IRREPLACEABLE PEOPLE. Pts. 1-3

I have previously alluded to the late Bill Pearce; my favorite radio broadcaster of all time. Mr. Pearce hosted the earlier program, ‘Night Watch’ and a subsequent broadcast, ‘Night Sounds’ for over 50 years.

During those five plus decades of ministry, Bill touched the lives of literally millions of listeners with his topical messages, rich baritone solos and trombone renditions; as well as a myriad of ‘hip’ and not so ‘hip’ musical selections by numerous 20^th century Christian artists.

As time wore on, as it is prone to do, Mr. Pearce began experiencing slight, and then progressively major difficulty enunciating his words, so much so that he mentioned it ‘on the air.’ Ultimately, Bill made an appointment with a physician, and was diagnosed with,

Parkinson’s Disease

Sometime after the turn of the 21^st century, the great Christian disk jockey, (if he may be referred to in this manner) singer and trombonist was forced to step away from the control booth for the last time, and to submit himself to the care of a nursing facility; in which he lived out the remainder of his days.

A couple of years prior to Bill’s passing, one of his former producers visited him in that Pennsylvania nursing home. Of course, the great radio personality was thrilled to see him. Mr. Pearce’s ability to speak may have been ‘past tense’ at this point in his life, but there was nothing wrong with hearing or mind.

Before he departed, “Mr. Ames” decided he’d make things a bit more interesting, if for no other reason than to provide Bill a break in the routine of the place in which he found himself.

“Bill, you know many things in life aren’t permanent, and aren’t meant to be. I mean, take the 50 years of Christian radio programs that you hosted. There’s a whole lot of good stuff in the vast broadcast archives which you assembled. Still, you and I both know that material is outdated. I’m sorry, some things are meant for a season, and then fade away.”

Well, I would like to have been a fly on the wall that day. History has it that Mr. Pearce’s eyes widened, and his face turned a bit ashen. However, before the tears found the opportunity to well up in the great man’s eyes, Mr. Ames spoke again.

“Bill, I’m just teasing with you. Your broadcasts are still being aired, night after night, and now they’re available on the internet. (www.nightsoundsradio.org) We have made arrangements for your voice and music to go on reaching millions for decades to come.”

And with that, it seemed the little man with a voice as big as all outdoors, and an equally big heart relaxed, and a broad smile enveloped his face. He was a man altogether ‘taken up’ with Legacy, and his personal legacy is safe for years to come.

As I listen to Bill Pearce’s distinct voice today, it is almost impossible to comprehend that he is no longer with us. He seems so present and his monologue and music so ‘there there,’ it is as if he never left us.

May God increase the impact of ‘Night Sounds’ and hold this bless-ed man in the hollow of His loving arms.

Pt. 2

As I write this blog, I am listening to a segment of the radio/internet broadcast, “Night Sounds” with the late Bill Pearce; my favorite broadcast and broadcaster of all time.

Tonight’s broadcast is entitled, “Vessels of Clay” and deals with human frailty and a tendency among ‘all God’s creatures’ to repeatedly fail in their attempt to mirror the image of the Almighty; (even if they’re ‘trying hard’ to do so).

As Bill opened up the program he observed,

“My father was a minister, and I once asked him, ‘How is it that you preach holiness and righteousness, and all that when none of us are perfect and can’t possibly measure up to God’s expectations?’”

To which Bill’s father so wisely responded,

“Well, we’re all preaching something we’re not. But God uses vessels of clay.”

(Indeed, He does).

And one facet of our clay-like vessels is our subjective-ness to disease.

As I was listening to one of the earlier Night Sounds broadcasts this week, Mr. Pearce reflected,

“I was attempting to pronounce a particular word on a broadcast the other day, aurora borealis, and I found myself struggling to pronounce it correctly. I never did manage it.”

And it occurred to me that Bill was, ultimately, diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, was admitted to a skilled nursing facility and eventually succumbed to the dread malady. How strange it seems to have been given an ‘on-air’ entre into an early symptom of his condition; which at the time the radio host would have considered a benign happenstance. 

And if only for a moment partaking of, as it were, an attribute invested only in the Godhead. 

Omniscience

As God instructed Moses to approach Pharaoh, and when Moses, subsequently, asked God who he say sent him, Jehovah responded with,

“Tell him that ‘I AM’ hath sent you.”

God, the ‘I AM’ of the universe. Not ‘I was, I am, I will be,’ but ‘I AM.’ The ever present, living Creator who was present in our pasts, present in our, well, present, and present in our futures. He who has already been there, knows the number of hairs on our head, each whirl and line within our fingerprints, each day of our lives, and the very day and nature of our passing.

And hearkening back to ‘Night Sounds’ and its eloquent host, it is apparent from tonight’s program that time had progressed since the earlier broadcast to which I alluded, as Mr. Peace refers to his progressing inability to exercise adequate diction.

“I am experiencing an increasing inability to pronounce my words due to a particular malady, and I cannot know when my situation will prevent me from speaking to you. It’s all in the hands of our wonderful Creator.”

It is comforting to know that God had already been there, and it was enough at that moment that God knew, and that nothing in this good man’s life had taken Him unawares. And so it is with each and every one of us.

God, the ever-present One, the ‘I AM’ of all our ways and all our days.

Pt. 3

In my earlier stories, I alluded to the late Bill Pearce.

During five plus decades of ministry on the radio broadcasts, “Night Watch” and “Night Sounds” Bill touched the lives of literally millions of listeners with his topical messages, rich baritone solos, and trombone renditions; as well as a myriad of ‘hip’ and not so ‘hip’ musical selections by numerous 20^th century Christian artists.

As time wore on, as it is prone to do, Mr. Pearce began experiencing slight, and then progressively major difficulty enunciating his words, so much so that he mentioned it ‘on the air.’ Ultimately, Bill made an appointment with a physician, and was diagnosed with,

Parkinson’s Disease

But to digress a bit, I was just listening to an undated segment from “Night Sounds,” (but for that matter the internet renditions of the broadcast are all undated) and “the little man with a big voice” became very vulnerable and said,

“I have wondered who will take over for me when I am gone. I mean, I can’t stay here forever. I will pass off the scene, as surely as billions of others have before me. Who will assume my mantle and continue this radio broadcast?

I mentioned the subject in a recent meeting with the members of our board, and one and then another said, ‘Oh, no one could ever replace you, Bill.’ But, if this broadcast is to survive, if it is to go on impacting generations, someone will have to step forward. I have thought, perhaps, one of my sons could take over for me. But they don’t sense the calling, and I suppose that is an unlikely possibility. Nevertheless, no one is irreplaceable; least of all yours truly.”

I was always ‘taken up’ with Paul Harvey’s, “The Rest of the Story” and it would appear there was a rest of the story when it came to Bill Pearce’s concern for the broadcast, and who would step forward to assume his position; when he passed from the scene.

After all, he made the emphatic statement that, “No one is irreplaceable.”

It would appear that between the words, to which I alluded, and the last year of his life on earth, Bill’s mindset on the topic metamorphosed. At least you didn’t have to convinced his board members, and millions of his listeners.

For you see, no one ultimately stepped forward. There would be no replacement. For not unlike other audio classics, such as “The War of the Worlds” and “Command Performance” and video classics, such as “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Johnny Carson Show” it was determined that Bill Pearce’s “Night Sounds” could not, and would not be duplicated.

As I inferred in an earlier blog, one of Bill’s board members shared the following assurance with him as he prepared to meet his Maker.

“My friend, your broadcasts are still being aired, night after night, and now they’re available on the internet. We have made arrangements for your voice and music to go on reaching millions for decades to come.”

And with that assurance, it seemed the little man with a voice as big as all outdoors, (and an equally big heart) relaxed, and a broad smile enveloped his face. He was a man altogether ‘taken up’ with Legacy, and his personal legacy is safe for years to come.

I guess some people are, after all, irreplaceable.


By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 53. Copyright pending

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