Harlow’s career marked by love of radio, military | News, Sports, Jobs

Harlow, 58, of Tyrone, retired last week as chief of public affairs at the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona.

Harlow has been to a lot of places and made a lot of friends over the years.

Born in Norristown, his family moved to Tyrone when he was 3 years old and he grew up in the Logan Ridge Village trailer park.

As a child, he had a love of music, was a drummer in the high school band and then developed an interest in radio.

John Harlow, set to retire soon as chief of public affairs at the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona, is seen during his time in the mid-1990s as a broadcaster for the Armed Forces Korea Network in South Korea.
Courtesy photo

He said he remembers listening to Joe Thompson on WTRN-AM on Thanksgiving Day. He had his mother prepare a Thanksgiving meal for Thompson and delivered it to the radio station.

“The meal was a complete surprise. He said hearing me on the radio got him interested in radio,” said Thompson, retired Huntingdon County 911 EMS director.

“He showed me around the station and I was hooked,” Harlow said.

At the age of 14, Harlow had his own show on WTRN.

“John was assertive to get on real radio,” said longtime friend Ted Simpson. “John being confident in himself and a self promoter, we got approval from dad (station owner Cary Simpson). He put us on the radio in a time slot, but had to sell our own advertising. We pitched Morris Levine Family Shoe Store for $25 a week. We held our breath, he looked at us and said yes.”

Harlow said Cary Simpson was like another father to him.

“I remember broadcasting a parade, you painted a picture, since people couldn’t be there, so you made them feel like they are there. I learned how to communicate by doing parades with Cary Simpson,” Harlow said.

Harlow worked in local radio for several years before his family moved to North Carolina. While there, an uncle who was in the Army told John they had broadcasting in the Army and he could do something he loved.

He enlisted in the Army in 1988, and ended up with the American Forces Network, SHAPE Belgium.

“Joining the Army was the best decision I made in my life,” Harlow said.

In 1991, he was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm, stationed in Dhahran working at the Desert Storm Radio Network.

“The day of the SCUD missile attack (Feb. 26, 1991), I was in the building 15 minutes before it hit. I was across the street buying donuts at a grocery store,” Harlow said. “That made me appreciate life more.”

He returned home and worked in local radio from 1992-93. He then decided to re-enlist. After a stop at Army Aviation and Troop Command in St. Louis, he ended up at the Armed Forces Korea Network in South Korea.

“I needed a job, so I went back to Uncle Sam,” Harlow said. “It was a good decision.”

It was during his time in South Korea that he met Barbara Lewandrowski, who became a good friend and later helped him with his career.

Harlow left the Army in 1997 and moved to Gainesville, Fla., where he again worked in radio.

He came back home in 1998 when a job opened up at the Tyrone Daily Herald, where he served times as sports editor and then news editor.

“It was cool to tell stories of kids doing good things in my hometown. I was on the field for the state championship (football) game in 1999,” Harlow said. “I helped put together the celebration. I got the firetrucks set up from my car on the way home. We got off at the Grazierville Bridge and it took an hour to get through town,” Harlow said.

He left the Herald in 2004 and Lewandrowksi reached out to him and encouraged him to join the civilian service.

He got a job from March 2004 to November 2005 as Public Affairs Specialist at the Milwaukee Recruiting Battalion in Milwaukee, Wis. He also worked at WKTI and the station had its best night numbers there in ten years.

Then the position of Chief of Command Information in Fort Monroe, Va., came open. He was there from November 2005 to October 2009.

“It was a lateral move, but I wanted to get closer to home. “I created the TRADOC News Service and was a key partner in creating Army.mil, which is basically the Associated Press for military news,” Harlow said.

He then went to Natick, Mass., as Chief of Public Affairs at the Natick Soldier Systems Center, and was there from October 2009 to August 2020. It was there that he met Gen. Harold Green.

“General Harold Greene had much influence over me. His motto was Mission First, People Always,” Harlow said. “One of the greatest honors was working with the town of Natick and changing Kansas Street to General Greene Avenue.”

In August 2020, Lewandrowski helped him get the job as chief of media relations at Arlington National Cemetery.

“I was director of public affairs and I needed a media chief who could hit the ground running and someone I trusted,” Lewandrowski said. “I needed a person with vision and someone who cared and had an understanding of military affairs and their families. He had worked as a public affairs officer and was one of my longest trusted friends; the opportunity was there, I thought who better to be my right hand man than John?”

During his time at Arlington, he was the lead media representative for the cemetery for the funerals of Gen. Colin Powell and Senators Robert Dole and John Warner, Wreaths Across America, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Inauguration Day. He had the lead for the 100th Commemoration of the Unknown Soldier laid to rest.

Harlow called Arlington his dream job on the military side.

“It was my dream job to work at Arlington where you are surrounded by heroes. I get a chill up my back everytime I go there surrounded by the greatest Americans,” Harlow said. “It was hard; there are 20 to 30 funerals there every day. Veterans Day and Memorial Day, those times were so gratifying. I always tried to take care of my friends.”

“He loved to honor our war dead, it didn’t get higher than that as far as prestige,” Simpson said. “John saw that as the pinnacle on the civilian side of working for the military. It was a sacred job.”

Simpson said there have been a lot of people from Tyrone who did well, “but John is the pantheon of people who want well beyond what they could have been.”

Harlow returned home in February 2023 to take a job as chief of public affairs at the James E. VanZandt VA Medical Center.

“It had always been a dream to come home. I felt the call to come home and this was a chance to serve my fellow veterans in my neighborhood,” Harlow said.

He plans to retire at the end of February.

He said the recent death of Tyrone native Judge Fred Miller, who died of cancer at the age of 54, played a role in his decision.

“I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023; that is how my dad passed. I am still in stage one. I have 28 years of service to the federal government, I’ve earned it, this gives me a chance to do more things at home,” Harlow said.

He said he would consider going back to radio if the right opportunity came along.

“Radio is my passion. During my career, I got to say ‘This is John Harlow’ on the air at WKLB in Boston, that was a top market,” Harlow said. “It is the dream of every kid in a small town to be on the air in a big market and I was able to do that.”

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 814-946-7467.

The Harlow file

Name: John Harlow

Age: 58

Position: Retiring as chief of public affairs at James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center

Eduction: 1984 Graduate of Tyrone Area High School

Family: Sister, Stephanie Bielli; nephews, Ryan and Matthew

Quote: “It was me doing me things, taking care of people.”