biography
| name: |
Conover, Willis (Clark, Jr)
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| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1920–96)
|
| biography:
| Broadcaster, born in Buffalo, New York, USA. In 1939 he began promoting concerts and hosted jazz and classical programmes at radio stations in Washington, DC, and his jazz programme, Music USA began daily broadcast on the Voice of America in 1955. Although little-known in the USA, he eventually attracted the largest audience of any continuing international broadcast in history, and served as the primary source of jazz for listeners in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Cuba throughout the cold war. He emceed the Newport Jazz Festivals (1954–63) and produced and narrated the White House concert celebrating Duke Ellington's 70th birthday (1969). He was instrumental in the establishment of a jazz panel on the National Endowment for the Arts in 1975. |
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