First it was Arthur Godfrey, now this. RV parks and barbershops everywhere will be draped in black.
I grew up with Paul Harvey on the radio, and must admit I enjoyed his staccato delivery and homespun manner. At some point, of course, I realized “homespun” encompassed a lot of hatred. Hatred of blacks, of hippies, of Mexican immigrants, of women, of Jews, of damn near anything different or new. He came from a long tradition of radio hucksters, starting with the infamous John Brinkley, the original goat gland charlatan and south-of-the-border radio blaster, and is survived by the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh (you don’t need links to those guys . . . just set your AM dial to “hate”).
Page two.
In the 80s and 90s Armed Forces Radio carried all the Paul Harvey broadcasts. The things he talked about may not have been relevant to young troops stationed overseas, but he was comfort food, a familiar voice from home. I remember listening one day in Osan, South Korea, as Paul began a segment on inner city blacks in the USA complaining about Korean convenience and liquor store owners, then going into one of his long, trademark pauses . . . a pause that went on, and on, and on . . . and suddenly realizing that the military authorities in Seoul were censoring the story! I sorta liked Paul Harvey again after that, at least for a while.
And that’s the end of the story.