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Ben Manilla
Ben Manilla
Ben Manilla
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Manilla in 2013

Ben Manilla (December 8, 1952 – September 30, 2024) was an American broadcaster, audio producer, and teacher. He produced and directed award-winning radio programs. His work in the late 1970s included the alternative news features, News Blimps,[1][2] and music documentaries for WLIR, where he was production director and on-air personality.

In the 1980s, Manilla created news documentaries for WOR-AM, and helped develop programs at Radio Today, New York, including Flashback, Rock Stars with Timothy White, and Radio MTV.

In 1991, he moved to San Francisco and started Ben Manilla Productions which created national radio series including The House of Blues Radio Hour with Dan Aykroyd[3] (with whom Manilla co-wrote the book Elwood's Blues: Interviews with the Blues Legends & Stars),[4] Philosophy Talk with Stanford University,[5] The Loose Leaf Book Company with Tom Bodett (syndicated to 227 stations with an audience of 250,000),[6] and The Sounds of American Culture on National Public Radio's All Things Considered,[7] which evolved into Inside the National Recording Registry on Studio 360, and ultimately The Sounds of America on 1A, where it is currently broadcast.[8]

In 2003, BMP with Martin Scorcese and the Experience Music Project helped lead a nation-wide, multimedia event called The Blues. The year-long initiative included BMP’s thirteen-hour radio documentary, The Blues with Keb’ Mo’, which became the most widely distributed special in the history of PRI. The series was also broadcast across Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. In addition to the radio series, The Blues included: a 7-hour PBS TV series overseen by Martin Scorcese; educational outreach and curriculum; two web sites; a companion book from Harper-Collins; DVDs and more than 25 music CDs, a concert tour, a concert film, and a traveling museum exhibit.

BMP also helped develop and produce podcasts such as The Science of Happiness,[9] Voices in the Hall,[10] Masters of Scale,[11] and The Hash.[12]

Manilla's awards include a Peabody Award,[13] for Inside the National Recording Registry in 2012, Columbia University's Edward Howard Armstrong Award,[14] the 2003 International Radio Festival Grand Award,[15] Billboard magazine's Best Syndicated Radio Show,[16] four Grand Awards, plus multiple golds, silvers, bronzes and honorable mentions from the New York Festivals International Radio Awards, first place award from Ohio State Public Service Broadcasting, first place Scripps Howard Award, three first place Music Journalism Awards, first place Local and National Awards from Associated Press, first place Local and National Awards from United Press International, first place Award from the Radio and TV News Directors Association, two Blues Foundation Awards (Keeping the Blues Alive and WC Handy Award, the Blues Music Association's A.G.E.S. Award, a Golden Reel and two Silver Reels from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award.

In 2003, Ben formed the multi-platform production and consulting company Media Mechanics with broadcast veterans Mike Henry and Paul Marszalek.

From 2005-2019, Manilla has been an instructor at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where he taught Radio News Reporting, and was the Academic Coordinator for Audio.[17]

In June 2024 the Library of Congress acquired the House of Blues Radio Hour archive, spanning 20 years’ worth of radio programs, performances and nearly 2,000 original interviews showcasing and celebrating Blues music and adjacent genres.[18]

Manilla was born in 1952 to James Nicholson Manilla and Margarita Fernandez Manilla. He grew up in New York City and attended New York University, where he graduated with a drama degree. Manilla died from cancer on September 30, 2024, at the age of 71.[19]

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Ben Manilla

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Ben Manilla was an American radio producer, broadcaster, DJ, and educator known for his pioneering work in creative audio production, including the creation and long-term production of the syndicated House of Blues Radio Hour (later Elwood’s BluesMobile) with Dan Aykroyd, his early innovations in punk and new wave radio programming, and his foundational role in building the audio journalism program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. His career spanned more than five decades, during which he produced award-winning documentaries, series, and features that aired on thousands of stations across commercial and public radio formats in the United States and internationally. Born James Ben Manilla in Manhattan, New York, in 1952, he began his radio career while studying drama at New York University, working at the campus station WNYU-FM before transitioning to professional roles in the mid-1970s. He gained early prominence as morning host and production director at WLIR-FM on Long Island, where he hosted the show It’s Manilla Time, produced countercultural news segments known as News Blimps, and contributed to the station’s influential coverage of emerging punk and new wave music. After holding positions at networks such as RKO Radio and WOR, he moved to San Francisco in 1991 and founded Ben Manilla Productions, an independent company specializing in audio content creation, distribution, and consulting. Among his most enduring contributions was the nearly 25-year run of House of Blues Radio Hour / Elwood’s BluesMobile, a blues-focused program featuring interviews with prominent artists and music drawn from his extensive collection, which became one of the longest-running nationally syndicated blues radio series. He also produced notable series such as a 13-part blues documentary hosted by Keb’ Mo’ for Public Radio International and ongoing segments for NPR exploring the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. His work earned him major honors including a Peabody Award for episodes on the National Recording Registry, as well as Edward R. Murrow, Armstrong, and other industry awards. In 2024, the Library of Congress permanently archived the full run of his blues series episodes and nearly 2,000 original artist interviews. From 2004 to 2019, Manilla taught radio journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where he served as head of audio starting in 2014 and mentored students in production techniques during the rise of podcasting. He retired from teaching in 2019 but remained active in audio production until his death on September 30, 2024, at age 71 from cancer at his home in Lagunitas, California. His legacy endures through his preserved archives, the continued airing of his programs, and the influence he exerted on generations of audio journalists.

Early life and education

Family background and childhood

Ben Manilla was born James Ben Manilla on December 8, 1952, in Manhattan, New York City. He was the son of James Manilla, a filmmaker, and Margarita Fernandez Manilla, a fashion director. Manilla grew up as a native New Yorker in Manhattan, where he spent his childhood in an apartment on the 15th floor of a prewar building located half a block from Central Park. This setting placed him in the heart of New York City's urban landscape during his formative years.

Education and early influences

Ben Manilla attended New York University, where he declined a wrestling scholarship in order to concentrate on his studies. He graduated from the university with a degree in drama. While at NYU, Manilla became involved in college radio at the student station WNYU-FM, marking his earliest documented engagement with broadcasting and audio production. This experience with campus radio served as an initial influence on his later professional path in media.

Early radio career

New York broadcasting beginnings

Ben Manilla began his professional radio career in 1975 at the Progressive Radio Network, a Bronx-based startup, where he served as executive producer of the syndicated alternative news feature series News Blimps. These densely produced, fast-paced three-minute segments mixed news actualities with music, comedy, movie sound clips, and countercultural perspectives to meet FCC public affairs requirements for rock stations. He subsequently joined WLIR-FM, the influential Long Island rock station known for pioneering punk and new wave music in the region, where he held roles as production director, morning show host of "It’s Manilla Time," and on-air DJ specializing in punk and new wave programming. On December 8, 1980, Manilla participated in WLIR's coverage of John Lennon's death, contributing to the station's all-night marathon broadcast of Beatles and Lennon music that followed the initial confirmation of the news by WLIR's news director. In the following years, Manilla created news documentaries for WOR-AM and held production positions at RKO Radio Networks and the syndication company Radio Today, where he helped develop programs including Flashback and Rock Stars.

Key early productions and DJ work

In the mid-1970s, Ben Manilla began producing News Blimps, a series of three-minute countercultural news features for the Progressive Radio Network. These densely produced segments combined music, comedy, movie sound clips, and news actualities in a fast-paced, satirical format that offered an alternative to traditional broadcast news. Distributed on reel-to-reel tape to several hundred rock radio stations nationwide, the features helped stations meet FCC public affairs programming requirements while aligning with the emerging free-form FM aesthetic. The series continued into the late 1970s and represented one of Manilla's first major contributions to syndicated alternative radio content. At WLIR-FM in Hempstead, Long Island, where he served as production director and on-air personality during the late 1970s and 1980s, Manilla hosted the morning show "It’s Manilla Time" and produced additional short-form comedic and melodic news segments, including continuations of News Blimps. He also created recurring humorous bits, such as weather reports delivered by the fictional superhero "WeatherMan!" and his wonder dog Skippy. WLIR gained prominence during this period for its pioneering adoption of punk, new wave, and synth music well before major New York City stations, and Manilla contributed significantly as a DJ by championing these genres and connecting with the Lower East Side music scene. Manilla produced music documentaries during his WLIR tenure, starting with a 1979 special marking the 10th anniversary of Woodstock that featured interviews with festival organizers, performers, and attendees. This documentary's success led to a series of syndicated radio profiles exploring the lives and legacies of rock figures such as Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison. Later in New York, while working at WOR and with the syndicator Radio Today, he helped develop programs including Radio MTV and Rock Stars with Timothy White, further expanding his influence in syndicated music content.

Independent production career

Founding Ben Manilla Productions

In 1991, Ben Manilla relocated to San Francisco, where he founded Ben Manilla Productions (BMP), an independent audio production company, initially opening its studio in the city's Financial District. This move marked his transition to fully independent production after his earlier East Coast radio career, enabling him to develop and syndicate original programming from a West Coast base. Over the following decades, BMP's operations relocated to San Francisco's Mission District before Manilla shifted to working from a home studio in Lagunitas, California, in later years. Ben Manilla Productions emphasized creative audio storytelling, including efforts to preserve historical recordings and mentor emerging talent through internships and hands-on training that launched careers for several protégés in public radio and independent production. In 2003, Manilla co-founded Media Mechanics with broadcast veterans Mike Henry and Paul Marszalek, establishing a multiplatform consulting and production company with offices in New York, Denver, and San Francisco that worked with radio stations and media companies worldwide. This partnership reflected an evolution toward broader multi-platform strategies beyond traditional radio production.

Syndicated programs and collaborations

Ben Manilla's work through Ben Manilla Productions included several nationally syndicated radio series and collaborations that extended his reach across public radio and podcast platforms. One of his most prominent and enduring syndicated programs was the House of Blues Radio Hour, launched in 1993 in collaboration with Dan Aykroyd (appearing as Elwood Blues). The program featured interviews with prominent blues artists and music drawn from Manilla's extensive collection, becoming one of the longest-running nationally syndicated blues radio series with a nearly 25-year run before transitioning to Elwood’s BluesMobile. The full run of episodes and nearly 2,000 original artist interviews were permanently archived by the Library of Congress in 2024. Manilla also produced a 13-part blues documentary series hosted by Keb’ Mo’ that aired on Public Radio International in 2003. An early project was The Loose Leaf Book Company, a weekly hour-long series hosted by Tom Bodett that explored children's and young adult literature through author interviews and thematic discussions. Produced by Manilla, it aired from 2000 to 2002 and was distributed to 237 stations across 38 states. Manilla co-founded and served as senior producer for Philosophy Talk, a weekly one-hour public radio program hosted by Stanford University philosophers that examines everyday issues through reasoned conversation and challenges listeners to question assumptions. Produced in association with KALW on behalf of Stanford University, the series has aired for more than two decades and generated over 600 episodes. Beginning in 2006, Ben Manilla Productions created short documentary features highlighting inductees to the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. Initially aired on NPR's All Things Considered as The Sounds of American Culture or The Sounds of America, these segments later transitioned to Studio 360 and now appear on the public radio program 1A as The Sounds of America. The features explore the historical, cultural, and musical significance of landmark recordings through interviews with artists, scholars, and other key figures. In 2012, five episodes from the series received a Peabody Award for broadcast excellence. Manilla's company also contributed production to podcasts, including The Science of Happiness from UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and Voices in the Hall for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the latter co-produced with Jennie Cataldo and featuring in-depth conversations with country music artists about creative development and career paths. Additional podcast collaborations included Masters of Scale and The Hash.

Notable productions

House of Blues Radio Hour

The House of Blues Radio Hour was a syndicated weekly radio program created and produced by Ben Manilla in 1993, featuring Dan Aykroyd hosting in character as Elwood Blues from the Blues Brothers. The series originated from a remark by Bonnie Raitt during Manilla's production of a live broadcast for John Lee Hooker's 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, where she and Steve Miller noted the absence of blues music on radio airwaves. Manilla served as the primary producer and engineer, personally conducting or overseeing interviews with blues artists that were edited to feature Aykroyd's dubbed performance as the interviewer, creating the illusion of direct conversation. The program aired from 1993 to 2017 (approximately 24 years), initially under the title House of Blues Radio Hour and later renamed Elwood’s BluesMobile in 2012, while expanding to a two-hour format in 2009. It became recognized as the longest-running national blues program, syndicated across stations in the United States and internationally. The series included over 2,000 original interviews with legendary and emerging blues musicians, along with performances, historical commentary, and explorations of the genre's influence on rock, soul, and R&B. A companion book, Elwood's Blues: Interviews with the Blues Legends & Stars, co-authored by Manilla and Aykroyd, was published in 2004, compiling selected conversations from the radio series. In June 2024, the Library of Congress acquired the full archive, encompassing all programs, unedited interviews, and related materials, with Manilla having raised nearly $50,000 to initiate digitization before the Library assumed responsibility for the ongoing project.

Documentary series and other major works

Ben Manilla produced the thirteen-hour radio documentary series The Blues in 2003, hosted by Grammy Award-winning blues artist Keb' Mo'. The 13-part series, with each episode running 60 minutes, explored the history of the blues from its origins in Africa and the American South to its contemporary legacy, incorporating historic recordings, interviews with artists, historians, and producers, and new performances of classic songs by contemporary musicians. Produced by Ben Manilla Productions in collaboration with Experience Music Project and presented by WGBH Radio Boston, the series was distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) as a companion to Martin Scorsese's PBS television documentary series The Blues, premiering on September 28, 2003, in alignment with the television broadcast. It is reportedly the most widely distributed special in PRI's history, reaching a broad audience through public radio syndication and contributing to a year-long nationwide multimedia initiative celebrating the music. Earlier in his career, Manilla developed innovative short-form audio features known as News Blimps during the late 1970s while at WLIR, where he served as production director. These densely produced, fast-paced segments—typically three minutes long—blended news actualities, music, comedy, movie sound clips, and satirical commentary on current events, distributed via reel-to-reel tape to hundreds of rock radio stations in the pre-satellite era. Described as "theater of the mind," the News Blimps satirized news with a countercultural perspective and marked an early evolution in Manilla's approach to creative audio storytelling that later informed his documentary work. Manilla also produced the Peabody Award-winning series Inside the National Recording Registry (later known as The Sounds of America), beginning in 2006, which created non-narrated audio profiles of significant recordings inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Teaching career

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Ben Manilla served as a long-time audio instructor at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism from 2004 to 2019. He taught courses in radio news reporting and contributed to audio production education as part of the school's audio journalism curriculum. In 2014, shortly after Edward Wasserman became dean, Manilla was appointed head of audio journalism. During his tenure, Manilla played a key role in building the program's infrastructure by helping to establish the basement audio studio at North Gate Hall. He laid the foundation for the school's current audio journalism program amid the early rise of the podcast era, including through fundraising support that strengthened the initiative. His extensive prior experience as a professional radio producer informed his teaching, enabling him to provide practical, professional-level guidance to students. Manilla was widely regarded as a mentor to his students, many of whom went on to successful careers in audio journalism. Former students and audio alumni remembered him as both an educator and friend, with his retirement in 2019 marked by a gathering attended by many of those he had influenced. Former dean Edward Wasserman described him as an educator of great talent whose legacy was the school's strong audio program.

Awards and recognition

Personal life and death

Family and personal milestones

Ben Manilla's first marriage was to Saundra McPherson from 1990 to 2013, during which time they had a son, Griffin Manilla. In 2017, Manilla married Eliza Lapé in a wedding ceremony in Hana, Maui. This union represented a second marriage for both partners and involved blending their families, with Manilla becoming stepfather to Lapé's son, Chase Lape. Manilla is also survived by his sister, Barbara Jean Scarfone, along with extended family members. He resided in Lagunitas, California, where he maintained a home studio in the West Marin area.

Health challenges and passing

In 2017, during his honeymoon in Maui with his wife Eliza Lapé, Manilla contracted rat lungworm disease, a rare parasitic infection likely caused by consuming contaminated food. The couple initially mistook the symptoms for the flu, but Manilla experienced far more severe effects, spending two months in intensive care followed by eight months of intermittent hospitalization and treatment at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. During this extended medical ordeal, he received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. Manilla battled the cancer for eight years, achieving remission in 2022 through T-cell therapy administered by the Department of Hematology and Oncology at UCSF. The disease recurred aggressively in 2024; on September 17 of that year, he emailed friends to report that the blood cancer had intensified sharply and that he would soon enter hospice care. Despite his declining health, Manilla's final public appearance occurred in June 2024 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., where he celebrated the acquisition and digitization of the complete archive of nearly 2,000 interviews from the House of Blues Radio Hour. Severely weakened and requiring a wheelchair, he rose to speak at the podium and received a standing ovation from the audience. Manilla died on September 30, 2024, at his home in Lagunitas, California, at the age of 71. His wife, Eliza Lapé, confirmed that the cause of death was blood cancer. In the days leading up to his passing, he expressed pride in his career achievements and gratitude for preserving portions of his archives at the Library of Congress, underscoring his commitment to mentorship and the safeguarding of audio journalism history.

References

  1. https://journalism.berkeley.edu/ben-manilla-dies/
  2. https://current.org/2024/10/radio-producer-ben-manilla-dies-at-71/
  3. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/ben-manilla-obituary-house-of-blues-radio-hour-19821807.php
  4. http://bmpaudio.com/who-we-are/
  5. https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/documents/Article_Ben-Manilla.pdf
  6. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4254413/
  7. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/ben-manilla-obituary?id=56469829
  8. https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ben-manilla-wlir-voh4o4mw
  9. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4254413/trivia/
  10. https://teamparagon.consulting/remembering-ben-manilla/
  11. https://ramp247.com/programming/remembering-ben-manilla/
  12. https://www.insideradio.com/people_moves/ben-manilla/article_fa91c3e4-8248-11ef-926f-83db8170dc98.html
  13. https://airplaydirect.com/press/1506
  14. https://exchange.prx.org/series/825-loose-leaf-book-company
  15. https://philosophytalk.org/about-us/
  16. https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/recording-registry/radio-features/
  17. http://bmpaudio.com/
  18. https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/press/releases/country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum-releases-season-three-of-its-voices-in-the-hall-podcast-2
  19. https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/library-of-congress-acquires-house-of-blues-radio-collection/s/1fe142ca-6de1-45b3-a6d3-ae9ee6aab362
  20. https://www.kalw.org/show/fog-city-blues/2024-08-02/house-of-blues-radio-at-the-library-of-congress
  21. https://www.amazon.com/Elwoods-Blues-Interviews-Legends-Stars/dp/0879308095
  22. https://journalism.berkeley.edu/house-of-blues-manilla/
  23. http://bmpaudio.com/the-blues-the-history-of-americas-greatest-roots-music/
  24. https://www.pbs.org/theblues/overview.html
  25. https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/inside-the-national-recording-registry/
  26. https://www.marinij.com/2023/09/15/a-west-marin-garden-with-arty-whimsical-touches/
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