Radio pioneer Harlan G. Oakes has died at the age of 97 in Lompoc, CA. He was an independent radio and television rep with his own Los Angeles firm, Harlan G. Oakes & Associates. Oakes began his radio career in the 1930s at a rep firm in Chicago, then helped launch new stations in Canada before moving to LA and opening his own rep firm in 1940. Oakes enlisted in the Army Air Corps after the Pearl Harbor attack, but reopened Harlan G. Oakes & Associates after World War II and maintained his shop for over 35 years representing radio stations throughout the US, Canada, Mexico and England. He retired from the broadcasting industry in 1979.
