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Pioneering broadcast owner/operator Cecil Heftel dies at 85

W

Whiplash

Owner of 13Q, and one of the most creative broadcast owners of all time. I thought he was very underated in the business.
 
He was a very interesting person. I remember having dinner with him in Ft. Lauderdale and then we drove around looking at transmitte sites. He was also a congressman from Hawaii.
 
I just ready a piece about Mr. Heftel, written by Eric Rhoades of Radio Ink. He worked for Heftel owned Y 100 at 17 years of age. His comments were glowing about the man. Heftel, as you know, believe in spending big money to secure great talent, to market, and was the king of the cash prize giveaways. At one point Y 100 gave away $50,000, not once, but several times. Not even the Price is Right was doing that back then.

And we all know how sharp he was in Pittsburgh with "I Listen To The New Sound of 13Q". Tens of thousands of listeners answered their phone that way.

He was the last of a dying breed, and probably was the leader of that pack. Where has the passion gone? Where has great radio like this gone. Where's the next Cecil Heftel, who can save our industry?
 
Probably the closest thing to that type of leader in more recent times was Mel Karmazin, who built Infinity in Stern's heyday.

Of course, he's now running Sirius/XM.
 
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