One of the great life stories.
His father was murdered in a robery when he was 4 and he thus grew up in deep poverty. He started in radio pretty much when it was invented. He was on a ship returning from covering the Navy in Hawaii on 12/7/41. He apparently suffered a nervous breakdown while in the Army Air Force and was mustered out mid-war after only five months. This gave him a head start and he plied the radio commentary business pretty much alone in the dark days of the "fairness doctrine", which accounts for his style of reading outrageous stories but not actually saying it was outrageous.
His only child avoided service in Vietnam and this led to a decades long estrangement. The son pretty much had control of the father for the last 15 years or so, and filled in for him with a similar voice and style, and apparent viewpoint.
He had a unique career that will not be duplicated. His shows, even right up to today, can make a country or old-oldies format, because the 60 plus crowd will listen all day to make sure not to miss it.
