KARL HAAS

Karl Haas was the creator and host of the longest running daily classical music program in broadcast history, Adventures in Good Music. Using a new theme each day, he delivered the classics to listeners around the world for over 40 years.

Karl Haas, a native of Speyer-on-the-Rhine, Germany, began his love affair with music at age six, when he received his first piano lesson from his mother. At age 12, he formed a piano trio with some friends. 

Fleeing the Nazis, Haas and his family settled in Detroit, where he taught piano and commuted to New York to study with the legendary pianist, Arthur Schnabel.

His broadcast career began at WWJ/Detroit in 1950, where he hosted a weekly preview of concerts performed by the Detroit Symphony. Soon the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation asked him to talk about the music on the air. In 1959, WJR/Detroit proposed a daily time slot for Haas to expand his commentary and, thus, Adventures in Good Music was born.

Since 1970, WCLV/Seaway Productions in Cleveland has syndicated Adventures in Good Music to a worldwide audience. The program has received two coveted George Foster Peabody Awards during its long run, and Karl Haas has received the National Endowment for the Humanities George Frankel Medal.

Karl Haas died on February 6, 2005.

He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.