Many thanks to SWLing Post reader Jessica, who writes:
I’m trying to locate an off-air recording of Paul Harvey from approximately November 7–9, 1979, possibly heard via AFRTS shortwave. The story concerned William “Bill” C. Haynes Sr., age 34, of Dallas, Texas, who died on November 5, 1979. An Associated Press story published November 7 carried the headline “‘Nobody loves me,’ man shouts as car hits him” and described Haynes as “a very lonely man.” His daughter distinctly remembers Paul Harvey discussing her father.
We believe the broadcast was most likely Paul Harvey News and Comment, though the syndicated television feature Paul Harvey Comments is also being investigated. We are looking for any AFRTS recording from November 7, 8, or 9, even if the cassette/reel is labeled only with AFRTS, a frequency, UTC time, a general news description, or a full block of programming rather than Paul Harvey’s name.
A February 1979 NASWA/FRENDX report, describing AFRTS schedule changes effective January 1, says “Paul Harvey 1711 & 2111” GMT. An August 1979 FRENDX guide lists “Paul Harvey, News and Commentary” at about 2100 GMT on 17765, 15430, 15330, and 11790 kHz. A February 1980 program guide then shows the later feed more precisely as 2111–2122 GMT on 17765, 15430, and 15330.
I have not yet found a surviving November 1979 schedule that proves the exact minute/frequency configuration for November 7–9, so I would phrase this as a strong target rather than certainty. Anyone checking old AFRTS tape boxes should especially look around 1711 GMT and 2100–2122 GMT on those frequencies.
If anyone taped AFRTS around those dates, kept DX cassettes or reels, has old AFRTS transcription discs, or knows a collector who did, I would be grateful for any lead. A recording of even one of the relevant Harvey feeds could help solve a nearly 47-year-old family mystery.
Readers, I know this is a very long shot, but if you’re able to assist Jessica, please leave a comment in this post with any information you have. I can then help Jessica get in touch with you.
Take a look at the McCormick Library at Northwestern University. They hold some Paul Harvey materials in their WGN archives. Not everything is described in detail – 541 boxes of mostly recordings – but an email to them might be fruitful.
Paul Harvey was broadcast over the ABC Radio Network and syndicated out to AFRTS. I mention this to point out that there may be many more sources out there for this material, as the show would have also been broadcast on many ABC affiliates across the nation. There might be airchecks of the broadcast somewhere from some station. I haven’t checked, but Paul Harvey was a big enough personality that there might be a “Paul Harvey collector” somewhere. Perhaps even ABC might have the program in their archives somewhere.
Just a thought from an old radio jock…