I loved the Dodge ad for America’s farmers that aired during the Super Bowl telecast, featuring the legendary Paul Harvey.

Comments among our group were fairly unanimous: “Great commercial, but how many people know who Paul Harvey was?”

Good point.

Paul Harvey (1918-2009) was a news commentator for the ABC Radio Network, who for decades delivered his morning and mid-day broadcasts to an audience (at its peak) of some 24 million listeners.  A giant in the profession, known for his love of country, its historic values, and his profound appreciation for working men and women, Harvey was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1979 and received the Freedom Award from President Bush in 2005.

In the early 70′s, the station I worked at, a Top 40 on FM, in the shadow of Michigan State University, ran Paul Harvey.  And in the midst of that era’s turmoil, Paul Harvey was the most listened-to segment on the station! It seems counter-intuitive, perhaps, that a bunch of college kids (some radical, most suburban liberal/conservatives) would hang on his every word; but his commentaries were so compelling, so entertaining, so…REAL, that philosophical differences were “checked at the door.” You had to listen.

That was the power of Paul Harvey, who always signed off with his trademark “Paul Harvey………Good Day!” Sentimentally, it was the only thing missing from last night’s spot.

Congratulation to Dodge for bringing back an American Icon.