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One of America's greatest radio programming architects, Bill Drake, has passed away at the age of 71. He died Saturday afternoon 29/11 of lung cancer, having been ill for some time. Along with programming guru Ron Jacobs, Bill Drake was synonymous with the development and success of Boss Radio, in particular the last to first reign of 93KHJ in Los Angeles, in the mid to late 60's.
Two of Bill Drake's greatest on-air stars Robert W. Morgan & The Real Don Steele also succumbed to lung cancer after a life of heavy smoking.
Bill Drake's programming legacy also extended to Australia in the era when 2SM, 3XY, 4IP etc. were dominant forces in the 'more music' stakes. His influence & ideas were global in a time when the Internet had not be invented and Australian music radio in particular was greatly influenced by American programming trends & innovations. May he rest in peace.
Regards,
IAN.
Cruise1323 Adelaide.
Thanks for the news on Bill Drake. The other major programmer from that era was Dick Starr. Rod borrowed his name for Greg Smith when Greg started at 3XY.
I lived through the 70's most of it on air at 3XY (as John Scott-but that is another story)
I understand the name Disc Jockey as in the article on Drake originated from the practice of turning the turntable on and holding the disc cued up to the start of the track the DJ had to play-this practice was called Jockeying the Disc. Thus a person who did this was a disc Jockey-well that is the origin as I hear it in the '70's.
This was utilised to provide "Tight" presentation--as Rod would say keep tight & brite!
This practice lasted till the late '70's when instant start turntables came into widespread use in broadcast studios, closely followed by CD players then the computer.
Hope that helps