Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan
Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan
Broadcasting Legends and Country Music Fortunes Episode 54
How did Paul Harvey become a household name with his unforgettable storytelling and iconic sign-off, "Good day"? Join us as we journey through the golden age of radio, sharing humorous and heartwarming anecdotes about this legendary broadcaster. We recount a funny incident involving the accidental cutting off of one of his "The Rest of the Story" segments and dive into the untold efforts behind his incredible work. We also reflect on the recent hardships faced by the Oak Ridge Boys, including Joe Bonsall's retirement due to ALS and the losses suffered by Dwayne Allen and William Lee Golden. Their resilience and lasting impact on gospel music offer touching insights and inspiration.
Switching gears to the meteoric rise of country music stars, discover how artists like Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood transformed their humble beginnings into massive wealth. We trace Paisley's journey from West Virginia to a $120 million net worth, fueled by talent and strategic endorsements, and delve into Underwood’s $140 million fortune, skyrocketing from a reality show breakthrough to crossover success. These stories illustrate how determination and opportunity can create fortunes and offer a fascinating look into the financial leaps of today's top country artists. Tune in for a mix of nostalgia, inspiration, and the compelling tales of iconic figures in radio and music.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Hot Mike with Houston and Hogan. I'm Randy, houston, and.
Speaker 2:I'm Dave Hogan. Good day, randy. Who was it used to say? Good day Paul Harvey, paul Harvey. That was the ending to his show. Good day, randy. Who was it used to say? Good day Paul.
Speaker 1:Harvey, paul Harvey. That was the ending to his show. Good day.
Speaker 2:I found one of his shows the other day. The rest of the story he would always end his programs on Ronnie Millsap.
Speaker 1:Oh, I bet that was very interesting.
Speaker 2:It was on TikTok and it was one of his programs on Ronnie Millsap. Of course he doesn't tell you who he's talking about until the end, right, and I kept listening to that and I said I think I know who that is. When he said the mountains of western North Carolina and I started thinking who would that be? And by the time it got to the end of the the program, I knew it was Ronnie Millsap tell you a little radio.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you ever did this or not, but I used to play that the rest of the story. It's a five minute feed that came down from ABC network at a time when you you rolled a tape and you recorded it for playback later. Well, I had recorded the rest of the story and when it gets four and a half minutes in he starts with that pause, and now you know the rest of the story. I was on the phone with a girl, probably just looking at the meters, not listening, and when those pauses came I cut it off and went somewhere else. I cut off the end of the story and the phones lit up.
Speaker 2:Oh man, shame on you, randy, Shame on you.
Speaker 1:We fixed it, but yeah, we used to call them pregnant pauses, I remember that pregnant pauses, why they are, why were they called that?
Speaker 2:I have no clue.
Speaker 1:I have no clue, but boy Paul Harvey was a storyteller. I guess one of the most influential people in radio, I mean he, he could tell a story, dave like no one else.
Speaker 2:Tremendous storyteller, but I've often thought there's got to be somebody behind the scenes, because I know he wouldn't have time to do all that research.
Speaker 1:There's got to be somebody, or maybe several somebodies behind the scenes that came up with all those fascinating stories and his son paul harvey jr uh was one of those people that and and uh for a while, I think, carried on.
Speaker 2:I think he did, but nobody could replace paul harvey. No, no reflection on none his son at all, but it was just somebody irreplaceable.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of irreplaceable, I think it's going to be very hard to fill the shoes of Joe Bonsall, of the Oak Ridge Boys, you know, on the way to the studio I just happened by coincidence to have in my CD player and my car's old enough to have a CD player. You have a CD.
Speaker 2:And an Oak Ridge Boys CD that I picked up just recently at, I believe, cracker Barrel was playing. Life is like a mountain railroad with an engineer that's brave yeah boy by the Oak Ridge Boys.
Speaker 2:And so all the way to the studio today I've listened to the Oak Ridge Boys and their gospel album. You know, actually, randy, it's been a year of hardship and tragedy for the Oak Ridge Boys. First of all, joe Bonsall stepped down as a member of the group because of his health issues. He had a degenerative muscular nerve issue, commonly called Gehrig's disease.
Speaker 1:ALS.
Speaker 2:And it got to the point where he was just no longer able to sing and be a part of the group and so Joe said farewell to the Oak Ridge Boys as their tenor singer. He'd been their tenor singer since 1973. And he was kind of the face and the public voice of the group for five decades. Joe stepped down and then, not long after he stepped down, the Oak Ridge boys had another loss with the passing of the wife of Dwayne Allen, nora Lee Allen, who was a singer in her own right and of course gave up her career basically to be a wife to Dwayne Allen. He was 76 years old and died at Vanderbilt Hospital.
Speaker 2:And then another tragedy just recently the son of William Lee Golden, william Lee Golden Jr, known as Rusty. Rusty died at the age of 65. So it's been a year of tragedy for the Oak Ridge Boys. And then the passing of Joe Bonsall just a few days ago. You know Rusty and his dad, william Lee. Some other members of the family put together a group during the period of time that William Lee Golden left the Oak Ridge Boys. For several years they formed a group they just called them the Goldens, I believe with the family group and had had a lot of uh touring success, maybe not big hit records but they were very popular uh for a while there uh tour.
Speaker 2:Did you read that bio autobiography of william lee golden that I fetched over here to you one day?
Speaker 1:I read part of it and, uh, this recent news of uh the oak ridge boys has uh prompted me to get it back out. I got it back out yesterday and I'm gonna jump back into that uh by will. I think it's called behind the beard something like that.
Speaker 2:The title, yeah, yeah, but most of the oak ridge boys, uh, if not all of them. I'm not sure about Joe Bonsall's background, but he has an autobiography that I haven't read, that I'm going to read. But most and so many of the artists of the age of the Oak Ridge Boys came from very poor circumstances and very modest circumstances. So it's interesting reading I've always been interested in. As you know, my favorite kind of reading is biographies. I've always been interested in how people get to the point that they get to in life. When I was doing a co-hosting morning talk show on WJCW radio in Johnson City, one of my favorite things was interviewing people and finding out a little bit about their background. How did it happen that you became the city manager of Johnson City? How did you get interested in that line of work? How did you get interested in that line of work? How did you get interested in becoming a band director at Seinfeld High School?
Speaker 1:That sort of thing it always interested me that's one of the pleasures of our job, to be quite honest with you is finding out and exploring what's behind the question. Behind the question, there's a very good book that's the title of a very strong book called what's the Question Behind the Question?
Speaker 2:I recently ran into an article in Men's Journal magazine, a list of the top 10 country music artists with the greatest net worth, and as I look through the list I see most of them came from very modest backgrounds. And you know, I've always thought it would be like it'll never happen to you or me, but to come from very modest circumstances like we did, to suddenly become wealthy overnight yeah, Armando. Baycott, the University of North Carolina, basketball player. You know they changed the rules where athletes can now make money on their Endorsements.
Speaker 2:Endorsements and he said he went from having nothing zero zilch to $2 million overnight. He said that as one of the stars, the biggest star of University of North Carolina basketball, and he got all these endorsements because he was such a star. And he said I literally went from zero to $2 million immediately, almost. And I wonder what that's like. We'll never know, unless we win the lottery, and I stopped playing the lottery a long time ago.
Speaker 1:Like me, if you're going to win the lottery, you've got to buy a ticket. I never buy a ticket, but boy Brad Paisley now I'd say he could talk to us about the successes of money.
Speaker 2:As I look at the list of top 10 artists with the greatest net worth, Brad Paisley is number 10. Number 10 on the list, his net worth is estimated to be $120 million.
Speaker 2:He's number 10 on the list, he was born in Glendale, west Virginia, very modest circumstances. He's had a tremendous success, selling well over 12 million albums. He's won three Grammys, 14 CMA Awards. You know that song, whiskey Lullaby, that our buddy Bill Anderson wrote Right. It was his big hit along with Alison Krauss early in his career.
Speaker 2:Brad, as I said, was a West Virginia boy. He is a West Virginia boy, a big supporter of West Virginia athletics and he was a star athlete in high school. And I don't know how he became a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fan. But that West Virginia boy is a big fan of the LA Dodgers and I think more than once the Dodgers have had him to Dodger Stadium to sing the nationalem before their games. He's also a big fan of the Cleveland Browns and he sang the National Anthem at the Cleveland Browns games. But as we look at the list of the artists with the most wealth, they made it not only through singing. But once you become a star you're able to get those endorsements and make money in investments or lose money in investments, as Bill Anderson wrote about in his book when he got involved in the restaurant business. But Brad has had great success those nationwide insurance commercials that he has with Peyton Manning, they're very popular. He's also one of the endorsers of Sirius XM Radio, married to Kimberly Williams, an actress, and you know there's a story behind the story.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about something here that I find interesting. Shelley Wright was the first artist in country music who was a hit maker, shelley Wright to come out as gay. Shelly Reich to come out as gay. She dated Brad Paisley early on in his career. Now she wrote about this. I'm not talking about something that should be secret. She wrote about it. She says that I owe Brad Paisley a big apology. I used him because I felt like being gay when I came to Nashville. If people found out about it then I'd be shut out of the business. Wow. So I dated Brad Paisley to cover up the fact that I was gay. And she says I regret that. I cry about it. I've apologized to Brad. I did him wrong. I mistreated him. That's a little back story that I found interesting.
Speaker 1:Very interesting and very just, very up front for her to admit that yeah yeah, she wrote about it.
Speaker 2:She wrote a book and she wrote about just what I said. Yeah, just what I told you To admit that, yeah, she wrote about it. She wrote a book and she wrote about just what. I said yeah, just what I told you.
Speaker 1:To admit it.
Speaker 2:I thought that was an interesting behind-the-scenes story that we could share with our listeners. This is called Hot Mike and once in a while we share a story like that.
Speaker 1:Well, moving on up this list to the number nine position. You told me about Moving on up this list to the number nine position. You told me about these. Two are friends, often touring together.
Speaker 2:The next one up the list. Number nine on the list worth $140 million is Carrie Underwood.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Carrie Underwood. She was the winner on one of those reality shows and got her career launched right. She was the winner on one of those reality shows and got her career launched right, yeah, and she's from Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Speaker 2:You've heard that name, Muskogee.
Speaker 1:Hokie from.
Speaker 2:Muskogee. Her first hit was Jesus Take the Wheel, and Carrie Underwood is one of those artists that crossed over almost immediately when she had that hit, jesus Take the Wheel. It hit the pop charts also and from that point on and a lot of country music purists would not consider Carrie Underwood as a country music singer, but that's where she got her start country music singer. But that's where she got her start. Carrie has a college degree in mass communications from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma.
Speaker 2:She has garnered many endorsements, commercial endorsements down through the years Sketchers, the shoes, target, the apartment store, hershey's chocolates, dick's Sporting Goods and I guess the reason that she became a spokesperson for Dick's Sporting Goods is because she sings the opening theme for NBC's Sunday Night Football, and she's done that since 2013, taking the place of Faith Hill, who previously was the singer of the opening song on Sunday Night Football on NBC. She's married to a former NHL hockey player, mike Fisher NHL hockey player, mike Fisher and both are devout Christians she and Mike and they don't shy away from the fact that they are devout Christians. Carrie Underwood worth $140 million.
Speaker 1:I'm fascinated by this find of yours, who's number eight on the list.
Speaker 2:Jake Bryan is number eight on the list. Jake Bryan is worth a hundred, or, pardon me, luke Bryan, I don't know why I said Jake. Luke Bryan is worth $160 million. Now Luke Bryan's songs. I don't know how familiar, randy, you are with his music, but they're not for our generation. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 2:The songs that Luke Bryan has written and sings are for the younger fans of country music. Yes, but he's a country boy from Leesburg, Georgia, and if you listen to the lyrics of his songs, he writes or co-writes most of his music and they're very interesting. They're not made, as I said, for our generation. He's targeting the young generation of country music fans fans but he's worth, as I said. Did I mention $160 million?
Speaker 1:Yeah, $160 million. He's hosting one of those reality shows on TV now too, right? Well, he's an American Idol, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think he's a former judge on American Idol oh okay, okay. Judge on america? Oh, okay, okay. But he, uh forbes, estimates his annual income at 42.5 million dollars. Lordy mercy, that's a huge 30,000 square foot multi-level entertainment facility. It's not only a restaurant but there's all kinds of entertainment inside that facility and it's called 32 Bridge because there's a bridge on the Flint River down in Georgia, near where Luke Bryan grew up, called the 32 Bridge. That's where the entertainment complex gets his name. So if you journey to Music City USA, if you go down to Nashville, you might want to check in 32 Bridge and see that facility Fascinating.
Speaker 1:The folks are talking like Nashville is the east coast or eastern version of las vegas. It's becoming all the glitter, all the hype, all the neon of south broadway. Garth brooks has a new bar down that way. There's a netflix series out now about how he's been building that bar. Yeah, it's. Uh, I'd like to go sometime, but but the old folks are gone. Our kind of music is not hanging around much, is it.
Speaker 2:Well, we have a gentleman named Alan Jackson next on the list.
Speaker 1:Okay, now we're getting it. Does our kind of music?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes and unfortunately, Alan's nearing the end of his career. He has an inherited medical condition that has really impacted his ability to sing, or his ability to tour, Let me put it that way. He can probably still sing quite well, but Alan Jackson another Georgia boy, by the way from Noonan Georgia and worldwide, Alan Jackson has sold 75 million records.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And he is one of the artists that you know. Farron Young used to say I couldn't go pop with a mouth full of firecrackers, and alan jackson is one of the uh artists. That's uh stayed uh with the traditional form of country music. I guess his last big hit was chattahoochee and that was a big hit and a lot of people, even country music artists, would come up to alan and say what is a Chattahoochee Not being familiar with that river down in Georgia?
Speaker 1:This morning I played on the radio his number one hit that was number one on this date back in 1991, called Don't Rock the Jukebox.
Speaker 2:I want to hear some Jones yeah good song here in the Real World was his, I guess, first really really really big hit and I love the thing he did with George Strait called Murder on Music.
Speaker 1:Row. Oh, great, great, that tells a great story, doesn't it? It does, it does. I'm a big Alan Jackson fan. He was brought by Arista Records around to do the radio tour when he was a young kid, but he was so tall I'll never forget, and just a shy, bashful kind of guy that had a song in his heart and he never forgot me. I got to see him a couple of the other times and he always remembered my name and, uh, he's a nice guy.
Speaker 2:I uh had taught. I've talked to his wife, denise, on the telephone and this is before Alan became a star. He was a um or she. Alan's uh wife, denise, was a uh flight attendant for US Air and when US Air, when she was on a flight that came into the Tri-Cities, she would or any other city she'd call the DJs locally and try to get them to play Alan's music. Yeah, so she. There's always a person behind the scenes and Denise, you know Alan, like you said, is very shy and not too outgoing, but Denise is just the opposite. So she really did a great job promoting Alan Jackson's music.
Speaker 2:But there are two other Alan Jackson projects I want to mention. There are two other Alan Jackson projects I want to mention. One was the one he did about after 9-11. Where Were you? Where Were you? And that became a big hit for him. And then he did. He went in the studio at the encouragement of his mother and he recorded a gospel album. The gospel album was called Precious Memories and it was just kind of one of these things you do as a sideline. Oh, mom, okay, okay, mom, I'll record the gospel album. Do you know? That gospel album sold 1.8 million records, albums right out of the box and it's still selling oh my gosh probably up to uh over 2 million in sales now I'm still playing it.
Speaker 1:I'm still playing cuts from it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a very traditional, traditional singing of gospel songs that most of us know From the old Broadman hymnal.
Speaker 1:you know it's just good music, man. But he said that his mom had pushed him to do that for years and he finally gave in. And look what happened.
Speaker 2:And is that about all the time we have for this segment of Hot Mike with Hogan and Houston, or Houston and Hogan?
Speaker 1:Maybe we got one more time for one more of these rich people.
Speaker 2:Kenny Chesney, East Tennessee boy.
Speaker 1:He is a Johnson City guy, right.
Speaker 2:Well, he's from lateral Tennessee, outside of Knoxville. He was born in Knoxville but he went to college at East Tennessee State University.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And I know I didn't know Kenny. I didn't live in the Tri-Cities at the time, he was a student there. I know lots of people who knew Kenny and I met the. He played at a little uh, um, not really a bar, it was just a little outdoor indoor type down on the nolichucky river. Yeah, and I met the people that booked him, had him to sing at their place for, you know, like 25 a pop or something like that and that's.
Speaker 2:You know, he's one of those artists that um sells out stadiums. There are only two or three country music artists who can sell out the big stadiums and have 75,000 people or more and one of them is Kenny Chesney. He always ends his summer tours or has for the last few years at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, outside of Boston, where the Patriots play the New England Patriots, and they gave him an award because he had over or has had over a million people come to his if you add them all up come to his concerts as he closes out his summer tours at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough and his music you know he got on the island type, yeah.
Speaker 1:No shoes, Vibe yeah.
Speaker 2:And his music became known as Gulf and Western Gulf and Western Gulf and. Western Kenny Chesney did we mention? He's worth $180 million? Oh my gosh, $180 million. And we have some more people on this list, but we don't have time to get to them on this edition of our show. Why don't we save the other five for next?
Speaker 1:time you want to do that, let's do. Let's take a break. Thank you all so much for downloading hot mike with houston and hogan. We really, really appreciate it. You can get uh, this podcast anywhere. You normally get your podcast. We're out there everywhere. So thank you again. We'll be back with uh the really rich ones next time on hot mike with hou and Hogan. Be sure to click the subscribe button for another episode of Hot Mike with Randy Houston and Dave Hogan.