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RIP Bill Drake

M

mhanna

A person who probably influenced many of us, in some form or fashion, on this board has passed. From the Associated Press:

Bill Drake, 71, who set the tone at hundreds of pop stations with a radio format that placed music - rather than disc jockeys - at the center of the broadcast, has died.
Mr. Drake died Saturday of cancer at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, his domestic partner, Carole Scott, said.

At the height of his career as a radio programming consultant in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mr. Drake championed a streamlined format that came to be known as "Boss Radio," which made announcers' personalities secondary to the Top 40 hits they were spinning.

Under Mr. Drake's guidance, radio stations such as KGB in San Diego, KHJ in Los Angeles, and KFRC in San Francisco shot to the No. 1 slots in their markets by promising more music and less chatter.

My condolences to Ms. Scott.
 
i seem to remember reading somewhere else (David Hinckley's column in the Daily News - thanks, David! :)) that the old 98.7FM (WOR-FM here in NY) was doing a modified Drake-Chenault (Chenault being Drake's "partner" in this whole thing) format in the late 60's/early 70's - only difference being that here in NY, the jocks were talking a bit more than what was typical for a Drake-Chenault formatted station at that time - also that two of the DJs working there would be the foundation for a NYC radio station that would become (and continues to be) legendary in the oldies format... ;)
 
mhanna said:
...Mr. Drake championed a streamlined format that came to be known as "Boss Radio," which made announcers' personalities secondary to the Top 40 hits they were spinning.
Click to expand...

He did no such thing. He made the talent more concise, more energetic, and less irrelevant. Robert W Morgan, Steele and and the talents on WRKO, CKLW, KFRC, etc. were hardly secondary.

As usual, news services oriented towards the print media just don't get it.
 
WOR-FM had a little wider playlist, was a little more middle-of-the-road but otherwise had all the Drake elements. There are airchecks on reelradio.com that illustrate that era for WOR-FM.
 
and their personalities talked a little more than what was typical for a Drake-formatted station... 8)

Andrea
 
mhanna said:
A person who probably influenced many of us, in some form or fashion, on this board has passed. From the Associated Press:

Bill Drake, 71, who set the tone at hundreds of pop stations with a radio format that placed music - rather than disc jockeys - at the center of the broadcast, has died.
Mr. Drake died Saturday of cancer at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles, his domestic partner, Carole Scott, said.

At the height of his career as a radio programming consultant in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mr. Drake championed a streamlined format that came to be known as "Boss Radio," which made announcers' personalities secondary to the Top 40 hits they were spinning.

Under Mr. Drake's guidance, radio stations such as KGB in San Diego, KHJ in Los Angeles, and KFRC in San Francisco shot to the No. 1 slots in their markets by promising more music and less chatter.

My condolences to Ms. Scott.
Click to expand...
It's been one week, to the day, that my life took a change I never thought would happen this way. I'm Carole, Bill's companion and domestic partner for the last decade. Tonight, I thought that I should write to all the people on this board that knew Bill, or knew of Bill, to thank you for your lasting love and appreciation of the art, or should I say state of the art his work was. Bill took a look at this board, from time to time, by my printing out the threads of questions and thoughts each of you had about the future of radio or the lack of a future. Bill was not the man who stifled creativity, which some of you thought. Under his tutelage some of the biggest personalities grew and prospered, like Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele. Today, there is no where to begin to learn the formatics and discipline it took, to create a sound bigger than life. Programming has taken a back seat to sales and it will never change. There are a handful of owners and programmers who know better, but are stifled. I know all things change and have to. The delivery of music now is so different than it was 45 years ago. If Bill had been able to put on the air what he had been working on, for the last couple of years, he'd have made headlines again. But, there's a nasty thing called cancer that steals people from us when we're not looking. I've been speaking with Bill everyday, since his passing last Saturday. He loved the Memorial we had this week, with Pastor Charlie Van Dyke presiding and one by one, each of the friends who could control their emotions, said the words they would have said to him face to face, from a podium in The Little Brown Church, in Studio City. I know he will always be with me. He will always be there, if you call out for him. Tonight I played the Robert Plant / Allison Krause "Gone, Gone, Gone". He whispered in my ear, "I always liked the Everly Brothers". Much Love from Bill and me.
 
Carole: I never got to meet Bill but I sure wish I could have. Its interesting that of all my favorite stations here in Sacramento and while traveling all over the state of California, almost all were stations programed by Bill and his friends from Yreka in the north KSYC, to San Diego KGB in the south, to KFRC in San Francisco, all the stations were fun and entertaining to listen to.

I've always wondered if anyone ever got bill to cut some future liners for the stations he programed to be used in the 2060's? Could you imagine KFRC, with "One Hundred Years Ago Today On KFRC This Was The Number One Song In San Francisco!" being voiced by Bill? This is one question that I would have asked him had I been given the chance to meet him.

My thanks to you Carole for always leaving us board members with a smile in all of your posts. Peace and Love to you too. RIP Mr. Drake...
 
Mr Drake was widely respected by the industry,he was recently selected along with another Icon "George Wilson"and other radio luminaries, to be part of a committee, for nominating inductees to the "Hit Parade Hall Of Fame". Mr Drake was responsible for one of the best rock and roll documentories ever produced for its time, and possibly since, the 52 hour Epic "The History Of Rock and Roll". His achievements are unequaled in Radio production. Condolences to his family and loved ones, and condolences to we the listening audience, we have lost a great contributor to our passion ...Radio.

Hornet61
 
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