Thursday, September 20, 2007

Who was Rex Miller?

Most disc jockeys would be pumping gas if they couldn't be at the mic. As a group they are generally uneducated, but charismatic. But we one-dimensional people make the best on-air talent apparently. Rex Miller wasn't like that at all. Bright, industrious and multifaceted. the big question is why he bothered with radio at all. More here.

He was born in 1939, Miller became a radio announcer before he finished high school in St. Joseph, Missouri. He dropped out of junior college to attend Elkins Institute of Radio in Dallas. It was there he went back to radio. He studied both as an announcer and engineer. By all reports his career started at WNOX, but it didn't end there.
 
His resume includes KLIF and KBOX in Dallas, WQXI in Atlanta, WITH in Baltimore, KWK in St. Louis, WPRO Providence, WUBE in Cincinnati, WNOX in Knoxville, KQV Pittsburgh, and both WNUS and WIND in Chicago... he left his stamp in a dozen major cities. As a radioman he was unstoppable. While at KLIF he released a series of 45s in Dallas just to show off his musical talents.

He left radio in 1971 to pursue a writing career. Beginning in the 1980s he started publishing horror novels. The novel Slob was his debut. He published half a dozen horror novels including Slice, Savant, Butcher, Iceman and the 5-book Chaingang series, maybe others. Steven King was a fan. He also had a successful mail-order business dealing in collectibles for comics and superheros. In some circles Rex was referred to as an expert in the field of juvenile-related collectibles.

Rex died on May 21, 2004 at a hospital in Sikeston, Missouri. He had been in a nursing home for six years, after a debilitating stroke. More here.  [Nevermind Some deletionist prat deleted the article on Rex Miller, try this one on the Jeff Roteman page here. ]  I took some time to parse his bibliography. Some of the dates are dubious, because of reprints and e-books but have at it.


Title Year  Publisher
 X
 Saint Louis Blues
 1995
Maclay & Associates
XXX
Iceman  1990
Onyx
XXX
Profane Men
 1989 New American Library XXX
Slob  1987
Signet XXX
Frenzy  1989 Pan Books
XXX
Stone Shadow
 1989 Onyx XXX
Slice
 1990Onyx XXX
Chaingang  1992
Pocket Books
XXX
Butcher
 1994
Pocket Books XXX
Savant  1994 Pocket Books XXX