ABC Radio Networks and KFFB 106.1 FM To Celebrate Paul Harvey With Week-Long Tribute
ABC Radio Networks will run a week-long tribute to Paul Harvey airing on KFFB 106.1 FM in the morning, midday and afternoon time slots for News & Comment, Noon Report and The Rest of the Story. Air dates for the tribute are March 2-7. This special programming will celebrate the life and career of this legendary talent and include classic audio and memories of Paul Harvey.
Paul Harvey’s Obit by Gil Gross
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Paul Harvey, once known as the most listened to man in radio, has died at the age of 90 at a hospital near his winter home in Phoenix.
Veteran ABC Radio broadcaster Paul Harvey has died today 90 years old.
Harvey’s career in radio spanned more than 70 years, and his shows “News & Comment” and “Rest of the Story” made him a familiar voice in Americans’ homes across the country.
His death comes nine months after that of his wife, Lynne Cooper Harvey, whom he often called “Angel” on air, and who was also his business partner and the first producer ever inducted in the the Radio Hall of Fame.
“My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news,” Paul Harvey Jr. said. “So, in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents. And, today millions have lost a friend.”
From his humble beginnings as a teenager helping out cleaning up at a local radio station, Harvey went on to have his broadcasts carried by 1,350 commercial radio stations, as well as 400 stations of the Armed Forces Radio Service, and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990.
“Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation’s history,” said ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson in a statement released today. “As he delivered the news each day with his own unique style and commentary, his voice became a trusted friend in American households.
“Countless millions of listeners were both informed and entertained by his ‘News & Comment’ and ‘Rest of the Story’ features, Robinson said. “Even after the passing of his loving wife Angel in May 2008, Paul would not slip quietly into retirement as he continued to take the microphone and reach out to his audience. We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him. Our thoughts and prayers are now with his son Paul Jr. and the rest of the Harvey family.”
“Paul Harvey is, without question, one of the most influential Americans of our time,” Traug Keller, then president of ABC Radio Networks said in 2000, when Harvey signed a new 10-year contract with the network. “In fact, political adviser and communications specialist Frank Mankiewicz noted that Paul Harvey’s name appears most often in lists of the 10 most influential opinion-shapers of each decade since the 1930s.”
Former President George W. Bush said he and former first lady Laura Bush were saddened to hear of Harvey’s death. “Paul was a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans,” Bush said in a statement released late today. “His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed. Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Paul Harvery
(ABC News)
Bush presented Harvey with the nation’s highest civilian honor, the medal of freedom, in Novmber 2005.
Harvey, a Peabody Award-winning newsman, began broadcasting on the ABC Radio Networks in 1951 with “News and Comment.” In 1976 he launched “The Rest of the Story,” featuring human interest stories with surprise endings.
Harvey, who was born in Tulsa, Okla., started working at a locoal radio station at the suggestion of one of his high school teachers. He started out just helping clean up, but soon was on the air himself, filling in with reading the news or commercials.
After a stint at radio station KFBI in Abilene, Kansas, he moved to KXOK in St. Louis, where he met Lynne Cooper, and they were soon married. She was credited with coming up with many of the programming innovations that became Harvey’s trademarks.
Among her ideas were the concepts of including news features within hard-news broadcasts, and the humorous “kicker,” which became a Paul Harvey trademark. She also developed and edited her husband’s best-known feature “The Rest of the Story.” In 1941, Harvey became program director for WKZO in Kalamazoo, Mich., and during World War II he served as the news director for Michigan and Indiana for the Office of War Information.
Within a year of his move to WENR Chicago, his 10 p.m. newscast became the top-rated program.
In 1946, Harvey added “The Rest of the Story” segments to his newscasts, which eventually became its own series in 1976.
In 1951, Harvey began his long association the ABC Radio Network, where he had his first national broadcast.
His wife, Lynne Cooper Harvey died in May 2008. She was 92.
