Just a few weeks before his death at age 75, Willis Conover had still been doing what he had done for more than four decades—spreading the ideology of jazz six nights a week through his Music USA radio programs on the Voice of America.
Conover was a name beloved by music lovers across the globe though almost unknown in America, outside of the jazz community, despite working in Washington, DC, for over forty years, where he served as jazz producer and broadcaster on the Voice of America (VOA). Six days a week, his two-hour program Music USA was beamed on shortwave radio throughout the world except, by law, to the USA. The second hour of that program, Jazz USA, brought him international fame. It was a lifeline for jazz enthusiasts worldwide with a loyal radio audience estimated at 100 million people.
As a teen-ager growing up in Ireland, I discovered his wonderful program which brought to life the outstanding greats of jazz. Later as a G.I. in Germany I tuned in regularly. Today, living in Israel, I am exposed to a plethora of musicians who emigrated from behind the Iron Curtain. Without hesitation every one of them acknowledges Willis Conover as the prime influence in their choosing to become a jazz musician.
His voice, arguably the most recognizable overseas of
