Marv Howard, 72; Newscaster on ‘Boss Radio’

Marv Howard, one of Los Angeles radio’s premier newscasters for more than four decades, including a long stint during the legendary “Boss Radio” days of KHJ-AM (930) in the 1960s and ‘70s, has died. He was 72.

Howard, who suffered a stroke on Memorial Day and never regained consciousness, died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center, his family said.

When he retired from radio in 1994, Howard had been a newscaster at KMPC-AM (710) for 12 years, working on the air with Robert W. Morgan and traffic reporter “Big John” McElhinney during morning drive time. Before working at KMPC, Howard did the news at KFI-AM (640) from 1977 to 1982.

But many may remember him best as a newscaster at KHJ from 1963 to 1977, when his reports provided a serious counterpoint to the top-40 tunes and the entertaining chatter of famed “Boss jocks” such as “The Real” Don Steele, Sam Riddle, “Humble” Harve Miller and Charlie Tuna.

“His delivery was very authoritative and big -- he had a big news voice,” longtime friend Jim Carson, an on-air personality at KRTH-FM (101.1), told The Times this week.

Don Barrett, publisher of LARadio.com, a daily Internet radio column, called Howard the consummate radio professional. Barrett interviewed Howard for his 1997 book “Los Angeles Radio People.”

From his days at KHJ to his final years at KMPC, Barrett said, Howard “made an arc from being a straightforward newsman to working with Robert W. Morgan, where he became part of the morning show and just a lot of laughs in a very warm and friendly environment.”

“So it wasn’t just reading the news. He became a personality during that time, which a lot of newsmen can’t do,” Barrett said.

“He said in my interview with him it was the best time he had in radio,” he said.

Born Marvin Howard Fink in Los Angeles on July 13, 1931, Howard attended Los Angeles City College and then entered the Air Force, where he studied cryptanalysis during the Korean War.

An Air Force friend had gone to the Don Martin School of Broadcasting in Hollywood and Howard, who had a deep, radio-quality voice, attended the same school on the GI Bill after being discharged.

After graduating in 1956, Howard took the name Mark Ford as a disc jockey at KBIS-AM in Bakersfield. Six months later, he joined KDAY-AM (1580) in Los Angeles, where he worked with legendary rock DJ Alan Freed.

After leaving KDAY in 1962, he had brief stints at small stations in San Bernardino and Burbank before joining KHJ in 1963 as a newsman.

After the station shifted to its popular top-40 “Boss Radio” format in May 1965, Howard continued covering the news, including the Watts riots that summer. By then, he had dropped the name Mark Ford and was known as Marv Howard.

After retiring from KMPC, Howard did voice-over work.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Margaret; his children, Rodney, Melissa and Linda Fink; his brother, Donald Frank; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.