Frank Harden Signs Off
• Frank Harden, one-half of the legendary longtime morning duo of Harden & Weaver on WMAL/Washington, died Friday, June 15 at his home in Chevy Chase, MD. He was 95. Together with his on-air partner, Jackson Weaver, Harden and Weaver became a ratings and revenue-generating juggernaut that drove WMAL to the top of DC’s radio ratings for over three decades. At one time, one out of every four morning radio listeners in Washington was tuned to WMAL every day.
From the show’s inception in March 1960 until Weaver’s death in 1992, Harden and Weaver took gentle cracks at the news and newsmakers of the day, made lost pet announcements, did time checks, and performed live-read commercials, always with Weaver using one of his familiar character voices and Harden playing the reliable straight man. The team took great pride in its ability to work without a script. As Weaver told Washingtonian magazine in 1982, “Give us a fact sheet, and we’ll sell the ass off your product.”
Frank Harden was born in Macon, GA in 1922, and got his first radio job in Savannah in 1944, shortly after he was discharged from the Army. Following stops in Atlanta and Denver, Harden landed at WMAL in 1947, working as a staff announcer and show host for several years, first in radio, and also at WMAL-TV in the ’50s. In early 1960 WMAL’s new manager, Andy Ockershausen, came up with the idea of teaming up Harden and Weaver. The duo debuted on March 1, 1960, and success did not come overnight. They spent many years doing appearances at Kiwanis dinners and county fairs, making their names — and the WMAL call letters — synonymous with Washington. “When Harden and Weaver started, nobody knew who they were,” longtime WMAL afternoon host, Bill Trumbull recalled in 2008. “Andy promoted them like crazy, and brought them various places. When they eventually hit No. 1 in the ratings, they stayed there for a long, long time.”
After Weaver’s death in 1992, Harden (above, center) remained as co-host of WMAL’s morning show, along with Tim Brant and Andy Parks, through 1997, retiring shortly after his 50th anniversary at WMAL. Harden is survived by his wife, Berit, of Chevy Chase, MD and Stockholm, Sweden, and their extended families. [Thanks to Jeffrey Yorke and special thanks to John Matthews, who wrote a great remembrance of Frank Harden]
