"Paul Harvey...Good Day!"

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Mar 1, 2009 4:15PM

After we lost two Chicago Bulls legends in the same day, we thought it couldn't get any sadder for us, but another local luminary has shuffled off this mortal coil: Chicago radio legend Paul Harvey passed away yesterday at the age of 90. While the cause of death was not immediately available, it is known he died in a Phoenix hospital with his family present. Harvey did news and comment each day but was best known for his short daily radio show, "The Rest of the Story."

Harvey was heard by roughly 24 million people daily as his show aired on the web, 1,200 radio stations, 400 armed forces network stations, and his columns appeared in over 300 newspapers. He was also known as "the voice of Middle America," for his conservative values, especially his support of McCarthyism in the 1950's, though one of his more famous broadcast, from the early 70's, was his reaction to then-President Nixon's expansion of the Vietnam War: "Mr. President, I love you. But you're wrong."

Born in Tulsa in 1918, Harvey spent his early life in the Midwest and first began his career in radio in 1933 in Tulsa. Eventually, he wound up in St. Louis where he met his future wife, Lynne. After a few years in Hawaii and a brief stint in the military, Harvey settled in the Chicago area in 1944, where he began his radio career in earnest and began the work that would make him one of the most popular radio hosts ever.

While broadcasting the news at WENR-AM in Chicago's Merchandise Mart in 1951, Harvey became friends with the building's owner, Joseph P. Kennedy, who helped him get on ABC nationally.

Harvey's 45-minute routine started at 3:30 a.m., when the alarm clock would ring in the family's 22-room home in west suburban River Forest. It never varied: brush teeth, shower, shave, get dressed, eat oatmeal, get into car and drive downtown.

He dressed formally -- in shirt, coat and tie -- as if going to work as the president of a bank.

"It is all about discipline," Harvey told the Tribune in 2002. "I could go to work in my pajamas, but long ago I got some advice from the man who was the engineer for my friend Billy Graham's radio show. He said that one has to prepare in all ways for the show. If you don't do that in every area, you'll lose your edge."

Harvey's time on radio had dwindled over recent years, especially after a bout of pneumonia and Lynne's death, both in the spring of 2008. Still, he hosted his show several times a week with his son Paul Harvey, Jr. helping him out. A bio over at WGN has a segment that reads like something out the Chuck Norris meme but we can understand as Paul Harvey was even more legendary than Chuck.

• Paul Harvey is the most listened to radio personality in America.
• Paul Harvey ranks first among all radio network programs.
• Paul Harvey is the number one news personality in network radio.
• Paul Harvey is the number one broadcaster in network radio.
• Paul Harvey literally grew up in radio newsrooms.

A list of some of the awards Harvey won in his lifetime run a page long [PDF].