People like Hal will always be missed. What made him such a good fit with Schurz was that Hal realized radio is 'people' - and both Hal and Frank Schurz valued their managers and employees.
Then - in the early part of this decade - Frank brought in some 'new school' talent. One was Broadcasting V-P Marcy Burdick. Like many of her contemporaries, Marcy believes 'people' are unimportant. The heck with community service, news and honoring long-established commitments to your audience. GET REAL! Short-term quarterly profits (and writing a report that makes you look good in the boss' eyes) are all that matters.
She was unable to comprehend how many deals Hal Youart signed on the golf course (a heck of a lot!). All she saw was that Hal used company funds to pay for country club memberships and other expenses (like company cars) she felt were unnecessary. And... POOF...Hal suddenly decides he'd better retire!
The philosophy of John "If It Doesn't Benefit Me, Why Are We Doing It" Trent matched Marcy's outlook. More important, Marcy felt the Shurz stations couldn't afford to lose both a GM (Hal) and it's GSM (Trent) at the same time. All Trent had to do to make himself GM was to threaten to leave.
Yippee! More greedy Angotti wanna-bes in Lafayette. Just what the city needed.
:'(
Oh, yeah. Hal will be missed for a long, long time!!!!!!!!!!!!