June 2019 Rememberances

Los Angeles (and before that, Philadelphia) radio disc jockey Humble Harve Miller died June 4 at his home in Camarillo, California. Harve was the dominant nighttime jock in Los Angeles (a 13 share in 1968 to Wolfman Jack's 1) from his arrival at KHJ in February of 1967 until an incident resulting in the death of his wife in May of 1971.

Harve pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to five years to life and served 14 months before being released (in those days, California's guidelines for good behavior credits were such that many first-degree murder convictions resulted in only seven years behind bars).

He returned to radio at KKDJ, KIIS, KUTE, KRLA, WIBG (Philadelphia), KVI (Seattle), KRTH, KCBS-FM, KZLA and the Westwood One oldies satellite service. He also filled in for Casey Kasem on American Top 40 on July 13, 1974.

Harve voiced the second, nationally-syndicated version of "The History of Rock and Roll" in the fall of 1969, and the cult film "Mondo Mod" in 1967. His voice (as a KKDJ disc jockey) can be heard in the 1974 film "Aloha Bobby and Rose", and he appeared on-screen as an actor in two movies, "The Hollywood Knights" in 1980 as Dr. J, and "There Goes My Baby" in 1994 as "The Beard".

And, Harve, played by actor Rage Stewart, is a character in Quentin Tarantino's new film "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", which premiered at Cannes last month and opens in theaters next month. The film is set in 1969, and Tarantino's people contacted myself and several other aircheck collectors about a year and a half ago, looking for high-quality, unscoped KHJ airchecks of that era to be used in the film.

Humble Harve was 85.
 
^^Michael, your post brought back memories of growing up in the LA area back in the 1960s. KHJ radio was very big back then. You heard it everywhere; on the beach, parks, car radios, etc. The KHJ "Boss Jocks" were household names (Sam Riddle was my favorite!). When The Beatles came on the scene, their ratings really seemed to explode. To this day I remember KHJ radio being on my older brother's car radio when the whole "Paul Is Dead" scare was going on and freaking me out!! I did not know until now that "Humble Harve" was involved in a murder. You learn so much from this forum. Nice entry, thanks for posting.
 
^^Michael, your post brought back memories of growing up in the LA area back in the 1960s. KHJ radio was very big back then. You heard it everywhere; on the beach, parks, car radios, etc. The KHJ "Boss Jocks" were household names (Sam Riddle was my favorite!). When The Beatles came on the scene, their ratings really seemed to explode. To this day I remember KHJ radio being on my older brother's car radio when the whole "Paul Is Dead" scare was going on and freaking me out!! I did not know until now that "Humble Harve" was involved in a murder. You learn so much from this forum. Nice entry, thanks for posting.

Carpe diem: KHJ was huge. One note---the Beatles came on the scene more than a year before KHJ went Top 40 in April of '65. But there's no question, the "more music" presentation by very strong personalities (Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Sam Riddle---and later, in '67, Humble Harve and Charlie Tuna) combined with a tsunami of hits from the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Dylan and Motown gave that station, at least in its first few years, a feeling of being hardwired into a changing society and culture.
 
I remember those djs too. Humble Harve and Charlie Tuna on Boss Radio KHJ which we could get 100 miles away on the transistor radio and then when we got cable tv, they also broadcast great Los Angeles FM stations too. I kept glued to KKDJ, they broke Only Yesterday and played it often. It’s now KIIS-FM 102.7 of course. RIP
 
Charlie Tuna was the voice on the NBC's game show "Scrabble" (1984 - 1989) & (1993) with Chuck Woolery!! The late Robert W. Morgan was the announcer for "Solid Gold" (1980 - 1986) & "Solid Gold In Concert" (1986 - 1988) in Syndication. Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Dr. John big hit "Right Place, Wrong Time" went to # 9 in June of 1973 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts & his only Top 40 song. I do have "In The Right Place" (1973) & "The Very Best Of" (Rhino) on CD. Dr. John - Wikipedia Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
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