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Francis Guinn Harden (October 28, 1922 – June 15, 2018) was an American radio announcer whose career spanned more than 50 years. Harden was best known as the genial co-host of The Harden and Weaver Show, which aired on WSBN, in Washington, D.C., from 1960 to 1998.
His book, On the Radio With Harden and Weaver, co-authored with Jackson Weaver and Ed Meyer, was published by Morrow in 1983.Harden and Weaver, 1983.
Still wearing an Army uniform, the 22-year-old Harden walked into the offices of Savannah NBC radio affiliate WBMQ seeking employment. An on-the-spot interview and audition led to his first job as an announcer. Over the next three years, he worked at WSAV in Savannah, WRLD and WGKA in Atlanta, and KLZ in Denver. Learning of an opening at ABC affiliate WSBN in Washington, DC, Harden auditioned and was hired, starting Christmas Eve, 1947.Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 43
At WMAL, Harden reported news and sports, covered presidential speeches, congressional and other public events. He was the announcer for Edward P. Morgan and The News Show for 8 years. A quantitative analysis of commentary on labor issues of 1958 by James Walter Wesolowski- 1962 - Free Google eBook, p.4. Google Books
In 1960, WMAL manager Andy Ockershausen offered Harden and his partner an opportunity to create a show for the coveted 6 to 10 am morning drive time. The resulting Harden and Weaver Show began without fanfare, but gradually gained status as Washington's highest rated morning show. According to Marc Fisher, senior editor of the Washington Post, "By the mid-'60s, Harden and Weaver owned the mornings."
Each program included a musical march and hymn, broadcast at the same precise time so that listeners could depend upon them during the morning routine. The co-hosts read letters from listeners, took on-air phone calls, and hosted occasional unscheduled guests.Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 86 & 90.
Although Harden and Weaver discussed news events, they remained non-controversial, and neither revealed his personal political leanings in public. Harden wrote, in 1983, "(We) can be serious when the situation calls for it, and I can be a bit caustic at times. But it's usually on behalf of Everyman railing against the system. We don't pose as heavyweights... We'll acknowledge an issue - satirically - but won't climb on a soapbox... We're not in the business of alienating people."Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 86
In classic comedy mode, Harden was the easy-going straight man whose comments prompted Weaver's comic antics, based on a recurring repertoire of characters, each with a distinct accent and vocal tone. "Their characters became part of the daily conversation in offices, schools and shops," reported Fisher in the Washington Post. "Harden and Weaver's Rocky Rockmont, a fictional car salesman from a Chevy dealer, won so much currency that the actual salesmen at the dealership donned buttons saying, "Hi, I'm Rocky." When the WMAL duo made fun of the kitchen help at Sam Wong's Moon Palace restaurant on Wisconsin Avenue NW, business there soared, and the owner became a regional celebrity. After Harden and Weaver started putting the Eastern High School choir on the air to sing each Christmas season, it gained a following and reputation that persist three decades later."
Congressman Frank R. Wolf recorded in the US Congressional Record that when a Virginia park was threatened by budget cuts, "Harden and Weaver helped spur the community on with their daily reports on the importance of the park to school children. And that park was saved. When Harden and Weaver spoke, folks listened."United States Congressional Record, Volume 144, Number 20 (Wednesday, March 4, 1998), Page E281 GPO.gov
"Theirs was a quiet humor, restricted by a reticence that the culture soon would discard as old-fashioned. But before they vanished, (the show) did what many media efforts dream of, but never quite accomplish: They created community," wrote Fisher in the Washington Post.
Harden and his co-host made literally thousands of appearances at various community social and civic events, including serving as MCs at The Navy League and Whitehouse Correspondents dinner.'Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 118 In January 1975 the editors of Washingtonian named Harden and Weaver, "Washingtonians of the Year." "It's not easy to make hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians wake up a little less grumpy every morning, but that's what Frank Harden and Jackson Weaver do," wrote the editors. "...Anyone who has ever heard them knows that Harden and Weaver like people. They have reached out and encouraged us to smile more often, and to help those most in need of aid. Their concern has made Washington a better place to live.Washingtonian Magazine, Washington, DC, January, 1975 Issue, scanned by archivist Patrick Jules via Xerox Work Centre Pro, Oct. 18, 2011
Harden and Weaver used their celebrity to raise funds for community organizations, most notably the Children's National Medical Center, widely called Children's Hospital. Their listeners have donated multiple millions of dollars to the hospital's research and treatment center, by means of an ongoing golf outing.National Children's Medical Center, Washington, DC, Children's National In appreciation, the hospital named a wing in their honor.
Guests, regular callers, and self-identified listeners to the Harden and Weaver Show included President Gerald Ford,Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 118 dozens of Congressmen, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Air Force General Curtis LeMay,Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 117 radio legend Paul Harvey,Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 123 talk show host David Frost,Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 123 singer Jimmy Dean,Harden and Weaver, 1983. p. 122 boxer Muhammad Ali, Washington Redskins' quarterback Sonny Jurgensen and coach George Allen.
Media personality Willard Scott wrote of Harden and Weaver, "They are successful because they are themselves. They love what they do and have a good time doing it, and the audience shares in this fun. They are dedicated to public service and have been active in the community. The show is not the result of a consulting firm or out of central casting... They are real and honest with themselves and their audience. The audience senses that and responds."Harden and Weaver, 1983. foreword p.7
Harden received the March of Dimes A.I.R. (Achievement in Radio) Lifetime Award and other honors. The Children's National Medical Center Golf Classic that he co-founded in 1971 remains an important fund-raiser: The 40th outing occurred in 2011.
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