R.I.P.: Specs Howard, Detroit Radio Broadcasting Icon

Specs Howard (1926-2022)

Specs Howard, the radio DJ who founded the Specs Howard School of Media Arts in metro Detroit more than 50 years ago, died Saturday.

He was 96, according to The Detroit Free Press.

The school was a starting point for numerous radio and TV careers in the Motor City marketplace and across the country.

Among the many Specs Howard alums who went on to become Detroit media stars are local TV news anchors Glenda Lewis (WXYZ-TV, 7 Action News) and Amy Andrews (WJBK-TV, Fox 2 Detroit) and Detroit radio icons like Ken Calvert and Doug Podell.

Howard’s daughter, Alisa Zee, issued a statement Saturday morning that said she was “heartbroken” to have to announce that her father had “completed his journey here on Earth” in the early hours of Saturday.

“He was always grateful to the entire media community. He felt your embrace every step of his professional journey, knowing that his mission to help change lives for the better was supported and guided by all,” Zee wrote.

Born Jerry Liebman and known by his on-air name Specs Howard, the Pennsylvania native launched the school in 1970 in Southfield.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Howard was a graduate of Allegheny College in his home state. After working as a DJ in Pennsylvania towns, he moved to Cleveland and became a top-40 radio disc jockey. He relocated to Detroit in 1967, where he shifted his career focus a few years later from radio announcing to educating future broadcasters.

Howard's on-air name was inspired by his taste in eyeglasses and stretched all the way back to the 1950s, according to a 2021 tribute in the Jewish News.