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Radio visionary Bill Drake dead at age 71

K

kudzooter

We lost the man who did so much to clean up the top-hits format and revitalize radio in the mid 1960s.
I was privileged to be kept on as PD of Tulsa's KAKC when Bill and his crew brought that "little west coast hippy format" inland in the late spring of 1967. I believe it's fair to say that history has shown it could work anywhere, not just on the freaked-out left coast.
For more comments on Bill's passing--and on what he gave to all of us, even all these years later--check this LA page, and Ken Levine's
tribute. http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,114995.0.html
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=19336675&postID=1403885199210995555&page=1
 
I know that at one time Scoot... there were so many copycat formats out there. With the jingles and their formatics, would WKY have counted as a "Fake Drake" format back in the late 60's, early 70's??? I mean "Ninety-Three W-K-YYYYYY" sure sounded a lot like a certain jingle for a three letter callsign on 930 khz in LA.....
 
We lost a good one. Truly a pioneer in our industry that made our products better, It was some of the legendary Drake stations that caused us to catch the radio bug and get into this crazy (but fun) business. Let's do good radio since Bill will be watching us all. Heaven just got one HELL of a radio station today. Wolfman is probably on right now talking with Elvis and Hendrix.
 
Media Mogul, from where I heard them, I always thought WKY maintained its own identity and integrity, even while having the good sense to "appropriate" some of the best features of what Drake radio was all about -- much the same way Jay Cook and Jim Hilliard cherry-picked some of the best of Drake while keeping WFIL its own beautiful self. Besides, Danny had 'KY soooo Oklahoma City, it would have probably continued to be the market leader even without any of the Drake additives. And that was against a really well done KOMA! (Although, from my monitor post 88 miles down the Turner Turnpike, KOMA never approached the local-radio-for-local-listeners aura WKY projected.)

Reading more tributes friends have forwarded me overnight, it's clear that Bill left a legacy that will have echoes in all we do, for years to come. Sad to read in one of them, that he was considering getting active again -- with a NEW format. God, how radio could use that today!
 
I first heard Drake's Boss Radio on CKLW in Detroit. It was the most compelling, entertaining radio I'd ever experienced. I got the jock bug at Indiana University, where we "adopted" (stole)the format for our campus radio stations...yes, "Number One Then, and Number One Now" spewed thru the dorms at IU in fall of '67. Got to hear the original in the winter of '68-69. KHJ with Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele, etc. Incredible! Working with Drake & Paul Drew at the Rockin' 97 in the mid-'70's and doing Boss Radio Tulsa style was one of the best radio experiences of my career. Scoot was the quintessential Boss jock, but the rest of us had fun with it as well. Even though it was a west coast format, we made sure it fit the market with, here's a concept: localization, and kicked ass.
Bill Drake truly was a visionary. He & his kind will be missed.
 
Morningmouth said:
I first heard Drake's Boss Radio on CKLW in Detroit. It was the most compelling, entertaining radio I'd ever experienced. I got the jock bug at Indiana University, where we "adopted" (stole)the format for our campus radio stations...yes, "Number One Then, and Number One Now" spewed thru the dorms at IU in fall of '67. Got to hear the original in the winter of '68-69. KHJ with Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele, etc. Incredible! Working with Drake & Paul Drew at the Rockin' 97 in the mid-'70's and doing Boss Radio Tulsa style was one of the best radio experiences of my career. Scoot was the quintessential Boss jock, but the rest of us had fun with it as well. Even though it was a west coast format, we made sure it fit the market with, here's a concept: localization, and kicked ass.
Bill Drake truly was a visionary. He & his kind will be missed.
Click to expand...

Zoot & Mouth-
A truly great radio mind is lost to the ages. He came along in a golden era of radio that will never be again. And as great as he was and as good as his format was it wouldn't have been anything without brilliant talents like you guys to make it work! I enjoyed listening to you both, sometimes while I was on the air up or down the dial from the legendary Rockin' 97 KAKC. You guys were magnificant!

Your Radio Pal,
Bob O'Shea
 
Bill Drake's talents are missed even now. I'd love to see someone use his ideas at a station today. We lost a great innovator and communicator.
 
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