The Howard Miller Show
One of the first ever "disc jockeys", Howard Miller had a popular nationwide daily show just after Arthur Godfrey went off the air.
He created a format for the first true disc-jockey show, in the belief that music had the biggest entertainment appeal, and so needed no visual gimmicks to make attractive entertainment.
The songs he played were popular, but it was his fun and easygoing monologue between the songs which kept listeners engaged, the musical recommendations he wanted to promote, along with the film star guests he interviewed - the likes of Doris Day, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Durante, and Rock Hudson to name but a few!
He was a driving force in what would become known as 'drive time radio', and the almost instantaneous success of a record presented on The Howard Miller Show made it the record industry's number one plug, with many of the greatest names in the business launching their top-sellers on the show.
Howard A Miller was born in Galesburg, the son of Judge Harry B. Miller who was a prominent Republican, and Emily Folk Miller. He graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, before serving in the Navy in World War II, and attending the Kent College of Law before finding a career in radio at CBS as a staff producer in 1945, and then program director at WIND for four years.
He bought his first radio station, WGIL in Galesburg in the mid 1940s, becoming the youngest radio station licensee in the country, and by 1949, he quickly dominated the new 'drive-time' phenomenon. By the mid-1950s, he was unquestionably the country's foremost disc jockey, and Time Magazine in 1957 called him "probably the nation's single biggest influence on record sales."
"He had a showmanship and a charisma that blurted out through the radio," said Bruce DuMont, a friend and a former producer for Mr. Miller's radio show. "He did not have that mean-spirited atmosphere of some today. He grew up with his audience. He started as a major player in the pre-rock 'n' roll days of radio and records and got involved in people's growing interests in taxes, welfare cheats and crime."
You can listen to Howard Miller's daily shows on RUSC, and Joy and I will be adding over 150 more of the shows over the coming weeks.
Happy listening my friends,
