Michelle Malkin » RIP Paul Harvey

RIP Paul Harvey

By see-dubya • February 28, 2009 09:21 PM

(Post by guest-blogger emeritus See-Dubya)

One of the great voices of authentic heartland America fell silent today. Paul Harvey was doing nationwide conservative talk radio for decades before anyone thought of it as conservative talk radio. Everybody recognizes his distinctive, quirky voice with the…….odd pauses and offbeat emphases, but his success was about far more than his distinctive diction.

Paul Harvey put news out there that no other outlet touched. His Paul Harvey News and Comment scoured the wires for random stuff–and ideologically inconvenient stuff– you just didn’t hear on the Big Three mainstream TV news, and crammed it all in to crisp five minute chunks, complete with terse commentary and the occasional wry thwack of sarcasm–and he still had time for the inevitable personalized pitches for Buicks and the Bose Acoustic Wave Radio. Here’s what he had to say about his advertisers:

“I can’t look down on the commercial sponsors of these broadcasts,” he told CBS in 1988. “Too often they have very, very important messages to put across. Without advertising in this country, my goodness, we’d still be in this country what Russia mostly still is: a nation of bearded cyclists with b.o.”

Zing. He was always like that. Paul Harvey invented blogging; he just did his blogging on the radio.

His other program was the famous two-minute cliffhanger, “The Rest of the Story”. What a great and simple concept. The title itself gives away the game: the news you hear is only a scratch on the surface of reality, which has a roomy, spacious Buick Roadmaster trunk full of connections and ironies the network talking heads only hint at. The media isn’t giving you enough of the story, Paul told us, which is something we’d all suspected all along: more is going on out there than they let on.

His radio show wasn’t particularly ideological–you could tell he leaned right but it was mainly through the choice of stories and headlines he picked out. He also had a syndicated column back in the day that my state paper carried, and he was a rock-ribbed Middle American (Tulsa native, in fact) social and fiscal conservative with a heart of gold, a deep love of country, and no illusions about the stakes of foreign policy. He was a Reaganesque thinker, as well as a Reaganesque communicator.

One more thing: back when Fred Thompson was just flirting with running for President, one of the things that excited me the most about his candidacy was his ABC radio addresses he gave while sitting in for Paul Harvey. I thought that was a politically brilliant move that really showcased Fred’s strengths–authentic, no-BS Heartland conservatism. I wasn’t the only one–I kind of trace the groundswell of interest in Thompson back to his time broadcasting from Paul Harvey’s chair, and likewise the deflation of the Thompson bubble to the time he left it.

Anyway, Paul Harvey: innovator, inspiration, and a great American. R.I.P.
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MORE: Lileks has Paul Harvey audio from 1968. It’s a bit of a letdown…but you can’t help but listen to the end.

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(Post written by guest-blogger emeritus See-Dubya. Opinions are my own, and I wrote the post on my own time and equipment.)

Posted in: Fairness Doctrine, R.I.P.

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#636445

On March 1st, 2009 at 10:36 pm, tiefelj said:

I have been listening to this man since the 50s or 60s. (sheesh time passes)

He came to Hereford TX in the 60’s for the Chamber of Commerce (Hey Mr. O, know what commerce is?)

Anyway he charge $5K, a lot back then, but for a national radio talk host not too much anymore.
#636446

On March 1st, 2009 at 10:48 pm, SteveH said:

I remember when I first heard Paul Harvey back in the early ’60s. He had a 5 minute spot on TV after the nightly news. I didn’t learn til many years later that he was from here in Tulsa, so I don’t know if it was just a local thing.
One of the best things I remember hearing from him was about media bias. He said it wasn’t just how the news was presented, but also about the decisions about what was “news” (i.e. global warming) and what was not (i.e. Bill Ayers and Jerimiah Wright).
#636452

On March 1st, 2009 at 11:57 pm, CC said:

Thanks for memories, Mr. Gentleman Harvey. You were a class act.
#636476

On March 2nd, 2009 at 7:16 am, PKAmmoTroop said:

On March 1st, 2009 at 5:14 pm, Wildcatter1980 said:

We’re all diminished by his passing.

At least he is reunited with his beloved wife and coworker, Angel.

Rest in peace in heaven, Paul and Angel.

Awwww… I was dealing with this so well until you mentioned Angel.
#636480

On March 2nd, 2009 at 8:34 am, NJ-Aviator said:

I always enjoyed listening to Paul Harvey. I learned a lot from his broadcasts. He’ll be missed for sure.
#636489

On March 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 am, conservativesRus said:

On March 1st, 2009 at 3:42 pm, kevrobin45 said:

To bad you can broadcast one last time from heaven and tell us “the rest of the story”…..

We’ve been told “if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not listen even if someone rises from the dead”.
Paul Harvey giving the rest of the story wouldn’t convince those with hardened hearts.
#636636

On March 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 am, sillygatboy said:

I didn’t read all of the threads so probably somebody has a similar story. I was a salesman for 35 years, in and out of my car all day, and got hooked on Mr. Harvey in about 1963.

Thereafter if I was about to see a customer when he was on, I would drive around the area so as not to miss his broadcast.

America – and broadcasting – has lost a true icon.

RIP dear man.
#637138

On March 2nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm, Floyd R. Turbo said:

Yes, indeed, a class act. Like so many, I can remember when I first heard him. Not sure why, as a young lad, I recognized his voice as one of authority. I remember like it was yesterday, growing up in Pittsburgh, sitting with my dad in our ‘57 Ford, in traffic, fiddling with the AM radio tuning knob. Yes, the AM radio was all there was those days. And, yes, the one with the two CONELRAD marks on the dial face. Google it. Good history. Anyway, I came across his familiar “This is Paul Harvey, stand by for news!” and I remember exclaiming something to the effect, “Dad, it’s Paul Harvey!”. Been listening ever since. Yes, a class act indeed. Too bad there aren’t any to take his place. As we lose these “Greatest Generation” Americans, we are indeed, poorer.
#637490

On March 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm, Ignatius Reilly said:

Most folks seem to be quite attached to the nostalgia thing where Mr. Harvey is concerned. Oddly — as I am a huge fan of Woody Allen’s “Radio Days” — I was never able to accept him. One might expect this of a young person, but I am not in the category. My problem with Mr. Harvey was that his negative stories always implied a lot where he did not have actual facts, inviting his audience, with a wink of the voice, to draw the worst conclusions. I despise this particular rhetorical trick, which has always been part of the stock-in-trade of many unsavory characters. Of course, it was a style that played to an unsophisticated audience in an earlier day so I suppose some allowance should be made.

The gentleman, whom I am sure had some virtues, has passed along, and I don’t mean to use this occasion to belittle him. None-the-less, I always thought that he somewhat diminished rather than elevated our public conversation, and I can not pass over all these glowing comments without offering my own honest, dissenting opinion. RIP, Mr. Harvey.