Bill Drake

[JustPastBuffalo]

FX Up & Under: Classic Drake Timpani

Charlie Van Dyke, VO: "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'!"

If ever you heard the classic top of the hour ID on CKLW, WXLO, KHJ or locally on WGRQ and WYSL, you were hearing a radio formatic conceived by Bill Drake.

The legendary radio format pioneer passed away Saturday. You'll find a thread dedicated to him on the Los Angeles board. No doubt you'll recognize the names of many posters in that thread.

If you've ever front-sold a song, talked up a 12 second intro, effectively read a liner and personalized it, fired a cart with the classic top of hour ID, read the liner at :03, did 20-20 news or followed a hot-clock with stopsets at 06-18-36 and 48, you were doing radio formatics that were the backbone of the Drake Format.

A lot has been written and talked, pro and con, about regarding Drake's impact on radio, particularly Top 40. But if you appreciate the artform, the simplicity of the mechanics, and the impact of the formatics, there's no question Drake's positive inflluence has been widely felt on hundreds of radio stations and thousand of air personalities and jocks in America.

RIP, Bill.



-JPB

 

[Bob1370]

Bill Drake was often criticized for taking the personality out of radio.

It was a bum rap.

All he really did, was make personalities do their thing in a more disciplined way, with less self-indulgence and a greater economy of words. The Drake approach never stopped people like Robert W. Morgan, Charlie Tuna, or Don Steele in LA, or Dick Purtan in Detroit, from being true personalities.

I don't know how aware Drake was of hit radio in New York before he started programming WOR-FM in the late 60s. But with his rapid-fire one-liner style, wordplay and wit all done largely over the record intro, legendary WABC afternoon man Dan Ingram actually anticipated Drake's formatics and pacing with the kind of show he did from the time he got there in 1961. You could argue that Drake really in many ways repackaged the kind of radio Ingram, Bruce Morrow, and their colleagues were already doing under Rick Sklar's direction at WABC.

 

[Paul_Warren]

The guy may not have invented all the elements of the formatics, but he certainly was the "Johnny Appleseed" of Top 40, bringing a very polished form of the format to stations in many markets.

Bob, I hear you about WABC, but I recall the formatics there as being much looser as regards jock presentation. I also recall thinking WABC and other major market Top 40's had nothing on WKBW at its peak. Boy...that Magnavox 7-transistor pocket radio sounded great through a pillow in the dark!

Amidst all the warm nostalgia for Bill Drake, I also take away something more sobering. A few industry people who claimed to have remained close to Bill said he had some new innovation he wanted to bring to radio when the industry was ready. If that's true, it warns us all not to let time pass us by.

I was inspired to work in radio by the kind of radio Bill Drake helped pioneer, and I feel I was privileged to work in the industry during some of its most exciting years. I'd love to think the financial crisis will drop station prices low enough that real radio people will once again be able to own them, and on-air work might be live and fun again one day. But I'll be damned if I'll die waiting for that day.

And so, I thank Bill Drake, both for being a part of the direction of my life to this point, and an influence on where it will go from here. RIP, big guy!

 

[TheRoachMotel]

I first heard of Bill Drake through my uncle who was a radio DJ for over 25 years. For all of you CKLW fans, I have loaded a myspace tribute page to my late uncle Harold Hines. He used the names Jefferson Lee, Johnny Dark, and Johnathan Stone in his radio days. I often remember him telling stories of the radio days and heard Bill Drake's name often. Please have a listen to the audio! It is all the stuff we could find on reel to reel and converted it digitally. My uncle worked at WAKY, WGST, CKLW, WGZC in Atlanta, WKLO, WQXI, WKHX, and more!!! He was the voice of Encyclopedia Brittanica, Coca-Cola, Six Flags, and various others. I do have some raw reads and commercials that is not on the site. His complete resume is listed on the myspace page! I have all the call letters listed and audio from 4 different stations from back in the 70's and 80's!!! You do not have to be a member of myspace to hear the audio! Have a listen and take a trip down memory lane!! Sorry to hear about Bill's passing.

www.myspace.com/jonathanstoneradio

Jason Hines aka "Roach"
Afternoons on KXNA-FM, New Rock 104.9 The X