime years of Miss-103(early 80's) Paul Harvey was a linchpin to the programming. One of the first things Keymarket did when ZZQ was flipped was to steal PH from WSLI,and put it on a class C FM signal,connecting to the "good 'ol folks". It was the most expensive product to sponsor on the station,and there was a waiting list for advertisers. Actually got a call one day at the station from him. He was working on a human interest story about a tamale place in Vicksburg. Heard his voice say,"hello,Tim,this is Paul Harvey with ABC news..", and I said,"yea, I can tell." One of those times where you say to yourself "now don't screw this up!".
 
Well, leave it to the satirical news site The Onion to put Paul's death into perspective. In the "American Voices" section of the site, they asked people what they thought about Harvey. Said one 'person', “Are the doctors positive this isn’t just an exceptionally long pause in his delivery?”

:D
 
GJ: Been a while...plan to go early next year...have a hang out in Louisiana
that's convenient....plus, the Southwestern Louisiana people are super nice..
some see us JBI
 
Zach said:
Well, leave it to the satirical news site The Onion to put Paul's death into perspective. In the "American Voices" section of the site, they asked people what they thought about Harvey. Said one 'person', “Are the doctors positive this isn’t just an exceptionally long pause in his delivery?”

:D
Click to expand...

LOL ;D
 
jboyd said:
I guess the youth of this Board attests to the fact that there has been no
recognition of one of the oldest REAL newsmen on the networks, who has now left us. In his later years, he calmed his approach, but he was in his earlier days, a real staunch supporter of the conservative movement. Pause, please, in memory of him! JBI
Click to expand...
Hello JB. I had contemplated a post, but the last couple of times I've posted to this board, I've been reminded that my experiences and opinions are as outdated as my age. I think they refer to us as “dinosaurs”.
I first heard Mr. Harvey when I was young kid and thought I knew everything. And that was before I entered the industry. Listening to Paul Harvey helped me understand the national and world news in a real and tangible way. His human-interest stories gave me a perspective on the life and people that assisted me later in my career. Finally, his delivery was unique and helped me understand that to succeed, one needed to be unique, and at the same time, listen-able.
But, that’s what a “dinosaur” believes, I’m sure someone will point out the error of my thinking and show that my beliefs are wrong since I’m old and stupid.
 
D: Don't worry about what the others say...after all, one day they will be called names, as well! AND, I always think about the famous statement " Those who fail to learn from the past are condemmed to repeat it" Example...the sorry financial state we are in....my dad told me " Son, if you can't afford it...don't buy it!"
Thankfully, I listened!
Good to hear from you!
 
The ability to sort through an overabundance of information and sift the wheat from the chaff is a great gift. Paul Harvey had such a gift. He was able to see past the red herrings and get down to what was important; and explain in simple terms why it was important.
 
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