Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

54 | MAY 27 • 2021 

Specs Howard’s Legacy
B

efore the digital age, the only 
non-paper media was radio and 
television. And, anyone who grew-
up in Detroit listening to radio knew the 
“Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts.” 
The more common reference was just 
“Specs Howard,” and everyone knew what 
you meant.
Specs Howard made news again last 
month. First, Howard — aka 
Julian “Jerry” Liebman — 
celebrated his 95th birthday. 
Mazel tov! 
There was also a report that 
the Specs Howard School will 
eventually close its Lahser 
Road location and, hope-
fully, affiliate its classes and 
programs with “another highly regarded 
school.” In short, another stage of evolution 
for what became known in 2009 as the 
Specs Howard School of Media Arts.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, 
Liebman earned a degree from Allegheny 
College. He considered studying law, but 
bought a radio station instead, and began a 
13-year career (1948-1970) as a successful 
disk jockey and announcer in Kitanning 
and Sharon, Pa., Cleveland, Ohio, and 
Detroit. 
Liebman adopted his on-air persona, 
“Specs Howard,” in 1956. The name derived 
from his taste in eyeglasses. Liebman was 
also known as the “Kosher DJ.” An obser-
vant Orthodox Jew, he would not work on 
Shabbat. 
Liebman moved to Detroit but could not 
duplicate the same success that he had as 
an on-air personality in Cleveland. After 
a short run, Liebman returned to work in 
Cleveland, but his family loved the Motor 
City. Upon a friend’s suggestion, Liebman 
opened his school in Detroit in 1969; it 
became his full-time career a year later. 
The Specs Howard School of Broadcast 
Arts became a tremendous success. In an 
era when the radio and television industry 
needed thousands of announcers, techni-

cians and engineers, Specs Howard was the 
place that produced them. Many prominent 
local media personalities and executives 
were Specs Howard graduates.
The William Davidson Digital Archive 
of Jewish Detroit History holds a wealth of 
information on Liebman and his school. 
Indeed, he is the subject of several feature 
articles in the Sept. 6, 1985, Dec. 24, 2009, 
and Mar. 3, 2006, issues of the JN. The story 
of his son, Jon Liebman, a very successful 
musician and former president of the Specs 
Howard School (1998-2008), is featured 
in the July 21, 2016, issue of the JN. All of 
these articles are very good reading. 
Keeping in the family tradition, Jerry 
Liebman’s daughter Shelli Liebman 
Dorfman has been a writer for the JN for 
over two decades, and scores of her stories 
can be found in the Archive.
What I found most interesting is the 
impact that Liebman and the school had 
upon Detroit’s Jewish community. For 
example, see the story about Lubavitch 
Rabbi Yitschak Kagan and his program, 
The Jewish Sound, on WKNR Radio 
(3/1/1985); Specs Howard donated use of a 
studio and an engineer for his show. Rabbi 
Herschel Finman, host of The Jewish Hour
on WPON, took voice classes at Specs 
Howard (March 7, 1997). Specs Howard 
graduate Sari Zalesin was the NHL’s first 
female public address announcer for the 
Chicago Blackhawks (Sept. 12, 1997). 
Or, note how often engagement 
announcements in the JN mention the 
Specs Howard School. When the betrothal 
of Stacy Arnoff and Brian Mingus was pub-
lished in the Apr. 16, 2004 issue of JN, both 
were cited as graduates.
The story of Jerry Liebman and/or Specs 
Howard and the Specs Howard school, all 
one and the same, is a great saga of Jewish 
Detroit and the city itself. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 

archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.

org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

