Paul Harvey Remembered

Gerry Smith and Phil Rosenthal have a beautiful story in the Chicago Tribune about Paul Harvey. Here's some of it:
Harvey had a litmus test for all his stories: Would Aunt Betty care about this? He thought about the interest level of his real Aunt Betty to get away from "highfalutin" foreign affairs discussions to discuss "meat and potato" issues like health care, DuMont said.A Harvey broadcast from the late 1980s included these items:
"Spec-tac-u-lar liftoff from Cape Canaveral this morning, into an azure sky," Harvey said, describing a rocket launch. Then it was on to "New York City. Last year. 8,064 people bitten by dogs. 1,587 people bitten [pause] by people."
Harvey said his trademark pauses were originally developed as a "a lazy broadcaster's way of waiting for the second hand to reach the top of the clock."
Steve Edwards, acting program director at Chicago Public Radio, called them "pauses you could drive a truck through.""One of the things that radio broadcasters are taught from Day 1 ... is that dead air is a big no-no and it's only after years and years in the field that you realize that silence is your most powerful tool, [and] he did it better than anyone," said Edwards, who remembers listening in the back seat of his parents' station wagon.
Chicago radio legend Steve Dahl remembers working in the same studios when he first came to town in 1978."One morning he walked past me and said, 'Good morning, American!' " Dahl recalled. "That made me feel like I'd finally hit the big time. Paul Harvey was the man. He sure made me feel like one."
Related Tribune links:
From the archives: Good days for Paul Harvey
From the archives: Paul Harvey remembered
Paul Harvey: 1918--2009 Photos
Paul Harvey: 1963 broadcast