Radio Names

[CTListener]

The approach became known as the "Drake Format", and those stations that couldn't hire Bill Drake (he had clients outside the RKO chain including KGB in San Diego, KAKC in Tulsa and WUBE in Cincinatti), tried to copy the elements, resulting in dozens if not hundreds of "Fake Drake" stations around the country.

IIRC, Paul Drew was behind many of those Fake Drakes. Was he a disciple of Drake or strictly a rival?

 

[michael hagerty]

IIRC, Paul Drew was behind many of those Fake Drakes. Was he a disciple of Drake or a competitor?

Both. Paul Drew worked as a jock at WAKE when Drake was PD there. He learned a lot of those techniques. He applied some of them at WQXI after leaving WAKE.

Drake hired him as PD when he got control of CKLW in 1967. Drew was lured away by WIBG, Philadelphia in 1968, Drake brought him back in 1969 for a second tour at CKLW, then sent him to program KFRC in 1970. Drake intended to have Paul program WGMS in Washington D.C., which RKO was going to flip from Classical to Top 40 in 1972, but the station abandoned the plan under fire from classical fans and noises from the FCC.

Drake hired Paul one more time, as PD at KHJ in 1973. Drake left RKO a few weeks later, and Drew essentially replaced him (though with a very different deal structure) as National PD of RKO. Still, Drew rolled with a lot of what Drake taught him and put Drake-trained PDs into those stations (Gerry Peterson and Charlie Van Dyke at KHJ, Michael Spears at KFRC).

 

[CTListener]

Aided by the promotional genius of Ron Jacobs, they were number one, against the well-established KFWB and the then-hot KRLA, in six months. And RKO then gave Drake control over its other stations---KFRC, San Francisco, WRKO, Boston, WOR-FM, New York, CKLW Windsor/Detroit and WHBQ, Memphis.

Boston had never heard anything like WRKO when it replaced moribund talker WNAC at 680 on the dial in March 1967. Its main competitors were WBZ and WMEX. WBZ was never a comfortable fit for Top 40, and only Ron Landry sounded like he was enjoying doing it. The other jocks had more of an MOR approach, which didn't really work when you had to spin "Psychotic Reaction" and "Reach Out, I'll Be There." WMEX was frenetic but unfocused, and its jocks babbled on and on and on. It was no surprise that 'RKO was a quick winner of that war.

 

[michael hagerty]

Boston had never heard anything like WRKO when it replaced moribund talker WNAC at 680 on the dial in March 1967. Its main competitors were WBZ and WMEX. WBZ was never a comfortable fit for Top 40, and only Ron Landry sounded like he was enjoying doing it. The other jocks had more of an MOR approach, which didn't really work when you had to spin "Psychotic Reaction" and "Reach Out, I'll Be There." WMEX was frenetic but unfocused, and its jocks babbled on and on and on. It was no surprise that 'RKO was a quick winner of that war.

That was the thing...nobody realized how unfocused they were until Drake came into a market. And by then, about the only thing you could do was try to be as focused as they were.

It's telling that the first guy to topple a #1 Drake station was a former Drake PD, Buzz Bennett, who realized that he had to take KCBQ in a direction Drake would never go, because it was against Drake's instincts.

 

[Kemosabe]

Returning to the topic of this thread, Bill Drake was born Philip Taylor Yarbrough.

 

[michael hagerty]

And back to PDs....think about the talent Drake had in those chairs. Ron Jacobs (though Ron would only work for Bill once, at KHJ---and then take his place at KGB). Buzz Bennett (again, would only work for Bill once, at KGB, then go across the street and destroy him from KCBQ, which created the situation where Jacobs would replace Drake).

And then the more loyal soldier PDs. Paul Drew, Ted Atkins, Sebastian Stone, who then created the next generation---the Michael Spearses, Gerry Petersons and Charlie Van Dykes, (and Les Garland, who worked twice for Drake and twice for Paul Drew) to say nothing of Drake's influence on Scott Shannon, who never worked for any of them.

Or the guys who never worked for Drake but got to be RKO PDs because Drew consulted their stations when they were coming up (Bobby Rich and Chuck Martin---both at WAVZ, New Haven).

 

[CTListener]

Returning to the topic of this thread, Bill Drake was born Philip Yarbrough.

That's just what I was going to ask next. Both "Bill Drake" and "Paul Drew" are such great names for radio that it's hard to believe that two men with those actual names just happened, totally by chance, to become important figures in radio programming. So what was Drew's birth name?

 

[michael hagerty]

That's just what I was going to ask next. Both "Bill Drake" and "Paul Drew" are such great names for radio that it's hard to believe that two men with those actual names just happened, totally by chance, to become important figures in radio programming. So what was Drew's birth name?

I have never seen a birth name given for Paul Drew. It's certainly possible that was his real name. Robert W. Morgan was born Robert W. Morgan.

 

[davideduardo]

And back to PDs....think about the talent Drake had in those chairs. Ron Jacobs (though Ron would only work for Bill once, at KHJ---and then take his place at KGB). Buzz Bennett (again, would only work for Bill once, at KGB, then go across the street and destroy him from KCBQ, which created the situation where Jacobs would replace Drake).

And Tom Rounds at KFRC. Ron and Tom, the two Poi Boys, worked together off an on for the next nearly 30 years.

And then the more loyal soldier PDs. Paul Drew, Ted Atkins, Sebastian Stone, who then created the next generation---the Michael Spearses, Gerry Petersons and Charlie Van Dykes, (and Les Garland, who worked twice for Drake and twice for Paul Drew) to say nothing of Drake's influence on Scott Shannon, who never worked for any of them.

Scott, when took over as PD at WMAK around 1971, was mostly a protege of Joe Sullivan, the PD who "made WMAK great" by combining a little Sklar and a little Drake. I never saw Scott in those years as that influenced by Drake, and he was our national PD when I managed for Mooney.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Bill Drake developed a fast and clean Top 40 format in the earlier 60’s His first success was in Fresno, and he quickly went to KGB in San Diego where the owner recommended him to RKO General for KHJ and soon after stations like KFRC in San Francisco, WRKO, CKLW, WHBQ and others.

Twoof his PDs, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs, later formed Watermark and created American Top 40.

Thank you so much ! I appreciate learning about this important information.

 

[michael hagerty]

I never saw Scott in those years as that influenced by Drake, and he was our national PD when I managed for Mooney.

"Everything I needed to know about radio I learned from three people: Bill Drake, Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele. Those three people taught me the importance of brevity, energy and dedication to your craft."

Inside Radio Q&A with Scott Shannon

Ace Frehley’s “Back in the New York Groove” has become Scott Shannon’s new unofficial theme song, a fitting choice for a talent revitalized by a new gig in a city

www.insideradio.com

The first thing Scott gives credit to was actually Ron Jacobs'.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

I have never seen a birth name given for Paul Drew. It's certainly possible that was his real name. Robert W. Morgan was born Robert W. Morgan.

Yes for Robert W. His widow, Carol, attended the L.A. Radio People get-together in 2000 and verified the information.

 

[michael hagerty]

Yes for Robert W. His widow, Carol, attended the L.A. Radio People get-together in 2000 and verified the information.

You could probably make a list with a column on one side for people who used their real names and another column on the other side for people who used air names and have it come out about even.

The rule of thumb that if it's two first names, it's fake? Steve Allen was born Steve Allen.

If it sounds too much like an air name, it's fake? Bob Crane was born Bob Crane.

But Roger Carroll was born Kolman Rutkin and Gary Owens was born Gary Altman, so there you go.

 

[davideduardo]

"Everything I needed to know about radio I learned from three people: Bill Drake, Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele. Those three people taught me the importance of brevity, energy and dedication to your craft."

Inside Radio Q&A with Scott Shannon

Ace Frehley’s “Back in the New York Groove” has become Scott Shannon’s new unofficial theme song, a fitting choice for a talent revitalized by a new gig in a city

www.insideradio.com

The first thing Scott gives credit to was actually Ron Jacobs'.

That looks good in an interview, but Scott was our national PD when I managed WUNO and when I programed both WERC stations, and he was all about the formatics he learned from Joe Sullivan. I saw very little KHJ in WMAK, but a lot of WLS and WABC.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Both. Paul Drew worked as a jock at WAKE when Drake was PD there. He learned a lot of those techniques. He applied some of them at WQXI after leaving WAKE.

Drake hired him as PD when he got control of CKLW in 1967. Drew was lured away by WIBG, Philadelphia in 1968, Drake brought him back in 1969 for a second tour at CKLW, then sent him to program KFRC in 1970. Drake intended to have Paul program WGMS in Washington D.C., which RKO was going to flip from Classical to Top 40, but the station abandoned the plan under fire from classical fans and noises from the FCC.

Drake hired Paul one more time, as PD at KHJ in 1973. Drake left RKO a few weeks later, and Drew essentially replaced him (though with a very different deal structure) as National PD of RKO. Still, Drew rolled with a lot of what Drake taught him and put Drake-trained PDs into those stations (Gerry Peterson and Charlie Van Dyke at KHJ, Michael Spears at KFRC).

You could probably make a list with a column on one side for people who used their real names and people who used air names and have it come out about even.

The rule of thumb that if it's two first names, it's fake? Steve Allen was born Steve Allen.

If it sounds too much like an air name, it's fake? Bob Crane was born Bob Crane.

But Roger Carroll was born Kolman Rutkin and Gary Owens was born Gary Altman, so there you go.

So interesting !!! This is the coolest thread ever. Absolutely incredible. I loved all those guys. FABULOUS talents. I did not know about Gary Owens. I thought that was his real name. That's why fake names bother me, especially when talents move from one station to another and change their name, when the listener can clearly identify the voice. Even traffic reporters changing names bother me. We can all hear that it's exactly the same person. Thank you so much.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

You could probably make a list with a column on one side for people who used their real names and another column on the other side for people who used air names and have it come out about even.

The rule of thumb that if it's two first names, it's fake? Steve Allen was born Steve Allen.

If it sounds too much like an air name, it's fake? Bob Crane was born Bob Crane.

But Roger Carroll was born Kolman Rutkin and Gary Owens was born Gary Altman, so there you go.

Michael !! Were you an L.A. dj?? Cool. I probably listened to you !! What was your radio name??? I would know your radio show, I'm almost sure.
I love chatting with celebrities from past years on the internet ! They always have such fun stories to tell about the "old days."

 

[michael hagerty]

Michael !! Were you an L.A. dj?? Cool. I probably listened to you !! What was your radio name??? I would know your radio show, I'm almost sure.

No, never worked L.A. We moved to Bishop when I was 9, I got on the air at KIBS in Bishop at age 15 (1971) and became music director, then program director. From there, it was KSLY, San Luis Obispo (1974), KIOQ-FM, Bishop (which I helped put on the air---1974-1976), KUKI in Ukiah (1976-77) and KOLO, Reno (1977-1981).

After that, it was a 30 year detour in TV news at the CBS station in Reno (1981-84), the ABC station in Las Vegas (1984-86), and the ABC station in Phoenix (1986-2000), where I dabbled in radio while keeping my tv news gig---once with Danny Davis at Sunny 97 (1993-1995, on a fill-in basis for his newsperson), and then as Charlie Van Dyke's partner at Eagle 96.9 (the same station, just with new owners and a new name) for a few months in 1997 before the station was sold out from under us. Charlie went to KRTH after that.

I did four years as a talk host at KTAR in Phoenix (2000-2004) which overlapped with a gig doing my own half-hour weekly automotive show on KAZT-TV, which ran for seven seasons (fall 2002-fall 2008). A couple years into that, they made me Director of Programming and Promotion and the plate was too full, so I left KTAR.

From 2009-2012, I was at the new ABC affiliate in Phoenix as their transportation and transit reporter as well as doing traffic reports on their morning newscast.

Finally, in 2012, I went back to radio fulltime---first doing traffic for six markets for iHeart, then doing newscasts for the top 25 markets on the iHeartRadio app. In 2013, I moved home to California, produced the morning news at KFBK in Sacramento, then became Managing Editor and then News Director as well as afternoon news co-anchor.

I got caught in the 1,500-person layoff at iHeart in January of 2020, but landed in deep clover as afternoon anchor of the NPR station here in Sacramento where I am today and where I hope to stay.

(And never had to use an air name, as a jock or doing traffic reports.)

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

No, never worked L.A. We moved to Bishop when I was 9, I got on the air at KIBS in Bishop at age 15 (1971) and became music director, then program director. From there, it was KSLY, San Luis Obispo (1974), KIOQ-FM, Bishop (which I helped put on the air---1974-1976), KUKI in Ukiah (1976-77) and KOLO, Reno (1977-1981).

After that, it was a 30 year detour in TV news at the CBS station in Reno (1981-84), the ABC station in Las Vegas (1984-86), and the ABC station in Phoenix (1986-2000), where I dabbled in radio while keeping my TV news gig---once with Danny Davis at Sunny 97 (1993-1995, on a fill-in basis for his newsperson), and then as Charlie Van Dyke's partner at Eagle 96.9 (the same station, just with new owners and a new name) for a few months in 1997 before the station was sold out from under us. Charlie went to KRTH after that.

I did four years as a talk host at KTAR in Phoenix (2000-2004) which overlapped with a gig doing my own half-hour weekly automotive show on KAZT-TV, which ran for seven seasons (fall 2002-fall 2008). A couple years into that, they made me Director of Programming and Promotion and the plate was too full, so I left KTAR.

From 2009-2012, I was at the new ABC affiliate in Phoenix as their transportation and transit reporter as well as doing traffic reports on their morning newscast.

Finally, in 2012, I went back to radio fulltime---first doing traffic for six markets for iHeart, then doing newscasts for the top 25 markets on the iHeartRadio app. In 2013, I moved home to California, produced the morning news at KFBK in Sacramento, then became Managing Editor and then News Director as well as afternoon news co-anchor.

I got caught in the 1,500-person layoff at iHeart in January of 2020, but landed in deep clover as afternoon anchor of the NPR station here in Sacramento where I am today and where I hope to stay.

(And never had to use an air name, as a jock or doing traffic reports.)

Congratulations on a very distinguished and very successful career in broadcasting. ( I am sorry to sound like a star-struck fan girl and will tone it down). I won't bother you any more about this, but just one last question. Are you at KXJZ or KXPR? I will tune into your show. I'm in the East Bay, and I think I can get those stations on my car radio. Thank you for being so informative and helpful, from Daryl Lynn

 

[CTListener]

(deleted)

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Michael, will you play "Misty" for me?

I'm not a stalker or a psycho; I'm happily married for many years, and have always liked radio as a medium. But I will tone it down. I apologize.