Paul Harvey
With an estimated 25 million listeners and a career that spans nearly 75 years, Paul Harvey is the most recognizable voice on radio. Harvey received an honorary doctor of journalism degree in 2007.
His two programs, “Paul Harvey News and Comment,” now in its 56th year, and “The Rest of The Story,” now in its 31st year, can be heard on more than 1,200 radio stations as well as 400 Armed Forces Network stations.
Born in 1918 in Tulsa, Okla., Harvey began working at KVOO-AM as a high school student and became an announcer and program director there while attending the University of Tulsa.
After graduation he worked in Kansas, Oklahoma and St. Louis, where he met and married WUSTL alumna Lynne “Angel” Cooper, who became his producer and business partner.
Angel, who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English in Arts & Sciences, received an honorary doctor of humanities degree from WUSTL in 1998.
Becoming the most recognizable voice in the US
Following a stint in the Army Air Corps, Harvey joined WENR-AM in Chicago, which debuted his “Paul Harvey News.” In 1951 the ABC Radio Networks began broadcasting “News and Comment” on stations coast-to-coast.
In 1976 ABC Radio expanded “The Rest of the Story” — a long-running feature on “News and Comment” — into its own broadcast. The short, four-minute segments delve into the forgotten or little known facts behind stories of famous people and events.
Harvey’s numerous honors include an unprecedented five Marconi Radio Awards — the industry’s highest honor. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2005 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s most prestigious civilian honor.