Thanks for the memories, Mr. Harvey
I first listened to Paul Harvey in the early 90’s when I was working as a ranch hand at the Miles Ranch just outside of Livingston, Montana. We used to take a lunch break around noon, and would all sit inside the main shop building around the wood stove eating our lunches. I can still hear Paul Harvey’s voice narrating “The rest of the story” from the small radio that sat on the work bench next to us under the window. While the short program was playing, it was the only time that everyone was completely silent – listening to Paul Harvey.
The daily habit of listening to Paul eventually spilled into my morning commute, first with Yellowstone Newspapers, then Pulse Research, and on to my pastoral drives down Hwy 129 from Clark, Co. into my office in Steamboat Springs each morning. At that time, my wife would ride into town with me, and we used to coordinate our drive just right so we wouldn’t miss his broadcast during the 5 mile stretch we lost radio reception going through Mad Creek.
Towards the end of 2007 we starting noticing that more and more guest hosts would deliver the news, sometimes Paul’s son, or a handful of other hosts. All were very good announcers in their own right, but we couldn’t help but feel disappointed when it wasn’t Paul himself delivering his mix of headlines and smart humor for the morning. Eventually the program’s format changed and we heard less and less of Paul in the mornings, it was a sad daily reminder that the sun was setting for the legendary radio personality.
Paul was much more than just a radio announcer, spending much of his spare time with philanthropy, charity and speaking engagements at universities and any number of events around the country. Paul was truly an icon of how great radio used to be, proving you can build the largest listening audience ever through honest news reporting, and fascinating and heartwarming commentary.
I know I speak for millions of people around the country when I say, “Thanks for the memories, Mr. Harvey”.
Official story here.
