[Description by Contributor Jeff March]

Los Angeles radio listeners first became acquainted with Humble Harve (Harvey Miller) in 1965, when he ended his four-year stint with WIBG Philadelphia to join the air staff of upstart KBLA (1500 AM) Burbank. The distinctively soulful-sounding Miller, who championed the music of Motown and Memphis, was truly a personality jock. Five months before KBLA switched to country music as KBBQ in 1967, Humble Harve moved down the dial to Boss Radio, 93/KHJ. In the ensuing years, Harve worked at KIQQ, KKDJ, KIIS and KUTE before joining KRLA Pasadena in 1981. That would be the first of his three stints with KRLA, the signal of which covered the L.A. region. After a brief reprise in Philadelphia at WFIL, Miller returned to L.A. in 1985 and re-joined KRLA, just months after it had switched to an all-oldies format, emphasizing 1960s hits as well as tunes the station had played when it became a top-40 music station back in 1959.

High-octane and spirited in prior years, Harve sounds subdued in this aircheck, apparently restrained by a format that limits his breaks to reading stale slogans. “There is more to life than news, weather and sports. There’s KRLA,” Harve says in one promo that acknowledges the declining number of AM stations playing music. “KRLA: the station that passed the test of greatness — a long time ago,” he intones in another break. This 43-minute segment contains few commercials, but one of them is a gem: a Great Western Savings spot with Dennis Weaver as spokesman.

Embedded among the oldies is a flashback jingle — at 35:42 into the aircheck (6:30 on the ‘scoped version) you’ll hear KRLA resurrect an on-the-hour instrumental sounder that the station had used during its mid-’60s heyday. Harve remained with KRLA until 1986, when he joined KVI Seattle for three years. He signed on with KRLA for a third time in 1989, then subsequently worked at KRTH, KCBS-FM, KZLA and KIEV, all in the L.A. market.