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Pop Radio Innovator Dies at 71
30-Nov-2008
Written by: Christine Le
The man who changed radio passes on.
Bill Drake, the man who programmed pop radio stations to play more music rather than disc jockeys, died on Saturday at West Hills Hospital in the San Fernando Valley. According to cbs2.com, Drake died of lung cancer.
He had developed his career as a radio programming consultant in the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in the creation of a streamline format known as “Boss Radio.” This format made music the primary thing played on the radio, gaining stations such as KGB in San Diego, KHJ in Los Angeles, and KFRC in San Francisco number one slots on the market (Mercury News).
"He really sort of cleaned Top 40 radio up," said John Long, president of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, which inducted Drake in 2007.
According to cbs2.com, Drake’s ear for good tunes helped to make artists such as Sonny and Cher, the Byrds, and the Doors famous.
Drake began his career in radio as a disc jockey and later as a program director at the WAKE radio station in Atlanta, Ga., reported Mercury News. He also directed programming at stations in San Francisco, Stockton and Fresno, and later got his radio consulting business underway with longtime partner Gene Chenault.
He is survived by his daughter Kristie Philbin.
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