Re: Plastic furniture covers TV commercial?
Date: January 13, 2014 06:10AM
Hello, G. O. Mancer and all.
I ALMOST remember that TV commercial! I did several Google searches to see if a copy was posted online. If there is, I couldn't find it.
Controversy, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Not much remains commonly available, at least on a quick search, of Howard Miller's remarks. However, having 58 percent of all operating radios in Chicago tuned in to YOUR microphone, as Howard Miller had in 1968, calls for a cool and calm temperment every minute the transmitter is on.
Miller was fired from WIND (they actually tried to "shelf" him, but he sued, and was released from his contract) for intemperate remarks at the beginning of the West Side MLK Riot of 1968. The story is recounted [url=http://www.440.com/favesm.html#howard_miller]at this site dealing with the history of radio broadcasting by a former attorney for Mr. Miller.[/url]
It is sadly interesting to note that many of the areas burnt on the West Side in 1968 remain vacant lots to this day.
Miller's popularity may have been damaged by his remarks. However, he continued to draw sufficient favorable ratings so that he was a valuable commodity in the Chicago TV local advertising business for years afteward. He was also a contemporary and for a while a radio co-worker with Lynn Burton, your TV Ford Man.
Miller continued as an on-air personality in the Chicago market until the mid 1970s.
Thanks.
Brian J. Patterson.