Photo from the WHTC Facebook page – from Juke’s 62nd anniversary on air.
HOLLAND, Mich. – A longtime voice of Holland, Michigan died Monday morning.
WHTC 1450 AM in Holland reports that Juke Van Oss has passed away. Van Oss was 92.
Van Oss has been hosting the Talk of the Town radio program for over 60 years on WHTC. The station is holding a special edition of the show this morning.
Juke was on the air last Friday. The station is also posting many of Juke’s former podcasts.
According to WHTC:
He was born in 1923 at a farm near Graafschap, a second-generation Dutch-American who grew up in Holland and Dowagiac before serving in World War II in the Army. His military service included tours of duty in the Philippines and Korea.
After the war, Mr. Van Oss worked at various places in the Holland area before getting hired at WHTC as an engineer on August 12, 1951. His on-air career started shortly afterward.
In 1959, Mr. Van Oss partnered with Bill Gargano to host “Talk of the Town,” originally a half-hour program aimed at housewives. His solo hosting duties started in 1981.
You can read more about Juke Van Oss on the WHTC website.
In 2007, FOX 17 profiled Juke Van Oss. You can watch that below:
