In Memoriam: Paul Harvey Aurandt, 1918-2009

[thatcrazycajun]

With thanks to sffilk for the sad news: A voice from my childhood has now been silenced. ABC Radio newsman/commentator Paul Harvey has passed away at 90 in a Phoenix, AZ hospital today. Cause of death was not immediately reported; MSNBC's website has the story here.

Growing up in Lafayette, LA in the 1960s and '70s, I remember hearing Harvey's resonant voice intone "Stand by for news!" weekday mornings on what was then call-lettered KPEL, the local news/talk and "elevator music" station. His drawn-out, dramatic newsreading style and folksy comments made him unmistakable, in his news/commentary show and his series of anecdotes about famous people, "The Rest of the Story." Along with his younger contemporary Charles Osgood over at CBS, Harvey was among the last true storytellers in radio.

Harvey and I didn't see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, but even he had the sense to recognize when the Nixon Presidency had gone too far and called for his resignation. And I appreciated his civility, his intelligent and thorough reporting, his class and his unique style. He was preceded in death by his wife Lynne not a year earlier, and was reportedly working right up to the last.

He invariably signed off his broadcasts with "Paul Harvey...[long pause] Good day." Good night, sir, and thank you for making a teenage news junkie that much better informed and thoughtful about the news.

Comments

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

When I was at Michigan Tech, the dorm station, WRS, that I worked at, carried ABC News including Paul Harvey, right in the lunch hour at 12:30pm. It was probably the first I heard of him, there in 1969. In that first year I was there, I put together a survey on the station for students to take. Mostly about listening habits and direction for the station to take. With a little bit of space at the bottom of the page, I added as an afterthought 'Should WRS continue to carry Paul Harvey news?' For students who were using their keys to punch answers in the survey above, they found pens to answer that question. It was the one with the most additional comments. Split right about half in keep or remove. I was amazed at the response and results.

I was working at WHGR in Houghton Lake, Michigan when 'The Rest of The Story' started. That went on at 3:30pm IIRC. We were very good at getting a premium sponsor for that show.

Back then, in both cases, ABC Radio news was actually two national networks. One would give news on the top of the hour, the other at the half-hour.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

I will always remember his obvious fascination with space and his enthusiasm whenever he reported a NASA story.

And he got off at least one geek joke: when a NASA probe disappeared from radar after launch (I forget the details, I think it was sometime in the early 80s), he said, "Well, if turns up again & says its name is V'Ger, we've got trouble."