Jay Miltner

Who was Jay Miltner?

Francis Jay Miltner, known professionally as Jay Miltner, was an American radio and television announcer and news anchor, long associated with WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio and its onetime sister radio outlet for four decades.

Miltner's association with the then-NBC-owned Cleveland outlet began with its radio station, WTAM, in 1947, where he frequently appeared as a singer. When in 1948 NBC launched its television station, originally called WNBK on channel 4, Miltner joined as announcer and newscaster. He was reportedly one of the first to interview survivors of the Bataan Death March. He remained with the station all through its nine-year run under Westinghouse Broadcasting ownership as KYW-TV, and stayed after NBC was forced back to Cleveland in 1965.

After the station adopted its current call letters of WKYC-TV, Miltner was one of the first hosts of a mid-afternoon show, Three on the Town, which ran with a succession of hosts through 1968. He continued, over the years, as a live booth announcer with channel 3, to the point where he became known as the "Voice of WKYC." In his final years with the station, he was the opening announcer for the morning show AM Cleveland. He retired from WKYC in 1986.