… as we kick out the jams …
[Description by Barry Salberg]
The first time I heard the unusual voice of John Harding, I was driving into Phoenix, having just been hired to do 7-midnight at KRIZ. I thought to myself, the guy sounded like an eighty-year-old version of the Wolfman’s father, while my own pipes were more akin to that of an adolescent. I was astonished when we met, and discovered we were both the same age, in our early ’20s. Gary Stevens, just a few years removed from his own jock days at WMCA, was the station GM. No doubt, the faint echo that surrounds John’s vocal work here was Gary’s east coast hand.
John was a nice guy, clearly had his personal demons, and aspired so much to work at one of the major Chicago stations. As noted elsewhere on the site, he went on from KRIZ to WCAO in Baltimore, and then to WIBG in Philadelphia. John took his own life just prior to assuming his first shift as summer relief at WCFL.