BY LEE HALL
Electronic Media
Staff Reporter
CHICAGO--He likes yogurt. She prefers ice cream. That may be the biggest issue of contention between Lynne
``Angel'' Harvey and husband Paul, radio's first couple.
They met in St. Louis in 1939 --the same year ``Gone With The Wind'' and Adolf Hitler took the world by
storm. It was love at first sight.
Paul Harvey, then special events director at KXOK-AM, fabricated a yarn that he needed a ride to the airport.
Instead, he escorted Lynne Cooper to dinner.
``He asked me to marry him on the first date,'' Ms. Harvey said with a wide smile. A year later, they formalized
a relationship that has endured nearly 60 years.
It is he who reaps the acclaim, but it is largely her behind-the-scenes work that made his staggering success
possible. When they arrived in Chicago in the late 1940s, the couple conversed about their respective professional futures.
Both had dabbled in radio in smaller markets, but were now on the threshold of the big time. They briefly pondered whose career
should take precedence.
``I told him he had the beautiful voice, and he was a man, so I said `let me back you,'' Ms. Harvey recalled.
She then assumed the position as his producer, writer and biggest patron.
It was Angel, not Paul, who conceived the idea of ``The Rest of the Story'' series, a collection of vignettes
now written by their son, Paul Jr. It was she who persuaded the popular radio broadcaster to give television a try.
``We did television for about 20 years (1968-1988), but it got to be such a drag,'' Ms. Harvey said.
Meant to be heard, not seen
Paul Harvey never cared much for television. He recalls one particular broadcast during the height of the
McCarthy hearings in the 1950s. He had agonized for days over the sensitive nature of his commentary. It troubled him greatly.
At the end of the telecast, the studio door flew open, and in walked the wife of a major sponsor. She had
been so moved, she explained, not by Mr. Harvey's sincerity, but by what she termed his ``beautiful'' necktie.
``That made such an indelible impression on me,'' Mr. Harvey remembered. ``Anything we do on television
diverts attention from what we say, and radio is the greatest of all visual media.''
Angel Harvey last fall became the first producer, and one of the few women to be inducted into the Radio
Hall of Fame, in recognition of the role she plays in the success of Paul Harvey News.
``She is the one who made it all possible,'' said Bruce DuMont, director of the Hall of Fame, and a long
time family friend.
``She molded him, and put it all together. Paul without Angel is like Elvis without Col. Parker,'' Mr. DuMont
said.
The Harveys are inseparable. The live together and work together. But they haven't enjoyed a vacation together
in more than ten years.
``When your vocation and your avocation are the same thing, it's not so punishing as it sounds,'' Mr. Harvey
said.
The Harveys, both near 80, maintain arduous schedules. She is active in a number of Chicago charities, and
had served to the boards of more than a dozen national organizations. She calls it her ``golf,'' a reference to her husbands
passion for the links.
He travels to scores of speaking engagements each year, and still rises as early as 2 a.m. to research and
write his daily broadcasts.
``Applause is a narcotic. I have to go out every so often and get my fix,'' Mr. Harvey said, noticeably
fatigued after a late night speech the night before in Tennessee.
I'll take famous broadcasters for $50
At home, the couple unwinds by watching ``Jeopardy.'' Angel Harvey acknowledges a preference for documentaries,
and often videotapes programs for him to watch later. He normally heads for bed around 7 p.m. Both profess to like Bill Cosby,
Dick Van Dyke, and Tim Allen. Neither cares much for the antics of Jerry Springer.
``It's such a terrible waste of such a magnificent opportunity to inform, entertain and enlighten,'' Mr.
Harvey said.
Surprisingly, neither listens much to the radio, although Mr. Harvey catches some news during his early
morning commute.
Consummate broadcasters both, the Harveys have nixed any effort to move their programs into cyberspace.
``We're constantly evaluating the potential for AOL [America Online], but so far we have not seen any advantage
for ourselves,'' Mr. Harvey said. ``It would dilute the radio audience, and delete the commercials.''
If listeners are important to the Harveys, sponsors are supreme. Mr. Harvey, who insists he will only promote
products he uses himself, takes great pride at the programs' ability to move merchandise.
``It means that people are not only listening, they are paying attention,'' he said.
And listen they do. Paul Harvey's 17 broadcasts each week on the ABC Radio Network reach nearly 25 million
people. In New York, the radio ratings show more people catch his morning broadcast than watch NBC Nightly News.
The program's popularity makes Mr. Harvey the target of critics who deem him too opinionated. Angel Harvey
ever so politely demurs.
``When you try to go up and down the middle of the road, you're going to be hit from both sides,'' she said.
Mr. Harvey is a bit more circumspect. After all, he says, the program is called ``Paul Harvey News and Comment.''
``Primetime newscasts exercise their editorial opinion by what they toss in the wastebasket, and what they
use. It seems more honest to be more overt,'' he said.
Smiling, Angel Harvey wonders whether her husband sells himself too short.
``He is a man of destiny, people trust him, and we just can't betray that trust,'' she added.
SIDEBAR
WHO'S ON FIRST?
CHICAGO--Several years ago I sat on a bus with a former colleague who worked at ABC Radio. My friend was
stunned by word that Paul Harvey might retire, and that the network hard no heir apparent. Fortunately, for ABC, it was just
a rumor.
Mr. Harvey says does not intend to extinguish the ``On the Air'' light anytime soon.
``I still get up every morning with enthusiasm, like a kid going fishing, or a prospector panning for gold.
I just can't wait to see what exciting, heroic and thrilling things 200 million people have been doing all night for me to
talk about,'' he said, eyes agleam.
But Paul Harvey will turn 80 the Friday before Labor Day, and he finds himself looking more and more forward
to the three months each year he and Angel spend at their home in Arizona.
So, who'll replace Paul Harvey?
``Nobody can,'' Bruce DuMont states flatly. ``The dynamic ingredients that make up that career, it's something
that probably won't happen again.''
``He may be the most irreplaceable person in radio since Murrow,'' said Dennis Kelly, president of News
Talk Concepts, a Seattle radio consulting firm.
Some of the names that surface, all speculative, include CBS Radio commentator Charles Osgood, conservative
political talker Rush Limbaugh, and Seattle radio host Dave Ross.
The conventional wisdom is that Paul Harvey Jr., who writes ``The Rest of the Story,'' and occasionally
fills in for his father on the air, is a likely successor.
``My investment is in `Rest of the Story,''' the younger Harvey says. As far as his future on the air, he
simply says ``that's the subject of another interview.''
Sources say that ABC Radio executives would dearly love for Mr. Harvey Jr. to take over his father's coveted
chair some day.
Dad isn't so sure.
``I don't think young Paul has that fire in the belly,'' the elder Mr. Harvey said. ``He has seen the cost
of getting up at 3 a.m.''
Young Mr. Harvey possesses his own unique talents. An accomplished concert pianist and composer, he's also
written plays.
Paul Sr. says he expects to be around at least another decade, allowing ample time for someone to emerge.
``I'll continue until I find something else that is as much fun,'' he continued. ``I may go on forever.''
