Knowing him personally for over 50 years, he was a kind gentle soul, passionate about his music who lived to "spread love" on the radio... with that deep rich, warm voice of his.
He hosted a high school dance for me in 1966. He and I would take long lunches at Jerry's and Brent's deli and he would regale me with wonderful stories of being on WIBG, Philadelphia (at only 19 years-old), his work ethic was second to none. He saw his show on KHJ to be like "The Tonight Show" and he had to be prepared and present and make each and every break as excellent as he could. Harve was never on auto-pilot. At KBLA for quite some time he was on the air seven nights a week.
He was creative until the end. His latest project was a 24-streaming oldies station with visuals. It's called Cruising Oldies Diner and you can find it here.
RIP to your brother, Humble Harve. We'll try to spread love in your absence.
14 comments :
A beautiful quick remembrance, Ken. Listening to Humble Harve was like being in an arcane car club, during the 60's & 70's. No one was hipper, or badder.
Harve's station assignments, which date back to the late 50's, were as follows:
WIBG/AM
WHAT/FM
WHAT/AM
WMID/AM
WFIL/AM
WAAT/AM
KBLA/AM
KHJ/AM
KRLA/AM
KKDJ/FM
KIIS/FM
KUTE/FM
KRTH/FM
KIQQ/FM
KZLA/FM
KCBS/FM
KVI/AM
KISS/AM
KIEV/AM
Also Harve did many years work for AFRTS, as well as Westwood One.
I don't remember Humble Howard, but as a kid I loved WIBG (990 AM) -- the Wonderful World of Wibbage. Great DJs like Hy "Hyski" Lit, Joe "the Rockin' Bird" Niagara, John "Records" Landecker, Bill Wright Sr., and Frank X. Feller were part of the Wibbage Good Guys. At the other end of the radio dial WFIL (560 AM) -- Famous 56 -- battled it out with WIBG during the mid-to-late 1960s for the moniker of top rock station in Philly with Boss Jocks "Long John" Wade, Dick Heatherton (brother of singer/dancer Joey), Jim Nettleton, Jim O'Brien (who became a popular Philly TV weatherman and was father of Frasier actress Peri Gilpin), "King" George Michael (who became a longtime Washington, DC, TV sports anchor and host of the syndicated "George Michael Sports Machine" highlight show on Sunday nights), Dr. Don Rose, and "Tiny" Tom Tyler, among others. Until album-oriented FM radio took root in the late 60s and early 70s, it was a great time to listen to radio and the big personalities who spun the records and were out and about in the Philly area hosting record hops.
I remember that 48 hour History of Rock and Roll, frequently played by my local stations on holiday weekends. My condolences to you and all who knew him.
We've lost one of the greatest. Rest In Peace, brother.
By the way, Ken, Harve is a character in the new Quentin Tarantino film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", set in 1969. He's played by actor Rage Stewart. Tarantino's research people contacted me about a year and a half ago in search of high-quality unscoped KHJ airchecks from that time.
"The Burner" is gone. I'm sorry to hear this. He is the only DJ I went to see (albeit briefly) at an in-store appearance.
I remember him from his KRLA days. Technically, I have given a tribute to him, by way of another man, every show that I do.
I have an oldies show here: https://www.rockinradio.com/ called "The Electro-Phonic Sound of Brian Phillips"(thirteen years and counting!) and every show, I plug the other DJ's on the site. When Adam J. DeMarais was the newsreader at KRLA, he'd read the news and toss it back to Humble Harve the same way, "And now here's MUCH more music with the Burner HUMBLE Harve on KRLA!" When I do my intro of the other DJ's I introduce Randy Tivens' show (a great one, by the way) by saying, "Listen to the RLT Archives Music Magazine with the Boss-man ROCKIN' Randy Tivens!" with the same cadence that DeMarais used.
Thank you Humble Harve for making my time in L.A. memorable.
...and here is Adam J. DeMarais!
http://www.kmrichards.com/LARP/Track06.mp3
I remember listening to Humble Harve. I missed his KHJ years. So, it must have been one of his later gigs. Probably on KRTH.
To be honest, Ken. I don't know how many more of these memorial blogs I can take. As I get older more and more people from my past are dying. It reminds me of my own mortality.
R.I.P. Humble Harve.
M.B.
My all time fav at WIBG!
STOOooooons!
The L.A. Times published a piece yesterday---so now people don't have to go through the archive to get the facts: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-me-humble-harve-miller-dead-20190606-story.html
"Figuring out him personally for over 50 years, he was a sort mild soul, captivated with his music who lived to “unfold love” on the radio"
How sweet. The "mild soul" who "lived to 'unfold love' on the radio" murdered his wife in 1971. Her life ended at age 35.
Is there a reason why, though you've known Harv for 50 years, you did not mention that fact that he was a convicted murderer?
I remember,fondly, Humble Harve from the radio and I remember the murder. Strangely, I couldn’t find much about the case online, and the most extensive piece I found referred to her as “his adulterous wife”. I don’t know what either he or she did in their private lives, but neither deserved to give up their lives for it. He ended that young woman’s life, and it seems to have been shrugged off by judicial and media powers. Ken, why did you not address this in your tribute?
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