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 20th 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 21st 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and I both know that material is outdated.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.
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 20th
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 "McDonald's Daily Diary." Vol. 55. Copyright pending.
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