One of my earliest gigs in radio was running Paul Harvey’s segments on our small market family radio station. It was great training for a young guy getting into broadcasting, sitting and listening to a radio legend bring his unique take to the news and deliver his iconic Rest of the Story segments daily.

The content was so good, I would sometimes get lost in it a bit. In fact that led to one of the funniest and scariest moments in my career. When I was in high school I was doing afternoons and I was so busy listening to Harvey’s Rest of the Story segment that I zoned out a bit and hit the wrong button firing the next element right as he said ‘and that person was’ after the big build up, meaning no one heard the resolution, including me. I told that story on an episode of Brent Hoodenpyle’s Persuading for Profits podcast recently, 3:53 in. That was the second highest amount of angry calls I’ve ever fielded from listeners. If you run into me at a convention I’ll tell you the first over a drink.

Paul Harvey was incredibly good at a lot of things, hence why he stayed popular and relevant for so long. His News and Comments morning/midday and The Rest of the Story afternoon segments ran from 1951 to 2008, a year before he passed. Those programs were heard on over 1,200 radio stations and 400 American Forces Network stations. His unmistakable voice and folksy delivery never went out of style because his content was consistent and compelling. You ALWAYS knew what you were going to get from Paul Harvey, the latest news which he added to with his unique commentary and a great play-along segment about someone famous that kept you guessing right up until the end. But, he was also a master of something today’s radio personalities, podcasters and social media influencers all try to emulate, seamlessly transitioning into an ad read. Here’s are a couple quick reasons why Harvey’s ad read style worked then and will work just as well now.

1. They were well written and constructed.
2. He delivered them in his unique style so they were entertaining.
3. He sounded like he was having fun, which is contagious.
4. He only endorsed products he believed in, so we trusted him.
5. He identified why we needed those products and then made us want them.

That’s why over the years he sold enough of those products to warrant a million dollar per year radio salary in 1989, adjusted for inflation that’s over four million per year now. It’s difficult to say exactly what Harvey’s net worth was when he passed in 2009, but between his salary, talent and endorsement fees, speaking fees, book sales and investment ventures it’s estimated that he amassed a net worth of roughly $90 million. Not bad for a  kid from Tusla who got his start in radio sweeping floors at age 14.

If you’re too young to have heard Paul Harvey live, then I encourage you to listen to a few of his segments and you’ll see why I call him the original influencer.

If like me you were lucky enough to grow up listening to him, comment below with your thoughts or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.

Picture from PaulHarvey.com.