James Southard Miles was born on September 22, 1916 in Ohio. Miles attended Ohio State University and worked at WOSU, Ohio State's radio station. From 1936-1943, he worked in Charleston, West Virginia, Columbus, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana as a commercial announcer. In 1939, 1941, and 1943, he served as a Reading Clerk for the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1943, he began working at Purdue University's WBAA radio station in various roles over the years including manager and program director. In 1947, he served on the executive committee of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters and was also selected as the first chairman of Region II of the NAEB.
From 1951 to 1953, Miles took leave from WBAA to serve as NAEB's executive director in Urbana, Illinois. During that period, he was chairman of the NAEB Tape Network Program Committee as well as manager of the Kellogg Radio Project at University of Illinois from 1952-3. After working as the NAEB Executive Director, he returned to Purdue University and in 1961 was the Director of Program Service and Distribution Division within the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction. He also established Purdue University's TV unit, which pioneered televised instruction courses for higher education. Other roles held by Miles include chairman of the Indiana State Superintendent's Committee on Television in the Public Schools and charter member of the National Association of Radio and TV Farm Directors. Miles died on May 5, 1987 in Indiana.
From the combined records of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB), held by the University of Maryland and the Wisconsin Historical Society, and compiled as part of the Unlocking the Airwaves project (unlockingtheairwaves.org).
