"Paul Harvey......sad day" The End Of An Era

[Shack]

(Feb. 28) -- Radio legend Paul Harvey, whose news and commentary segments always ended with his distinctive sign-off, "Paul Harvey....good day," died Saturday at the age of 90, ABC Radio Network says.

Network spokesman Louis Adams says Harvey died Saturday at his winter home in Phoenix, surrounded by family. No cause of death was immediately available.

'The Rest of the Story' EndsChris Walker, Chicago Tribune / MCT7 photos Paul Harvey, a broadcasting pioneer whose career spanned more than 70 years, died on Saturday, ABC Radio Network said. Network spokesman Louis Adams said Harvey died at his winter home in Phoenix, surrounded by family. Harvey, shown here in 1992, was 90.

Harvey never viewed himself as a newsman, even though some 18 million people tuned into his daily reports to hear his 15-minute take on the day's events.

"I'm a professional parade watcher who can't wait to get out of bed every morning and rush down to the teletypes to pan for gold," he told CNN's Larry King in 1988.

That he did with a vengeance since those teletype days in 1951, arriving at his Chicago studio in the pre-dawn hours to produce two news and commentary segments and his evening The Rest of the Story (written by his son, Paul) which were carried on some 1,100 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces Radio Network stations.

He based himself in Chicago, flew aboard his Lear jet to give corporate speeches and commuted by limo each day from his 27-room home in suburban River Forest, Ill., to his 16th floor studio above a street sign that reads Paul Harvey Drive.

When Harvey was 81 in 2000, his sole employer for all those years, ABC Radio Networks, signed him to a 10-year, $100 million contract. Rivals who had lost in the bidding told him they'd be back in 2010.

Harvey's ability to sell products in advertisements, via spots that read and which flowed seamlessly from his news stories, were legendary. He is considered the greatest radio salesman of all time and sponsors — only one in 15 were accepted — were required to sign on for at least a year.

"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."

The idea of retirement never occurred to either Harvey or his wife, Angel, whom he married in 1940 and who was his producing partner throughout his career.

"I've got an old country boy's philosophy," he told The Chicago Tribune in a 2002 interview. "When the car's running, you don't look inside the carburetor. Just keep rolling."

He got his start in radio in high school in Tulsa at age 14 when a speech teacher was so impressed with his voice that she took him to a local radio station, KVOO-AM and told the program director that Harvey belonged on radio.

He began reading news, making announcements — and sweeping floors — and a year later began getting paid."It is impossible in print to capture the rhythm and flow of his delivery, a series of pauses, dramatic and playful inflections that combine to create something like a piece of performance art, a verbal telegraph," writer Rock Kogan wrote in his Tribune profile.

The conservative label attached itself to Harvey, a God-and country advocate who called welfare recipients "pusillanimous parasites." He supported Sen. Joe McCathy's tactics in the early 50s.

More StoriesCritics blasted him during the tumultuous Vietnam War years in the 60s and 70s, but he made one of his most famous flip-flops on that war, declaring on the air to President Nixon: "Mr. President, I love you but you are wrong."

But unlike partisan radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, Harvey's appeal was "that he did not represent any kind of movement, not any kind of format," said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers magazine, a radio trade publication. "He just represented himself and that is highest compliment and highest form broadcasting: when are successful for just who you are and for being there so long."

Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, said that Harvey was "like the oldest and still the tallest redwood in the whole forest, a living reminder of the power of words on the radio — and of silence. Most talent in radio rushes to fill 'dead air' but Paul understood the value of the right pause at the right time. You'd sometimes literally hold your breath to see what 'the rest.. .of the story' was.

Said Taylor: "Paul had absolutely no equal when it came to the sheer art of how to use a radio microphone, and several generations of radio newspeople studied his delivery. He tried television but it wasn't his medium. Radio was, and he owned it.When Paul was speaking, how could you not listen, even if you disagreed with his commentary."

Sad to see him go!

[archerystud]

I just read this as well. It reminded me of how often I used to hear Paul Harvey on the radio as a kid while riding the bus to school.

Truely a news icon of this nation.

"Good Day".

[BK19]

yeah sad indeed i listened to him for many years but another sad part is it was and still is getting harder and harder to find a radio that has that kind of news on anymore

[UdeLakeTom]

One of the Grand Rapids stations always had him on and I got to listen to him when deer hunting and up to the lake fishing...

"And that's the rest of the story"

[so haaad]

He was the absolute best, a true classic. Good day, Paul Harvey.

[DTro]

The word "legend" gets thrown around quite a bit, but in this case there is not a better word to use.

A true legend.

[PierBridge]

That Voice......!

R.I.P Paul you are the Man!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Man oh Man they are dropping like flies around here. First we lose two Chicago Bull legends on the same day last week and now Paul Harvey. Sad times indeed. RIP Paul......Good Day!

[Big A]

Loved the voice, loved the stories, he was the best at what he does.

I agree with Dtro.. a True Legend.

[Sandmannd]

My Dad always listened to him. He is a true radio legend.

[bassNspear]

RIP Paul! A voice will be missed on the radio!

[pinkfloyd4ever]

yes, RIP. Always will remember hearing him as a child growing up and catching him every once and awhile the past few years. CNN had a episode of him on Larry King from 03 last night, seemed like a very classy man.

[zamboni]

Only Paul Harvey was worth $10 Mill a year to talk on the radio for 15 minutes a day. Noone else could make you run his stories through your head as he was telling them. Truly one of the greatest storytellers in US history. RIP

[toughguy]

For me there are 3 radio voices that will always be truely classic. Herb Carneal, Ray Christiansen, and Paul Harvery. Hering their voices brings chills to my spine. They all remind me of being a kid on the lake or in the car with Grandpa or Dad.

RIP Mr. Harvey.

[Neighbor_guy]

Mr. Harvey will be missed. The "tributes" all weeks on the radio have been nice. "The rest of the story" and "Stand by for News!" are two things I used to hear everyday at work.

Good Day!!!???!!!

[VMS]

There is no doubt that hearing Paul Harvey with both nEEws and the ReEst of the story will be missed. Each day at 4:00 P.M for the story was something that will forever be etched in the minds of many.

The stories are simply wonderful!! He and they live on in the books that have been written, and every few days or so, I share with my students at school. For some, they see nothing in those stories, but others are just mesmerized and cannot get enough of them. Although they enjoy the stories, Nobody could tell them the way Paul Harvey could.

Steve

[Pickelfarmer]

Paul, You gave reason to the everyday man and brought extraordinary reason to those that exceeded from humble beginnnings. you showed that Any, man/woman/ or child can be a hero. Everyday you gave hope to us all....... Thank you.

R.I.P. Paul Harvey......... And that to me is, The Rest of a GREAT STORY.