The Rest of the Story

In this episode - The Rest of the Story . . .

Do you remember the radio segment "The Rest of the Story?" Boy, I sure do. And I'm sure many of you listening do too, especially if you had your radio on at Noon each day. On the majority of radio stations, it often served as a mid-afternoon drive counterpart to Paul Harvey's noontime News and Comment. These segments began as a part of Paul Harvey newscasts during the Second World War and then premiered as its series on the ABC Radio Networks on May 10, 1976, was a Monday-through-Friday radio program.

The Rest of the Story consisted of stories presented as little-known or forgotten facts on various subjects with some key element of the story (usually the name of some well-known person) held back until the end. The broadcasts always concluded with the tag line, "And now you know...the rest of the story."

This got me thinking; podcasts are simply radio broadcasts that have a global reach without syndicated sponsors.

From 1951 to 2008, Paul Harvey's programs reached as many as 24 million people per week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 American Forces Network stations, and 300 newspapers - how times have changed. But what hasn't changed is the message through the spoken word that impacts the lives of millions.

So, please let me share with you one of Paul Harveys' most famous broadcasts,

"God Made a Farmer."

"Won't you be my virtual neighbor?" If you enjoy our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.

I'm Patrick Ball; thanks so much for listening. Good Day . . .

Comments

Beyond Facts

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Chasing the Magic

In this episode, Chasing the Magic: How the Summer of ’98 Inspired the 'Ball Boys' . . . Do you remember that feeling? The late-summer air was thick with humidity, radios crackling on porches, the smell of fresh-cut grass and barbecue smoke in the backyard. Every evening carried a new kind of suspense—the country holding its collective breath after every pitch. “Did he hit one today?” became more than a question; it sparked a nationwide conversation. For me, and millions of others, the summer of 1998 wasn’t just another baseball season. It was theater, a movement, a time when the game recaptured something sacred. As sportswriter Mike Lupica said so perfectly, “No matter how old you are or how much you’ve seen, sports is still about memory and imagination. Never more than during the summer of ’98, when baseball made everyone feel like a kid again, when it felt important again.” Just four years earlier, the 1994 players’ strike had left the sport bruised...

Retirement Talk

In this episode, Patrick & Huck: Retirement Talk . . . We all get caught daydreaming sometimes, don’t we? Just like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn might’ve done, lazyin’ by the river with a fishing pole in hand and the BIG wide world spinn’ in their heads. This morning, with coffee steaming and plans bubbling, I found myself driftin’ into a chat with none other than my imaginary friend–Huck Finn himself. Patrick: “Mornin’, Huck. Say, I’m mighty curious what you’d make of this retirement business.” Huck: “Well now, sit tight, ‘cause I’ve been thinkin’ on that too. Only thirty-one days 'til you're sixty-nine — whew! You're talkin’ ‘bout quittin’, hangin’ up your spurs, Givin’ the workin’ life its final good slurs. Ain’t got no debts, no mortgage, no fuss, Just clean livin’ and freedom waitin’ on the bus. Most folks’d throw hats in the air, cheerin’ loud and proud, But you? You’re starin’ out yonder, lost in some cloud. You're dreamin’ of cyclin' and books and guitar...

Drifting with Purpose

In this episode, Drifting with Purpose: What Huck Finn Teaches Us About Finding Your ‘Why’ . . . Have you ever re-read a book and felt like it had changed while you weren’t looking? That’s exactly how it feels diving back into Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to be swept away again . It had been decades since I first met Huck and Jim. But here I am – older, hopefully wiser – and finding their journey down the Mississippi more powerful and more relevant than ever. This isn’t just another dusty classic. Twain's masterpiece is a living, breathing story – one that speaks through laughter, danger, awkward truth, and uncomfortable beauty. It’s a book that dares you to ask: “What kind of person am I willing to be?” Right now, I’m deep into Huck and Jim’s incredible journey, and what’s striking me the most isn’t just the plot or the river—it’s the voice. Twain’s masterful use of local dialect pulls you straight into the 19th-century Amer...

On The Fly

Search This Blog