Stay Tuned For... The Rest of The Story

Paul Harvey passed away over the weekend. If you don’t know who Paul Harvey was, shame on you. Go and Google his name and find out why 22 million people used to listen to his radio broadcast everyday.

I was introduced to Paul Harvey by my grandfather. He would listen to Paul Harvey twice a day, everyday. Noon and 5:55 pm. Sitting at the kitchen table with the big AM/FM/Shortwave radio he would tune out the world and tune into Paul Harvey’s unique cadence and folksy spin on the day’s news.

I loved my grandfather and therefore anything that captivated his time was worthy of mine also. When he passed away, I inherited his car -- the Grey Ghost. A 1988 Ford Thunderbird LX. It was my first car. My grandfather was a large man and he had a tendency to “land” in the driver’s seat more then sit in it; therefore the seat was in a permanent state of recline…I was pimped out before pimped out was cool. He also parked it under a large oak tree that dripped sap on the car which over the years had taken the clear coat paint off and left the car a dull grey…personality I thought. Best of all, it only had AM radio. Here I was as a high school senior and college freshman and my sweet ride only had AM radio.

But that really didn’t bother me too much. I got to listen to Paul Harvey everyday…twice a day…and sometimes three times a day. Even after I sold that car I still tuned into WBAP twice a day to catch up on my News and to find out the Rest of the Story.

But that Thunderbird’s AM radio was special for another reason. I listened to a lot of Texas Rangers Baseball games on that AM radio. I have wonderful memories of driving around Dallas and Waco on warm summer nights listening to Eric Nadal and Marc Holtz calling baseball games. I remember exactly where I was when Nolan Ryan struck out his 5000^th batter. And I remember driving west on LBJ freeway, passing Valley View Mall, when he completed his record 7^th no-hitter. I remember listening to Pudge Rodriquez hit his first homer as a rookie with the Rangers. To this day, I would still rather listen to a baseball game on the radio than watch one on TV any day. In fact, I would rather listen to a baseball game on the radio than listen to most anything else. There was never one moment when I knew that I would marry Becca but when she put up with listening to baseball while driving those weekly trips between Dallas and Fort Worth…or when she knew the Texas, New York, Chicago, and St Louis broadcasters by name…or when she knew the call letters of all the play-by-play stations…well, those were REALLY good signs that this might work.

I miss Paul Harvey. I miss my grandfather. I miss my Ford Thunderbird. I’m glad I can still tune into a baseball game most summer nights and be reminded of some wonderful things.