Remembering Specs Howard
• Specs Howard, former Detroit disc jockey and founder of the influential Metro Detroit broadcasting school that bears his name, died early Saturday, Sept. 3 at the age of 96 with his wife of 68 years, Celia Liebman, by his side. “Dad will be remembered the most for the combination of his heart and his mind,” Howard’s daughter, Alisa Zee, told The Detroit News. “He was a brilliant mind with a heart as big as Texas.”
Born Jerry Liebman on April 8, 1926 in Pennsylvania, Liebman took the on-air name “Specs Howard,” getting his radio start in 1954 at the former KYW/Cleveland, which later became WKYC 1100. In 1967 Howard and his partner, Harry Martin (a.k.a. “Happy Hare“) arrived in Detroit, hired at WXYZ-AM 1270.
On Jan. 14, 1970, Howard opened the Specs Howard School of Broadcasting. “Dad decided that he didn’t want to be middle aged rock & roll DJ but he loved the business so much he wanted to help others achieve their life’s dreams and goals,” Zee said. Howard actually bought the school from popular Detroit DJ Lee Alan, who had operated it for a short time in a small facility in the Detroit suburb of Redford Township. It later moved to a more spacious facility in Southfield, MI and eventually into its own building at Nine Mile and Evergreen Roads, widening its curriculum to include TV production and other aspects of the broadcasting business, rebranding as The Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts. In 2021, the school became part of the Lawrence Technological University in Southfield as Specs@LTU. Among the many Specs Howard alums who went on to become Detroit media stars are Motor City radio icons like Ken Calvert and Doug Podell and local TV news anchors Glenda Lewis (WXYZ-TV) and Amy Andrews (WJBK-TV).
Alisa Zee, who was a local Detroit traffic reporter for a time, participated in a special tribute to her father held on Aug. 27 at Lawrence Technical University. Due to his failing health, Howard was unable to be there, but we are told the event was very well attended and video tributes were recorded and shown to Specs prior to his passing.
In a statement, Zee said of her father, “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. To everyone who ever listened to him on the air, graduated from the Specs Howard School, hired the people he trained or even just said nice things to or about Dad, the entire Specs Howard Family says, ‘Thank You.'” A documentary about Howard’s life is being produced by Zee along with Mort Crim Communications. [Additional info provided, naturally, by “Radio’s Best Friend” (and ours), Art Vuolo]
