Harvey, born and raised in
Tulsa, Oklahoma, made radio receivers as a boy. In 1933, at a high school teacher’s suggestion, he started working at
KVOO in Tulsa, where he helped clean up and eventually was allowed to fill in on the air, reading commercials and news.
Later, while attending the
University of Tulsa, he continued working at KVOO as an announcer, and later as a program director. Harvey spent three years as a station manager for a local station in
Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at
KOMA-AM in
Oklahoma City, then moved on to KXOK, in
St. Louis, where he was Director of Special Events and also worked as a roving reporter.
In 1940, Harvey moved to
Hawaii to cover the
United States Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the United States from assignment in Hawaii when the
Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor. Harvey then enlisted in the
United States Army Air Forces, in December, 1943 where he served until March, 1944.
After leaving military service, Harvey moved to
Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR. He quickly became the most popular newscaster in Chicago. In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program
Jobs for G.I. Joe on ABC affiliate WENR. Harvey added
The Rest of the Story as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946. The spots became their own series in 1976. In 1951, the ABC Radio Networks carried Paul Harvey's show
News and Comment coast-to-coast, and it has continued ever since.
From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, there was a televised, five-minute editorial by Paul Harvey that local stations could insert into their local news programs, or show separately. On
May 10, 1976, ABC Radio Networks premiered
The Rest of the Story as a separate series which provided endless surprises as Harvey dug into stories behind the stories of famous events and people. Harvey's son, a concert pianist, created and produced the series. He remains the show's only writer.
In late 2000, Harvey signed a 10-year, $100 million contract with ABC Radio Networks. A few months later, he was off the air after damaging his
vocal cords. He returned in late August 2001.
Paul Harvey News has been called the "largest one-man network in the world", as it is carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations around the world and 300 newspapers. His broadcasts and newspaper columns have been reprinted in the
Congressional Record more than those of any other commentator.
Harvey's
News and Comment is streamed on the
World Wide Web twice a day.
Former Senator
Fred Thompson, known for his work on NBC's
Law and Order, has recently substituted for Harvey and has been mentioned in various reports as a possible successor to Harvey on the twice-daily news programs.
Harvey's on-air persona mirrors that of sportscaster Bill Stern. During the 1940s, the famed Stern's Sports Reel and news reel programs used many of the techniques later used by Harvey, including the style of delivery and the use of phrases such as Reel Two and Reel Three to denote segments of the broadcast -- much like Harvey's Page Two and Page Three. The discovery of many of Stern's old programs on
transcription discs have led many to believe that much of Harvey's broadcasting style is based on Stern's work, including most notably the Rest of the Story feature, which is a direct parallel to a technique used weekly by Stern.