Older listeners to religious shortwave broadcaster HCJB will know the name Clayton Howard, long-time host and behind-the-scenes engineer.
Howard passed away in late January at 92 years old. He had retired to Tahlequah, Okla.
According to an appreciation on the HCJB Global website, he had the missionary blood in him, having been born to Christian missionaries in China in 1918. His parents eventually returned to the United States, settling in Wheaton, Ill. Howard graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in physics and an unquenchable interest in technology, the organization stated. He spent a year at the University of Chicago studying physics but an Easter 1940 broadcast by HCJB caught his attention and redirected his life.
Howard contacted HCJB cofounder Reuben Larson and soon, after some missionary training, he was on his way to HCJB’s facilities in Quito, Ecuador. Howard would spend most of his professional life in Quito, in the studio and at the engineering workbench. Along with his wife Helen, who passed away in 2010, Howard hosted the well-known “DX Partyline” show for two decades.
Away from the mic Howard maintained facilities and studio equipment. He also worked with young Clarence Moore during the IREC-Crown founder’s years with HCJB in the 1940s.
Howard was with HCJB from 1941 until his retirement in 1984.
