[BC] Paul Harvey reminiscing

[Rich Wood]

------ At 11:53 PM 3/1/2009, Jeff Johnson wrote: -------

>My point exactly. The comment was laudatory of Harvey in that he 
>could express a viewpoint that may not have been universally 
>accepted, but his making the observation would not rankle. Who remains?

This is going to be interesting. When I left ABC quite a while ago 
one of the major priorities  was to find a replacement for 
Harvey.  He went skydiving once and we all clutched our chests.  I 
remember seeing him shortly after and, jokingly almost, asked him 
never to do it, again. Our careers depended on him.

Paul was a great guy. His loss is not only sad, though many suspected 
the loss of his wife, Angel, would bring his retirement closer but a 
serious revenue loss to nouveau ABC.  Paul was the most listened-to 
Network personality in the industry. When I left he had 1440 affiliates.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time for Citadel. You can buy 
a postage stamp for about more than four times the cost of a Citadel 
share. On Feb 28, the stock was at 10 cents a share. Watch for a 
desperate attempt to encourage affiliates to stay with whomever they 
pick as a replacement. I'll bet there'll be a rush to find a younger 
personality. Since you can't escape him, I'll bet the replacement 
will be Ryan Seacrest. It'll be expensive, since a gaggle of writers 
will be required to make Seacrest sound intelligent and credible. It 
might even require a miracle.

This is an end of an era. There will never be another Paul Harvey and 
it almost seems foolish to plug in a replacement. I'll bet there'll 
be a massive defection of affiliates. The people who might be 
qualified to find a replacement have either left or have been fired. 
None of us believes the $11 million man at the top has a clue.

Rich