OT - I was secretly hoping ...

: Despite your protestations that you bear him no ill will, you sure appear to : be going to the extra effort to prove him less a person than what many : believe.

Some people (I'm one of them) get annoyed when someone is held up as a hero and an icon of character, when they're actually a huckster (Jerry Lewis is another example). YMMV.

He presented many, many incorrect stories as fact, and a lot of people -- I suspect most of his fans -- never thought to question their veracity. The stories may have been harmless, but some people care that a major radio personality was taken as presenting truthful behind the scenes stuff as whole truth when a lot of what he said was wrong. As in made up, urban legends, nonsense.

-- Andy Barss

The girls I dated seemed to enjoy it...

From Paulharvey.com:

Today, over 25 million people "stand by" for Paul Harvey. That?s the number of loyal listeners who tune in every week to hear his skillful blend of news and views.

? Paul Harvey is the most listened-to radio personality in America.

? Paul Harvey?s broadcasts rank among the top 10 of radio network programs.

? Paul Harvey is the number one personality in network radio.

Millions of people listen to Howard Stern too, does that mean we should all set our watches by what he has to say?

It cracks me up that simply noting that Harvey sometimes used material that was fictional has some of you guys waving torches and pitchforks. Look, if you enjoyed his work, great, buy the whole collection on CD and listen to it all over again. But if it upsets your digestion to know that Harvey used fabricated stories on occasion, and was also know to take liberties with the facts to suit his point of view, then I recommend you avoid web searches on the subject because you might find specific examples where journalists checked into some of his stories and found they were, shall we say, factually challenged. Me, there are lots of people I admire despite their character flaws, I'm not looking for heroes to put on pedestals, but you suit yourself.

Ummmm, speaking of lies, is the expression "faking it" one you're familiar with...?

: Oh yeah, I remember now, there's also that parable that some of my relations : live by, you know, the one about the multitude that loafs and fishes.

Excellent!

-- Andy Barss

Of course not, but a lot of people enjoyed listening to Harvey. I did, but I'm still capable of making up my own mind. I'll pass on Stern though. Never could stand him.

Stern is a good interviewer when he wants to be, but his instinct is always to appeal to the drunk frat boys in his audience because they're the ones who have made him a wealthy man. And I'm certainly not saying enjoying Harvey's work was a bad thing, merely that some of his content was suspect at best. I don't buy the line that it was just "commentary" and/or most of his listeners knew it wasn't reliable journalism, the strong reactions from some folks here suggests many people took him quite seriously.