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Personal Development Industry Pioneer
Earl Nightingale, enjoyed a remarkable radio career that lasted for more than forty years, but is probably best remembered for the recording that he wrote and narrated in 1956, called, The Strangest Secret. In his profound message he tells us that, "we become what we think about", and then, he spent the rest of his life, giving us examples of how this is true, and how to use this universal law to direct our lives in the most productive ways we can.
Earl, was born in Los Angeles, California in 1921. By 1933, his father had left him, his mother and two brothers. It was the bottom of the Great Depression and millions were unemployed. Earl’s mother worked at the WPA in a sewing factory to provide for her three boys. They lived in Tent City, behind the old Mariner Apartments on the waterfront in Long Beach, California, and while being poor didn’t seem to bother most of the other kids, it bothered Earl, and he wanted to know why they were so poor, while others, he observed, appeared to be so rich. Why some people were so miserable, while others, so happy. Simply, what made people turn out the way they do. At that time, no one that Earl asked seemed to have an answer to his questions. Not his mom or any of the other adults in his neighborhood.
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 in 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. Earl began a literary search that would stretch over the next twenty years - a search that would lead him to study the world’s great religions, philosophy and psychology.
His early career began when at age 17 he decided to join the US Marines. 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. He was in his station, the morning of the attack on Pearl Harbor and was one of twelve surviving Marines on board the battleship Arizona that day.
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 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 a 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.
Over the next thirteen years, the demand for "The Strangest Secret" would grow so large that Earl accepted an offer of help to fulfill orders from an acquaintance, Lloyd Conant, who had a small mail order company. Together, they formed the Nightingale-Conant Corporation of Chicago and became the founding pioneers and world leaders in the personal development industry. 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."
At the time of his death, Earl Nightingale’s multitude of recorded messages were played around the world, inspiring people from all cultures, nationalities and races, to live their lives to their fullest.
Today, Earl Nightingale is remembered as one of the greatest philosophers of his time, and his best selling programs and books continue to sell daily, and inspire new generations around the world, to reach their highest potential.
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