The KLIX Radio Museum

KLIX is like a museum of radio history.  When I was a boy growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, two household names had a large radio footprint.  Paul Harvey was the first widely syndicated conservative voice of radio.  There had been others but none had Harvey’s reach and few had such a personal relationship with a distant voice.

A neighbor once recounted a summer when he worked on a farm.  Everything stopped when the farmer listened to Harvey mornings and then closer to the lunch hour.  My neighbor wasn’t around late enough each day to confirm if this happened during the Rest of the Story.  Getting ready for school, Harvey was a constant presence in our kitchen.  Today I still buy many of the products he endorsed.  Not only is there a portrait of the man fishing in our studio, there’s also Neutrogena hand cream.  Harvey would only endorse a product if he had tried it and found the claims were true.

A friend still uses Wells Lamont White Mules to protect his hands while working in and out of the barn.

Harvey had some competition for a time in the late 1970s.  In between time as California Governor and after an unsuccessful run for President in 1976, Ronald Reagan did daily radio commentaries.  When he later announced another candidacy, he left the airwaves for good and then spent two-terms in the White House.

I’ve got some of the old Reagan commentaries on CD.  Sometimes I listen during long drives.  Reagan’s words and thoughts still stand up in our current political era.

There are a handful of national voices offering commentary today but these are usually short vignettes and appetizers for longer daily programs.