Howard Jones
WIP Radio
1946

Broadcast Pioneers member Howard Jones was in broadcasting for 4 decades. However, most of us will remember him as “Happy the Clown.” Born in the middle of July of 1909 in Rockingham, North Carolina, Howard Jones had done it all. Disc Jockey, TV Host and friend to millions of Delaware Valley children.

He got into show business as an actor performing mostly in musical comedies. Then he became a radio announcer in 1928 in both the Norfolk and Boston markets before moving to Philadelphia in 1933 when he joined the staff of the station owned by the Gimbel Brothers Department Store, WIP Radio.

In the forties (still at WIP), Howard Jones told a national publication that his favorite gimmick was having bandleaders “come up and take a bow,” and that he had every great orchestra leader on his program. He would also read messages from them to his radio audience.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
1946 Photo originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Allen Stone
© 2007, All Rights Reserved

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