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 Nightingale’s 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. 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.
