Paul Harvey has passed away

You want to know one of the biggest reasons why this blog exists?

It's because for the longest time, I dreamed of being like Paul Harvey.

I first discovered Harvey as a kid in elementary school. Dad always had one of the local AM radio stations playing on his truck as he drove my sister and I to school, and the timing of the commute every morning happened to coincide with Harvey's fifteen minutes of news. And then later on I started listening to his "The Rest of the Story..." broadcasts.

That's what first turned me on to realizing the "other side" of the people and incidents that I read about in the history books. That more often than not there was something else that for whatever reason never got widely chronicled, but always made you appreciate that much more the person or situation.

Well, when blogging came about, picking up on the more weird or odd news of the day, and sharing the more unusual tales from times past, became something that I relished doing here. And there was never a time that I've done that, that I didn't think of Paul Harvey. That I could hear that distinctive "Paul Harvey... good day!" sign-off that he always used.

Today, Paul Harvey, radio legend and communicator extraordinaire, signed off for the last time... and passed away at the age of 90 at his winter home in Phoenix, Arizona.

I am compelled to speak of him as Thomas Jefferson once said of Benjamin Franklin: "No one can replace him." He was... and will ever remain... a true American original.

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Christian radio attacks harmless student dress-up day

Wasn't there an episode of King of the Hill about this?

An elementary school in Wisconsin is under fire by a Christian radio network - the head of which seems to have nothing better to do with his time - because it hosted an event that encouraged students to dress as members of the opposite gender.

As part of Wacky Week at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg, students were encouraged to dress as either senior citizens or members of the opposite sex. Which was all good and fine... until some busybody told the Voice of Christian Youth America about it. The radio network's director and host of nationally-syndicated show "Crosstalk" Jim Schneider promptly took to grandstanding. He said that "Our station is one that promotes traditional family values. It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error."

This move by Schneider was a cheap stunt that (a) demonstrates his ignorance and (b) makes Christians out to be a bunch of loons. What does it show the world when followers of Christ get this kind of honked-off angry about elementary students having some innocent fun?

Because in spite of what Schneider is claiming, this kind of thing has been going on since time immemorial. And with no ill effects, I might add. There has never been any "deviant agenda" in mind behind it. It's just a way for students to have fun and share in some camaraderie. I even remember it happening at my high school back in the day...

Johnny Yow, in drag for "Turn About Day" as part of Spirit Week at Rockingham County Senior High, circa 1991

(By the way, Johnny is one of the strongest and most sincere Christians that I've ever known.)

Between this, and the un-Christlike hatred one program on a "conservative Christian" radio station I found last week had for Barack Obama, I cannot but be convinced even more that too much of the Christianity around us is too obsessed with earthly matters. It is just as C.S. Lewis noted that some people go warning against "hobgoblins" that aren't really there, just to scare others into doing what they're told.

Well, if Christianity and western civilization is going to topple, I can assure you it won't be because some second-graders played "powder puff". And if some Christians are seriously afraid of that, then there was something very wrong with their faith to begin with.

(And there's something wrong with believing that unless we elect the "right politician" that Christianity is going to be destroyed, too. Yeah I'm looking at y'all over at WPIP, now that I know y'all are reading this blog...).

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Baptist preacher on WPIP "conservative Christian" radio claims Obama is "Antichrist" and going to Hell

I've a nasty suspicion that this is only a taste of what's barreling toward us...

So I was headed west down I-40 from a day trip to Raleigh (which I'll be posting about tomorrow) this afternoon and around Burlington, I started flicking through radio stations.

And as I was going across the AM dial just after 5 p.m. I happened to catch some pastor preaching with all due exuberance and conviction that Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama is "the Antichrist". This pastor also added that just as the Antichrist does not have "a single Christian ounce in his body" that Obama is going to Hell.

I checked the frequency. It was 880 AM. Which means it was a broadcast of WPIP, a radio ministry out of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

Not that this really surprises me.

Apart from sporadic music, from sunrise to sunset WPIP's broadcasting is pretty much wall-to-wall a network of "good ol' boys" who like to preach variations on (1) the King James Version is the only Bible and any other translation is a work of Satan, (2) independent fundamentalist conservative Baptist churches are the only real churches (similar to the local "Church Of Christ In Name Only" that's been talked about here lately) and (3) Democrats and "liberals" are evil and are all Hell-bound sinners.

You can get a sense of what WPIP stands for just from its bumpers. WPIP's staff likes to call it the "conservative Christian radio voice". Berean Baptist's head pastor Ron Baity is often heard proclaiming that WPIP is "the way radio ought to be": apparently holding to the notion that to contend for the faith means aping Rush Limbaugh. And then sometimes I hear this station boast that it sticks to the "old paths".

Yeah, they're "old paths" all right: as old as Babylon.

Any Christians that obsess on the American flag, American military might, love of George W. Bush, hatred toward "liberals", and electing Republican candidates far more than they do with serving Christ in love and humility, are not Christians that God can possibly bless the work of. I'm hard-pressed to believe that these "Christians" worship anything but power.

And part of me has to wonder how many of these preachers have truly experienced the salvation that can only come with the grace of God. Think about it: How can so many professed "Christians" in America be free from sin if they can't even be free from the Republican Party?

But then, any "Christian radio station" that sincerely believes the world needs to listen to a cult leader like the late Lester Roloff is hard to take seriously, anyway.

According to WPIP's program log for Monday through Friday, this would make the program that I heard this afternoon that of Meadowview Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. I found the church's website. If this is indeed the same show that I heard this afternoon - although this being AM radio and how lax WPIP seems to be in maintaining its website, this is not a confirmed certainty - then its pastor Robert Hutchens is apparently the one who's already consigning Barack Obama to Hell.

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, then you know where I'm coming from. I don't call myself a "liberal" any more than I call myself a "conservative". I don't profess to being an active supporter of any political party. I'm just a guy trying to do what's right and what God would have me to do. So nobody can claim that I'm trying to pursue a "political agenda" by taking these supposedly "God-called pastors" to task for their un-Christlike motives and methods.

First of all, it's not this preacher's place to already condemn someone to Hell. As long as anyone... any person... has breath in his or her lungs, he or she is free to call upon God for forgiveness. In rashly stating that Obama deserves Hell, this minister is forgetting that he himself deserves Hell also, just as we all do.

And it's a much worse thing to practically be gloating about Obama or anyone else going to Hell. Especially if the basis of that condemnation is something so silly as a political dispute.

But what bothered me especially is that this preacher, whoever he is, is way too consumed with the patterns and politics of this world. Now, I do believe that we as Christians should be fully active wherever it is that God puts us, and that if they happen to live in America then this means living up to the stewardship that God has charged us with over this land. But that means taking our roles as citizens seriously... and that's not something that's possible by blindly following a political party! And these "men of God" are trying to goad us into doing just that, when they seek to rile up our emotions.

For someone who claims to be a "man of God", this kind of vitriol is symptomatic of an unregenerate mind. A mind that is yet carnal and has not been transformed like unto that of Christ.

It's a shame that these "conservative Christians" are scouring the gutter. As it is, they show nothing in their actions that could convince the lost of the existence of a real and loving God. Not when they focus more on this world than they do on Heaven.

And I think we can expect worse from some of them as the months progress.

Maybe if they would repent of their own arrogance, their prayers that America as a nation might repent could come true.

Will that happen? Could these people do that?

Let's put it this way: I have faith in God. I do not have faith in too many of my fellow Christians.

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Jack Armstrong, radio legend and Guinness record holder, has passed away

John C. Larsh, better known to countless fans during decades of radio work as Jack Armstrong, has passed away at 63.

Armstrong is probably most recently remembered around here for being a longtime DJ at WMQX Oldies 93. I used to listen to him every day: Armstrong was easily one of the liveliest radio personalities that I've ever found on the dial. But before that, the Chapel Hill born-and-bred Armstrong had also worked in the Boston, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. During his long career he got to hook up with Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, and many other musical legends.

Armstrong's zest for life reflected in his radio work, especially after the Guinness World Records certified him as being the "world's fastest talking human". Armstrong also pulled off the rare feat of being a double-record holder when he broke the one for most revolutions on a roller-coaster: 750 on the Thunderbolt in Pittsburgh, riding it for 34 hours (my butt's sore just thinking about it...). And Armstrong's passion for radio would eventually lead to his being ensconced in the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame as part of the "This Is Dedicated To The Ones We Love... 100 Jocks From 1935" exhibit.

You can find out much more about Jack Armstrong at his official Myspace page, which is already becoming a shrine to his memory.

Thanks for the many good laughs and great tunes, Jack. We'll miss ya.

EDIT 8:42 a.m.: Want to hear just how fast Jack Armstrong's voice was? Here is his trademark sign-off in MP3 format (and thanks to WBFO for hosting it). Here's what Armstrong is saying, in case you need a guide...

"Don't get none on ya, do it twice, be nice. It's very nice to be important, but more important to be very nice. Let it all hang out, drag it in the sand, and make a deep rut. People who live in glass houses shouldn't... A bird in the hand makes it hard to blow your nose. One good turn takes most of the blankets. You can lead a horse to water, but don't push him in. Nothing smells any worse than a wet horse, or you can lead a horse to water, push him in and teach him the backstroke, then you've really got something. Wash your face in the morning, neck at night. Love is life, life is love. Light your own candle and the world will be a much brighter place. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a little knot, hang on and swing. Stay calm, try to adjust. You can't live with 'em or without 'em. Hoo hee, HEE HOO! Don't let your six gun get rusty. It's been a business doing pleasure with you, it's been real... and your LEEEEEEADAAAAAAAAH love you-ah!"

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WREV reunion video

Matt Smith at WGSR posted this on YouTube yesterday: it's the video of the reunion of the WREV vets. WREV - the original one anyway - was Reidsville, North Carolina's radio station for many years, operating from sunrise to sunset. The classic WREV was replaced a little over ten years ago by "salsa"-style 24-hour all-Spanish broadcasting. So if you're a current or former resident of Rockingham County, here's a nice lil' trip down memory lane...

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This Don Imus thing is a joke

And I'm not talking about what he did either. I'm talking about the reaction to it and how this seems to have become this country's biggest priority, if you're going by either the "mainstream" press or the "alternative" media including the blogosphere.

It wasn't until late yesterday afternoon that I heard what Imus said exactly. Have I been that out of touch with reality for this past week? More like: there were other things... and more important things... for me to worry about. There should be a lot more important things for all of us to concern ourselves with instead of what words a talk radio host chooses to use. If Imus had said "let's round up all the (your choice of minority here)s and (your choice of harsh fate here)" then that might be something to take note of. But on the scale measuring calamities awaiting modern civilization, Don Imus doesn't rate anywhere.

I've started to wonder in the past few years, and this thing proves it: are we as Americans no longer capable of facing boldly the things that do truly matter? I have to wonder about that, because the only things that we seem to be zealous about anymore are "non-news" stories like what Imus said, or Anna-Nicole Smith or whenever Mel Gibson and Michael Richards go on a mad rant about Jews or black Americans. Years before that it was O.J. and some of the tabloid pablum about the JonBenet Ramsey case. Those things are banal at best, inappropriate at worst... but in no way worth so much waste of resources to harp on incessantly.

We are losing our rights, are over-taxed, are losing our manufacturing infrastructure, have a thousand more things that we should be focused on... and instead we willingly buy into the farce that Don Imus saying "nappy-headed hos" on live radio is a threat to all that we know and love. That's what Al Sharpton would have you believe anyway... and who the hell actually takes that guy seriously? Shouldn't the Tawana Brawley thing have wrecked his reputation for good?

If this is what we now fixate ourselves on instead of the things that will determine whether we have a country worth passing down to our children, well... it makes me wonder if America really is as good as we want to believe it is anymore. If it's still worth defending, even. Why should somebody enlist in the armed forces to uphold and defend a Constitution that is no longer adhered to by a people more interested in what Don Imus has to say on the radio? Would you be willing to die for such a people?

I sure wouldn't.

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