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As
a Depression-era child, Earl Nightingale was hungry
for knowledge. From the time he was a young boy, he
would frequent the Long Beach Public Library in California,
searching for the answer to the question, “How
can a person, starting from scratch, who has no particular
advantage in the world, reach the goals that he feels
are important to him, and by so doing, make a major
contribution to others?” His desire to find an
answer, coupled with his natural curiosity about the
world and its workings spurred him to become one of
the world’s foremost experts on success and what
makes people successful. |
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His
early career began when, as a member of the Marine
Corps, he volunteered to work at a local radio station
as an announcer. The Marines also gave him a chance
to travel, although he only got as far as Hawaii when
the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Earl managed
to be one of the few survivors aboard the battleship
Arizona. After five more years in the service, Earl
and his wife moved first to Phoenix then Chicago to
build what was to be a very fruitful career in network
radio.
As
the host of his own daily commentary program on WGN,
Earl Nightingale arranged a deal that also gave him
a commission on his own advertising sales. By 1957,
he was so successful, he decided to retire at the
age of 35. In the meantime, he had bought his own
insurance company and had spent many hours motivating
its sales force to greater accomplishments. When he
decided to go on vacation for an extended period of
time, his sales manager begged him to put his inspirational
words on record. The result later became the recording
entitled The Strangest Secret, the first spoken word
message to win a Gold Record by selling over a million
copies.
In
The Strangest Secret, Earl had found an answer to
the question that had inspired him as a youth and,
in turn, found a way to leave a lasting legacy for
others. About this time, Earl met a successful businessman
by the name of Lloyd Conant and together they began
an “electronic publishing” company which
eventually grew to become a multi-million dollar giant
in the self-improvement field. They also developed
a syndicated, 5-minute daily radio program, Our Changing
World, which became the longest-running, most widely
syndicated show in radio.
When
Earl Nightingale died on March 28, 1989, Paul Harvey
broke the news to the country on his radio program
with the words, “The sonorous voice of the nightingale
was stilled.” In the words of his good friend
and commercial announcer, Steve King, “Earl Nightingale
never let a day go by that he didn’t learn something
new and, in turn, pass it on to others. It was his
consuming passion.” |
