As a young boy growing up in rural southwestern Virginia, I spent most of my summer days playing in the woods or riding bikes with my cousins. We would be up and at it rather early, often by 7:30 or 8:00am, so by lunchtime we were usually ready to head back home to cool off under a fan and “grab a bite to eat”. Some days went better than others, but there was always one constant that I could count on: the deep, yet supremely soothing sound of Paul Harvey’s gravelly voice on the radio at noontime.
Until his health problems made it very difficult for him to work any longer, Paul Harvey was on the radio virtually every weekday throughout the course of my entire lifetime. His conservative and always optimistic outlook and opinions always seemed to match my own – but in reality, they played a major role in shaping mine. Even in this era when the national news media openly slant the news to help promote their own points of view, Paul Harvey simply stated the facts, gave his opinion of them, and then let you make up your own mind. He always made it clear that he was more than just a newsman, he was also a commentator. And as such, his “newscasts” would reflect his own personal outlook on life and society. There were never any hidden agendas or deception involved.
Although NBC, MSNBC, CBS and CNN want us to believe that they deliver hard news stories every day, their broadcasts are really little more than cleverly disguised, continually-updating opinion pages. The days when a reporter would simply state the facts of an event or situation and leave you to draw your own conclusions are long gone. But as a commentator Paul Harvey played it straight from the beginning. He never tried to trick his listeners into seeing things his way. Instead, he simply told you outright how he felt about a given topic, then left it up to you to either agree or disagree.
I just heard a short while ago of Paul Harvey’s passing, and it saddens me to know that one of the few honest folks in the news business has now been silenced forever. Mr. Harvey had an incredible career that spanned a huge chunk of two centuries. Now it’s time for him to enjoy “Page Two”.
Paul Harvey 1918 – 2009
And now for the rest of the story……