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Howard Hoffman (born October 6, 1954) is an American voice actor and a broadcast branding producer in New York City. He also operates the internet radio station Great Big Radio. He was also a presenter of Contemporary Hit Radio shows in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Providence, Phoenix, and Houston.
Hoffman is currently the Creative Services/Production Director of WOR (AM)/iHeartMedia New York.
After a brief stint in Spring Valley, New York, Howard landed his first Top 40 job doing evenings on WALL in Middletown, New York in 1973. It was here where Howard found his voice, relying heavily on listener phone participation. What set the show apart was the inclusion of local and national pop culture topics as well as humorously touching on the news as part of the show's fabric, along with the hits and oldies. Hoffman said, "… that's where I first started doing stuff like putting callers on the air, clowning around with them, hanging up on them … and they loved it." Howard also included pre-recorded parodies and sketches, which were a coveted talent that set apart the top DJ entertainers. This did not go unnoticed, and in 1974, he was hired at WDRQ in Detroit for his production and on-air skills.
This drew him to WPRO-FM Gary Berkowitz, Consultant at GaryBerk.com . in Providence, Rhode Island, which gave him the freedom to do an evening show with more humor and poking fun at the music he had to play. Howard Hoffman on WPRO Airchexx.com , 1977, This sparked some conversations with listeners who took on Howard – either in agreement or rage. A highlight of Hoffman's tenure happened on February 5, 1978, during the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978. He and several other WPRO AM and FM staffers were stranded at the radio station for three days. With the FM discontinued and its transmitter unreachable, WPRO's AM and FM staff double-teamed on the AM and brought non-stop news and information to the area. Howard calls this his "first true radio moment" – in how the medium can be a force in bringing a community together in an emergency.
In late 1979, Howard got what everyone in the radio business refers to as "THE call"“WABC Sets New Personality Lineup”, Radio and Records Magazine, November 30, 1979. when WABC, New York, program director Al Brady Law offered him the coveted evening slot as part of a major restructuring of WABC's lineup. Radio and Records Magazine, "WABC's New Direction" – John Leader Interviews Al Brady Law" December 7, 1979. As it turned out, it was while Howard was in Providence that Law listened to his show while Law was programming WHDH in Boston. Howard jumped at the chance and became one of the last on-air hires of WABC's MusicRadio era. TV/Radio Cable Week, April 6, 1980.
To accommodate his phone-intensive act, WABC installed an extra mixing board and a telephone hybrid system – something the station never used previously. Ten minutes into his very first night, he showed his self-deprecating side when he said "hello" to his parents listening in Suffern – then said, "Who am I kidding? They tuned out of this mess five minutes ago."
Howard's high-energy delivery was a shock for many WABC listeners, who were accustomed to the station's more "adult" approach. Critics weren't kind to this sudden shift and wondered what WABC was thinking. However, everyone involved was aware that FM was beginning to dominate the radio landscape, and Howard's arrival was designed to be part of a game-changer for the station. Long time afternoon fixture Dan Ingram was moved to mornings, Ingram sound-alike Bob Cruz was placed in the afternoons and Sturgis Griffin was brought in for overnights.
Hoffman's tenure at WABC was marked by two diverse events. First was his now notorious 1979 New Year's Eve show, just two weeks into his job. It was a huge in-studio party with WABC and WPLJ engineers, staffers and announcers while Hoffman counted down the top 100 of the year. That show continued almost two hours into 1980 before he finally reached number one. The second was the night of the killing of John Lennon, shortly after Howard took the helm of the overnight show. WABC became a mix of all-news and all-Beatles throughout that night, with Hoffman anchoring the event.
Despite an improvement in listenership,“WABC Makes a Ratings Rebound”, Joel Denver, Radio and Records Magazine, July 31, 1981. the handwriting was on the wall for AM's future, and WABC began the switch to talk in 1981 with the addition of the New York Yankees, which moved Howard to the all-night shift. Howard attempted to do an all-night talk show called The Phonebooth which was produced and co-written by his friend Tom Leykis. The show went unnoticed by WABC management, however, and Howard exited the station when he was replaced by WABC's first full-time talk show, Dr. Judith Kuriansky.
Following a short morning stint at KKFR in Phoenix, Howard returned to New York to co-host the "Howard and Stephanie" morning show on dance-oriented CHR WQHT (WQHT). He and Stephanie Miller occupied that slot for the better part of four years before the station went toward a more hardcore hip-hop format. During this time, he landed in the "Top 40 DJs of All Time" list compiled by Decalcomania. New York Daily News, September 5, 1995.
His voice acting credits include all the characters The Voice Actors, 2010. in the Academy Award nominated animated short The Chicken from Outer Space IMDb, The Chicken from Outer Space, 1996. – the pilot for Courage the Cowardly Dog. He also worked on the series Jackie Chan Adventures and on several projects for Warner Bros. and Toon Disney. His commercial credits include REI, Hostess, Kraft Foods, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ford, Anheuser-Busch, Audi, Post Cereals, Wawa Markets, Mattel, NBC, T-Mobile US and many more. He is signed with DPN Talent of Beverly Hills for his voice acting.
On July 15, 2019, Hoffman was named Creative Services/Production Director of WOR (AM)/iHeartMedia New York.
In 2025, Hoffman returned to his roots as an air personality at Connoisseur Media's WEBE in Connecticut.
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