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I have been asked many times about the
differences in formats from the two guys who created the
radio revolution called TOP 40. I worked for both Todd Storz
and Gordon McLendon as a VERY young broadcaster. I was a
disc jockey in Omaha and a program director in Miami for
Storz. I was a disc jockey in Houston and New Orleans for
McLendon.
I did not spend too much personal time with McLendon. He was
kind enough to fly to Los Angeles for a 35 year radio
anniversary that was given for me by Satellite Radio
Network. Also, he was most gracious when I went to see him
in Dallas….he always had time to chat. I did visit his
fabulous ranch outside of Dallas, and was with him once when
he hired a news director (his interview questions were
penetrating, and his manner was always upbeat). After
thinking about it I agree with Ken Dowe, one of his
executives. Ken says “I’ve met a lot of smart people, but
only one genius”…referring to McLendon.
I did know Storz well. We spent quite a bit of time
together. He was a quiet guy who loved what he was doing. A
favorite quote of his was “You must have faith in what you
are doing”. He was right, because TOP 40 had its lumps from
advertisers in its early days. “Too many teens” exclaimed
the advertising agency account executives. It took a decade
for agencies to accept this new bold type of music, news,
and promotion format. But Storz always had “faith”. Storz
was very well liked by his employees. His program directors
were the assistant GM’s.
Both Storz and McLendon believed programming and promotion
came first because it made the sales departments job easier
when the big…and I mean super jumbo…ratings were published
monthly. But they got at it differently. McLendon believed
in local news and Storz hid the hourly newscasts at 5 of
each hour. In the early days McLendon let the disc jockeys
have their say with music played; whereas, the Storz music
rotation and policy was tightly controlled. They both
believed in promotion and stunts, and I think McLendon did
more interesting ones, although they both borrowed
promotions from each other, and they both hired programmer
Bill Stewart to help finesse them. They both enjoyed
everyday on the job, and enjoyed the monthly phone calls
from Frank Stisser or Bob Atkinson with ratings from the C.E.
Hooper rating company. Neither spoke too highly of Pulse,
the other rating service, stating that Pulse did not reflect
audience popularity quickly enough.
We should thank them daily. Both gentlemen played a big part
in reviving radio after television took most of the radio
listeners. I know…because I WAS THERE!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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