Willis
Conover was one of the most-listened-to voices heard on the Voice of
America from 1955 to 1996. His program “Music USA” introduced
the world to jazz music, a uniquely American type of music. Jazz
music was banned in countries behind the iron curtain. The only way
for hundreds of millions of listeners to hear jazz was by listening
to the Voice of America.
On the radio, Conover used “Special English”, a slower paced speech
that uses only the 1,500 words found in the Special English
Dictionary distributed worldwide by the VOA. Many people around the
world learned to understand and speak English as a result of
listening to Music USA.
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| Willis Conover (1920-1996) |
Conover
was recognized in
the halls of Congress on more than one occasion, with two news
articles read into the Congressional Record in July of 1985, H. Res
189 of the 103rd Congress (June 14, 1993, passed), and most recently,
H Res. 324 of the 111th Congress (April 2, 2009, introduced), which
proposed designating April 25, 2009, as “Willis Conover Day.” He
was featured in a Wall
Street Journal
article by Doug Ramsey in July.
A
petition to honor Willis Conover with a postage stamp for his 100th
birthday in
2020
has reached 8,000 signatures.
Visit
the museum to view our two large pictures of Willis Conover and read
the
Wall Street Journal
ariticle.
Additional,
interesting links:
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/25/426029637/willis-conover-the-voice-of-jazz-behind-the-iron-curtain
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