Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey passed away this past Saturday (February 28,2009). I promise not to post about different icons (Dr.Seuss, now Paul Harvey) forever, it's just that both of these two that I'm posting on have had a significant effect on my life.

You know how, when you traditionally do something with a particular person (or, in my case, people), who you care about, in your mind that feeling gets associated with that particular action? Whether you're doing it with them or not? Well, that's how I feel about Paul Harvey.

My mom was a single parent from the time I was six until I was fourteen. Because of this, we visited my grandparents (mom's parents) quite often (in spite of the fact that they lived 2-3 hours away from us for a big chunk of that time period). And with them, the never-fail lunch staple was sandwiches. We never had anything else for lunch. I always had PB&J, passing up the ham/bologna/cheese/etc. they always had available (my vegetarianism, taking root early on?? Possibly!). I don't remember what time it was, but it must've been around noon, that Paul Harvey News came on the radio. We'd always start early, so as to have the sandwiches made before he came on, and then we'd all sit down at the table and my grandfather (Grandaddy, who passed away last November) would turn on the radio. Sometimes we'd have to listen to a few commercials, or a bit of the previous show, before he came on, but you could tell the second he came on. His voice was very recognizable, but his trademark opening phrase was the main thing that alerted me to start listening: "Hello, America, this is Paul Harvey...stand by for NEWS!" I don't know how they picked exactly which news he'd cover, since he only had half an hour (I think), and part of that was taken by commercials. He usually just had top news for the world, the U.S., and then a random story (a section of the show called "The Rest of the Story"). I never cared about the news as a kid, but when Paul Harvey was giving it, I listened closely to every word. Listening to it now (on youtube! How technology has changed...), I naturally want a PB&J sandwich. And I miss Grandaddy.

So, thank you, Paul Harvey, for giving me such wonderful memories and being such a wonderful radio personality.

No comments:

Post a Comment