Remembering Paul Harvey
No, I don’t have a wonderful, personal story about my interaction with Paul Harvey. Like so many other Americans, he was a fixture in my life.
I remember listening to him as a child on AM580 in my hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and many years later as an adult (and an old one, at that), in St. Paul, Minnesota. Paul Harvey had a perfect radio voice, with an uncanny ability to see things as they are, and show us life from his point of view. We trusted him because he was trustworthy.
Even when he held an uncommon, unpopular, or unconventional opinion, his ideas were well-thought-out. There was no sloppy thinking for him, nor for his listeners. His daily radio program may have been the most thoughtful fifteen minutes anywhere, not only on radio, but on any American medium.
His words were direct, clear, and full of wisdom, but they were not sound bites. He was a leader in that he knew how to draw his listeners into his world and his life, and he was a master storyteller. For many of us, he changed the way we chose to live our lives because he set before us an ideal. He gave us a vision through the noble lives that he told us about, and ultimately, his own life and career demonstrated excellence across three generations. He bound us together, and reminded us that we were a part of something bigger than ourselves–and he did that every day with his famous greeting: Hello, Americans, I’m Paul Harvey.
And so, we remember Paul Harvey–forever 90. That great voice is silenced. He will be missed.