De Arthur Woodrow ‘Woody’ Miller (1927-2017)

October 01, 2017 
/ Contributed By: Robert Mikell

Woody Miller

Woody Miller

© The California Advocate

De Arthur Woodrow Miller, or “Woody,” as he was most popularly known, was a trailblazer in the African American community of Fresno, California. He was the first African American to own a radio station in California’s Central Valley and was a leader of the local civil rights movement.

De Arthur Woodrow Miller was born in Dermott, Arkansas, on October 22, 1927. He grew up partly in Oakland, California, and then moved to Fresno in 1935, where he lived on a cattle ranch owned by his grandparents. After graduating from high school in 1945, Miller served as an aircraft mechanic in a segregated U.S. Army until it desegregated in 1948.

In 1949, Miller returned to Fresno and was hired by Morrie Mindel, owner of KLIP, a local radio station, where he played music that resonated with the Black community. He moved to Bakersfield in 1956, worked for another radio station, and then on to radio station KJAZ in the San Francisco Bay Area. Miller returned to Fresno in 1962 to work as an assistant to Mindel in the operation of a new radio station, KLIP, in Fowler, California, just south of Fresno.

Miller became a co-owner and general manager of KLIP in 1977. He promoted a station format that was primarily rhythm and blues, jazz, gospel, and urban contemporary music, targeting an audience beyond Fresno and throughout California’s Central Valley. In the early 1980s, he co-founded and operated Valley Black Talk Radio at KFCF, one of the earliest examples of the talk radio format that would become nationally popular in the late 1980s. His program included interviews with community leaders and musicians as well as live broadcasts of community meetings and church services.

Miller was a pioneer in developing a half-Black, half-Hispanic format. The format focused on targeting the African American market in the mornings with Rhythm and Blues. In the afternoon and evenings, he geared the music to the Mexican American market, which was a more significant segment of the local audience than Black Fresno. He also interviewed some of the great musicians of the time on his program, “The Jazz World of Woody Miller,” which aired on KLIP. James BrownLouis ArmstrongDuke Ellington, and Ray Charles were among the people who appeared on his show. Miller also taught a course on the History of African American Music at Fresno City College and volunteered as a Jazz Host on radio station KFSR FM on the campus of California State University, Fresno.

Miller ran unsuccessfully for a Fresno City council seat in 1971. In 1968, he co-chaired the Central Valley presidential campaign of Robert Kennedy and coordinated Jesse Jackson’s local campaign committee when the civil rights leader ran for president in 1984 and 1988. In 1983, the City of Fresno named May 14 “Woody Miller Day.”

De Arthur Woodrow Miller died in Fresno on May 13, 2017, at the age of 89.

About the Author

Author Profile

Dr. Robert S. Mikell is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he graduated from the Booker T. Washington High School. He holds an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration from Fresno City College, a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Business Administration from California State University, Fresno, and the Doctor of Education degree from the University of Southern California. Dr. Mikell served as a member of the faculty at California State University, Fresno from 1972 until he retired in 2007 as a Full Professor, during which time he taught courses in Ethnic Studies (African American Studies) and in the School of Business (Management and Marketing). He served twelve years (1978-90) as the Chairperson of the Ethnic Studies Program. In 2007, the university bestowed on him the honor of Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies.

Dr. Mikell was the founder of the Africana Studies Research Center and served as the Director. His teaching emphasis was in the area of socio-cultural dynamics which included courses in race relations, cultural diversity, and cultural music, as well as economic and business development. He developed and taught courses on African American Music and “The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,Principles of Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and other courses. He served as co-chair of the MLK, Jr Monument Committee, which commissioned the life-size statue of Dr. King located in the University’s Peace Garden. Currently, he is serving on the President’s Nelson Mandela Project Monument Committee at Fresno State.

Dr. Mikell’s research interest and consultation works are in the fields of minority business development, migration patterns, early New Orleans Jazz, innovative teaching through distance learning for which he received a FIFSE grant in the amount of $243,000, and the history of the Black town Allensworth (a published work). He received funding for several of research projects that involved introducing students to research methodology. Dr. Mikell wrote numerous grant proposals that received funding which were designed to enhance the well-being of all students. Other projects funded were, The Evolution of African American Music which included weekend courses and lectures/demonstrations with live music performed by local musicians.

Dr. Mikell has written a manuscript titled, “Peter Davis: The First Music Master of the Great Louis Armstrong.” his most recent article is The Legacy of Louis Armstrong’s Music Teacher Peter Davis, The Syncopated Times, July 27, 2019. Several of his other publications can be found on the academic website, blackpast.org. His recent speaking engagements include: “The Meaning of Juneteenth”, Allensworth State Historic Park, June 18, 2022; “African American History: the Antebellum South and Reconstruction Era”, Allensworth State Historic Park, Oct. 8, 2022; and “Peter Davis, the Music Master of Louis Armstrong”, Satchmo SummerFest, New Orleans, Aug 7, 2022.

Dr. Mikell has distinguished himself through numerous community and University awards. He devoted himself to serving on a variety of committees at the Department, School, and University levels. He is a co-founder and former board member of Valley Small Business Development Corporation and was an elected official (seven years) for the Educational Employees Credit Union, where he served as the Chairperson of the Supervisory Committee. Dr. Mikell presently volunteers as a Jazz Host at KFSR 90.7, FM streaming at kfsr.org, Red Beans and Jazz, Fridays, 9:00am to 12:00pm. His program theme song is “Hello Dolly” song by Louis Armstrong.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Mikell, R. (2017, October 01). De Arthur Woodrow ‘Woody’ Miller (1927-2017). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/miller-de-arthur-woodrow-woody-1927-2017/

Source of the Author's Information:

“This soulful radio broadcaster was one of the Valley’s first black public figures,” Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article157473209.html.

Further Reading