Born and Bar Mitzvahed in the Bronx, on February 25, 1934, Powers attended the City College of New York where he became editor of Roundhouse Magazine.
It was an experience that was repeated thirty years later when he played another concert with Gillespie at New York's Blue Note club.
[2] After graduating from CCNY in 1956, and serving as a Search and Rescue officer in the United States Coast Guard in Puerto Rico, Powers returned to the New York area and started looking for work as a jazz disc jockey.
[1] In addition to his work in radio and television, Powers served as a college professor in the field of media communications.
Powers has also lent his voice narrating Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait in concert [4][5] and has appeared in diverse commercials and documentaries.
In 1992 Powers co-authored the book How to Watch TV News with media theory pioneer Neil Postman.
This newly revised edition explores the power of the Internet and the abundance of cable channels and their influences on the devolving quality of America’s television news programming.