Former WHO newscaster Vern Modeland shares the following Paul Harvey story:
Paul Harvey is gone. While I didn't agree with all his reportage, I do recall some fond memories of him, both personal and "as told to."
It is the "as told to" that brings him back to mind. Harvey was a much sought after convention and dinner speaker on current affairs and motivational subjects.
But, for Des Moines area fans, I recall an anecdote told to me by Claire Grant when he was manager of KCBC radio in the 1950s. KCBC was an ABC network affiliate then. And Claire told of a time when Harvey was to speak in Des Moines. He would be in town long enough to need to have a place to originate his morning newscasts. As Claire told it, this resulted in a forwarded list of "Mr. Harvey's needs" in order that he be properly prepared to give his listeners the days news as he saw it. His office requested copies of the day's newspapers be supplied as well as access to the news wire teletypes for their content. And, he would need space to prepare, supplies such as coffee and snacks, a reservation at the best hotel, etc., etc.
Claire took this all in and shared it with the rest of the staff of KCBC, which then originated from a nice little, and I mean little, one story building out west at about 20-something Ingersoll Ave. They all got a chuckle out of the Harvey staff thinking the station even had a news wire machine, which it didn't. Nor suitable office space and a "lounge" stocked with real food and drink. It was deemed appropriate for Claire to fire off a response to Mr. Harvey's Chicago-based staff. He did. He recalled the reply as promising that KCBC would try to find copies of such newspapers as the Wall St. Journal and New York Times and Chicago Tribune on the day they were published. But, that would be hard, you see, in a "little town" like Des Moines which didn't exactly see urgency in the days news the way Paul Harvey did. Clair did assure Harvey's secretary that a reservation had been confirmed at the local
hotel down the street that had a nice bathroom on each and every floor.
You get the idea. They pulled his chain good. And it resulted in a hurry-up call, Claire related, to be sure this KCBC group were really going to be able to meet the great broadcaster's customary wants and needs for originating newscasts as necessary from Des Moines while he was in town.
Claire Grant also was a car enthusiast with a vintage Model T touring car that ran. So, when the day arrived that Paul Harvey came to town, Claire met him up at the airport in the Model T. Clair recalled with an inner glow the arrival of the celebrity newscaster coming down Fleur Drive from the airport to the Hotel Fort Des Moines in the back of that canvas-topped Ford tourer.
But, as Claire told it, Harvey was a good sport. He ended his newscast originating at KCBC by mentioning the wonderful reception and treatment he was given, closing with the comment that Claire Grant's KCBC had certainly made an impact on a star. "They reminded me, they again taught me,
humility," was the way Harvey put it to his audience.
And that is the rest of the story as I recall it being shared after work one evening in that comfortable, warm and easy-going little local music and news station that was KCBC out west on Ingersoll Ave.
A coda: The Paul Harvey story as told by Vern Modeland is to the best of my knowledge accurate. Bob Bunce, who owned and operated KCBC for a number of years shared a similar story about the needs of Mr. Harvey and the stations' response. Bunce added that after one of Harvey's network broadcasts he was escorted to Bauder's Pharmacy at 38th and Ingersoll for home-made ice cream. Harvey reportedly pronounced the ice cream "delicious".
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