Paul Harvey passed away. When I think of Paul Harvey I think of my dad. He was about ten years younger than Harvey and was a big fan.
After my parents divorced my mom got the carpet store in Maryville and my dad opened one in Knoxville, behind a building on Broadway near Old Gray Cemetery. Sometimes I’d work for him on Saturdays or on weekdays during the summer. He’d pay me a couple of dollars a day. I’d spend most of that on comic books at the Pilot on Alcoa Highway on the way back to Maryville.
We spent a lot of time in the truck with the radio on and he always listened to WIVK and Paul Harvey. At lunch dad would tune in Harvey’s show on a radio he kept in the office and we’d listen to that while we ate our sandwiches. That show was one of the small routines in my dad’s day that gave his life a certain constancy.
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My dad always listened to Paul Harvey and never believed me that Paul did advertisements as part of his spiel. I believe it was a Wahl electric razor that he pushed a lot. He would not miss a beat as he went from commentary to talking about how this Wahl razor was the greatest thing. One day my dad ordered one and hated it. That was the end of the disagreements. Of course my dad would not admit I was right but rather just stopped talking about what Paul Harvey had recommended that day.
Harvey was a pretty shameless huckster. I think it’s a generational thing. He saw himself as a pitchman for that company and he got out there and worked it.