Harve Miller

Humble Harve Miller began his career in 1958 at radio station WAAT in Trenton, New Jersey. Soon after, he moved to WIBG in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked from 1958 to 1962. Miller subsequently moved to Los Angeles, California, and after a stop at KBLA he became part of the enormous hit station KHJ as part of the "Boss Radio" DJ teams working under Bill Drake and other executives.

Harve narrated Mondo Mod in 1967.

KBLA 1966

Harve was the top-rated nighttime disc jockey throughout a five year period, and also did commercials, voice-over work, and narrated the 1967 counterculture documentary film Mondo Mod. He also narrated the late-1969 syndicated version of KHJ's The History of Rock and Roll 48-hour special, which aired throughout the early 1970s.

Miller with his wife.

His tenure at KHJ ended in 1971, when he was 36 years old. On May 7th of that year, he allegedly shot and killed his wife. The story goes that she had been unfaithful to him, and she taunted him by saying that if he didn’t like it, he should get a gun and shoot her. Which he did.

After two weeks in hiding (at Phil Spector’s mansion, according to one account), he was caught. Miller pleaded guilty, got five-to-life for second-degree murder, and went to prison in August.

In December, Billboard reported that Miller was going to program a new radio station set up at the Chino Institute for Men, where he was incarcerated. Radio stations and record labels would donate equipment and records. (Miller was supposedly furloughed from prison to make a trip to San Diego, driving his own car, to pick up donated records from radio station KGB.)

The Columbia School of Broadcasting of Los Angeles planned to offer classes for inmates, although Billboard snarked that “Harve doesn’t need any lessons, of course.” In January 1972, a one-line item in Billboard reported, “Chino Men’s Prison has been hearing some good rock since disk jockey Humble Harve began serving his term.”

Music surveys featuring Harve at KHJ

Harve at KRLA

It’s unclear just how long Miller was in prison. One source mentions that he “received a 14-month sentence.” If that’s how long he served, he would have been out in October 1972. A May 1974 edition of Billboard noted Miller’s return to the Los Angeles airwaves on KKDJ. In July 1974, he sat in for Casey Kasem on American Top 40.

When KKDJ was purchased by the owners of KIIS in 1975, he was installed on an evening shift, the same daypart he worked on KHJ in the 60s. His voice was featured in the 1975 movie Aloha Bobby and Rose, as the title characters listen to their car radio. And in 1976, he became the host of the National Album Countdown. (However, another source states he wasn't released until 1980.)

Among the Los Angeles radio stations Humble Harve has worked for throughout the years are KIQQ, KIIS, KUTE, KRLA, KRTH, KCBS-FM, and KZLA. In addition, Miller also worked for WIBG in Philadelphia in 1985 and KVI in Seattle, Washington from 1986-1989, and also narrated a variety of syndicated radio specials during the 1980s and 1990s.

Harve c.1979.

What happened to Harve in recent years is not totally known, although one report had him working for KHTS in Los Angeles, California. He was also doing satellite radio in the early 00s, and he’d be past 80 years old now. Reading between the lines of the news reports and retracing the arc of his career, it’s pretty clear that he had lots of friends in the radio industry. In 1995 Miller was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.

They did not abandon him when he went to jail, or afterward. All these years later, in a less-forgiving media era, one must wonder if a similarly prominent person convicted of such a crime would ever get his local gig back, let alone gigs of national prominence.

WHERE DID HARVEY WORK? Here is the list: WAAT, WIBG, KBLA, KHJ, Armed Forces Radio Service, KIQQ, KKDJ, KIIS, KUTE, KRLA, WFIL, KRLA, KVI, KRLA, KRTH, KCBS-FM, KZLA, and KIEV.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Ellis Feaster's YouTube Channel, Los Angeles Daily News.

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Joe Niagara

Joe Niagara was born on July 4, 1927 as Joseph Nigro, Jr. Joe took the name Niagara from Niagara Falls, because it was recognizable and non-ethnic sounding.

As a kid Joe listened to the radio and thought broadcasting was exciting. He knew then it was something he wanted to be connected with. At the early age of 13, Niagara visited WFIL radio personality Leroy Miller who inspired Niagara to be persistent. Miller told him to keep knocking on doors, and eventually one would open. At age 18, Niagara served in the U.S. Army, based for one year in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone.

Joe Niagara got his start in radio a couple of months before his 20th birthday on Easter Monday April 7, 1947 at WDAS in his hometown of Philadelphia. At that time, disc jockeys played 78 rpm records and one of the first artists that 19 year-old Joe Niagara spun was Doris Day. (Niagara and Day would become close, personal friends a decade later). Seemed that Joe had a crush on Doris ever since first saw her perform at the Earle Theater in Center City Philly. At that time, she was a big band singer with Pennsylvania's own Les Brown.

In 1949, Niagara moved to WIBG (taking over the previous shift held by Roy Neal who went to Channel 3 and later to NBC-TV). It was at Wibbageland in 1957 where he would get his handle "The Rockin' Bird" from WIBG’s Station Manager. The name came from a 1957 single by Peggy Lee, "Listen to the Rockin' Bird."

WIBG Philadelphia
[ LISTEN ] (40:41)

Joe Niagara married his childhood sweetheart, Evelyn Vignola, in 1952.

Joe Niagara’s evening broadcasts became the hit of the city. The next year, WIBG went all Rock & Roll (except for Doug Arthur's program featuring pop and big band standards). In 1958, Arthur left the station and for the first time in history, Philadelphia had a 24 hours a day Rock & Roll station.

Niagara's Rock & roll started as an experiment on WIBG because of the success of disc jockeys (in other cities) like Alan Freed.

November 1960

Success meant spot sales and that created a better bottom line. In 1956, Joe was playing the standard fare heard over WIBG like Perry Como and Doris Day. However, he segued in some Elvis Presley, the Platters, Chuck Berry and Bill Haley. As the program gained in popularity, there was more rock & roll and less pop standards.

A young Joe Niagara is playing records at WIBG on June 2, 1957.
[ LISTEN ] (29:10)

Bobby Darin's Million Dollar Baby kicks this aircheck off, then for an Earning Power In Diesel free book offer, call MA7-0334, Four Walls by Jim Reeves, The Six Teens with Was It A Dream Of Mine, and all you pay is $2391 for a new Dodge station wagon from the Thornton Fuller showroom, and much more.

Niagara got caught up in the payola scandals of 1959 & 1960 and was forced off WIBG's air. While Niagara was never the target of any payola investigation, WIBG wanted new faces. In 1960, he went to KBIG (Los Angeles) where he stayed for two years before returning to WIBG where he remained until 1970.

Joe Niagara had a small bit role in “Blue Hawaii,” the Elvis Presley smash motion picture, and a voice-over for the movie, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” both released in 1961.

During the mid-sixties when Channels 17, 29, and 48 all came on the air within 6 months of each other, Philadelphia telecasting found itself searching for programming. Early on, Joe found himself hosting a one-hour daily afternoon dance show on WIBF-TV, Channel 29. The show originated live from the basement studios of WIBF-TV, located in the Benson East Apartments in Jenkintown, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Joe was back at WDAS (this time WDAS-FM) doing an oldies format in 1971. This format was the successor to Hyski's Underground. The oldies jock lineup was amazing. The station had Joe Niagara, Hy Lit, Harvey Holiday and also from WIBG, Rod Carson. WDAS-FM sounded great, but owner Max M. Leon thought the format was too limiting. It was replaced with a forerunner of today's urban contemporary format.

It's April of 1983 and Joe is working behind the mic at WPEN. [ LISTEN ] (4:04)

Joe piches an upcoming 950 Club, Washington state apples commercial, a George Washington quiz question, and more tidbits (scoped).

In 1980, while at WPEN, Joe got into the Guinness Book of World Records for playing more than 500 different versions of "Stardust." Each day for two years, he played a different rendition.

Hy Lit and The Rockin’ Bird

While Joe is probably best known for his WIBG days and secondly for WPEN (back to playing the pop standards), he also worked at Famous 56, WFIL while the station was at its peak. He filled in for months while Dr. Don Rose recovered from an illness. Some industry leaders believe that Niagara never sounded better than during his WFIL days.

Niagara also worked for WIFI-FM, WCAU AM & FM (all in Philly). He retired from WPEN on July 30, 1999 but continued doing fill-in work for the station until 2002.

In 1998, Joe Niagara was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers' Hall of Fame. Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Museum and the National Association of Broadcasters, also saluted him. Joe has a star on Philadelphia's Walk of Fame on Broad Street.

Joe Niagara was a true professional in every sense of the word. No matter what anyone asked of him, he would deliver 110%. Joe was one of a rare breed.

The Rockin' Bird passed away at the age of 76 on June 4, 2004 following surgery at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, PA. Joe had suffered from bladder cancer for several years and died of heart failure. Joe and his wife Evelyn had one child, Joe the III. The couple had three grandchildren, one was grandson Joe the IV.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Broadcast Pioneers, Internet Archive, Penn Live Patriot News, Rock Radio Scrapbook.

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Al "Jazzbo" Collins

Born in Rochester, New York, in 1919, Collins grew up on Long Island, New York. In 1941, while attending the University of Miami in Florida, he substituted as the announcer for his English teacher's campus radio program and decided he wanted to pursue a career in radio.

Collins began his professional career as a disc jockey at a bluegrass music station in Logan, West Virginia. By 1943, he was at WKPA in Pittsburgh, moving in 1945 to WIND in Chicago, and in 1946 to KNAK in Salt Lake City.

Collins moved to New York City, and landed the overnight shift at independent powerhouse WNEW in 1950, where he invented the imaginary subterranean studio, when he looked around at the violet paint job in the announcers' booth and began telling his listeners about a glowing grotto with stalactites and mushrooms.

Mad Magazine c.1964

The Purple Grotto

Soon, Collins and his night-owl audience invented a cavern filled with imaginary friends like Harrison, the 176-year-old purple Tasmanian owl with bright orange eyes, named after onetime "Talk of the Town" columnist Harrison Kinney of The New Yorker.

In New York, he did dog food ads by speaking directly to the dogs. Collins was such a character that Mad Magazine once did a cartoon spread on him and his imaginary characters in the 1960s.

He loved purple, once had a Porsche covered with purple velveteen and topped with a faucet, and he wore jumpsuits made by his wife, Patti, along with little hats.

He was also on the air in Utah, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. After 10 years of making his WNEW Purple Grotto a hipster's haven in New York, he came to San Francisco in 1960 and became part of the fabled air staff of KSFO. Collins was also one of the first disc jockeys to use an informal, conversational tone on the air. He would improvise, much like a jazz musician, often over background music.

He made several appearances on The Tonight Show with Steve Allen in the early 50s.

Jazzbo made up "Grimm's Fairy Tales for Hip Kids" and jazzy, beatnik nursery rhymes such as “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk”. [ LISTEN ] (3:18), and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves”. The kids really dug these 78s.

In 1957, NBC-TV hired him for five weeks as the host of the Tonight show when it was known as Tonight! America After Dark in the period between hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. In 1957 Collins starred in an episode of NBC radio's science fiction radio series X Minus One. By 1959, he was with KSFO in San Francisco.

On television he hosted The Al Collins Show, which aired on KGO-TV. The format included appearances by celebrities such as Moe Howard of the Three Stooges. A popular segment on his show was the "no stinkin' badges" routine.

Al would politely request the main guest don a Mexican bandit costume, complete with ammo belts crossing the chest, six-guns in holsters, a huge sombrero and large fake mustache. The guest then posed in front of cameras for the TV audience.

With pistols pointing at the camera, the guest had to say "I don't got to show you no stinkin' badges." If the guest did not say it with sufficient sinister tone Collins made him or her repeat it until in Al's opinion the guest got it right. Collins' bit was a play on a famous exchange in the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Contained on one of Jazzbo's record albums, (where you can also send in for an official Bandido sticker), is Jazzbo issuing the Bandido Oath. [ LISTEN ] (2:02)

Later in the 1960s, he was the host of Jazz for the Asking, and he worked with several Los Angeles stations late in the decade including KMET, KFI, and KGBS.

He changed the spelling of his name to "Jazzbeaux" when he went to WTAE in Pittsburgh in 1969, and then moved to WIXZ in 1973, before returning to the West Coast three years later. While in Pittsburgh, he briefly hosted a late night television show titled Jazzbeauxz Rehearsal, an eclectic sampling of anything that caught Collins's interest.

In 1976 he returned to San Francisco, at KMPX, followed by an all-night program at KGO. He began the program with "Blues in Hoss Flat" by Count Basie. He also worked a late shift at KKIS in Pittsburg, California, in 1980.

After a stint in New York and WNEW in 1981, he was back in San Francisco at KSFO in 1983, and KFRC in 1986. Then he returned ato WNEW from 1986–90, KAPX in 1990, and hosted a weekly jazz show at KCSM - College of San Mateo, California - beginning in 1993.

Al "Jazzbo" Collins died on September 30, 1997 from cancer. He was 78. He was survived by his wife of 31 years, singer Patti Collins, and seven children from three marriages.

WHERE DID JAZZBO WORK? Here is the list: WKPA, WIND, KNAK, WNEW, KSFO, VOA, KMET, KFI, KGBS, WTAE, WIXZ, KMPX, KGO, KFRC, KAPX, KCSM.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Cosmic Aeroplane, Hammondcast’s Weblog.

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