Bill Drake dead @ 71

Boss of Boss Radio Dies

(December 1, 2008) Bill Drake, the architect of Boss Radio and arguably one of a handful of Top 40 programmers who shaped the Rock ‘n Roll landscape during the last half century, died Saturday afternoon of lung cancer at the age of 71.   Blogs and Web sites (some listed below) will tell stories about the man, born Philip Yarbrough, who launched 93/KHJ Boss Radio in 1965 and revolutionized the presentation of Top 40 radio. Some would say it was the most copied format ever.  Charlie Van Dyke worked for Bill in Boston, San Francisco and at KHJ. The veteran Boss Jock tells the Drake story:

“Bill Drake had been working as pd of KYA-San Francisco and ran into the now-often-experienced ‘philosophical differences.’ He decided that he should quit KYA and find a station to program that would give him more room. Gene Chenault offered him the opportunity to program a station in Stockton and KYNO-Fresno. Drake said, ‘Chenault gave me complete creative freedom, two salaries and a brand new Cadillac. Not bad!’  

Drake pulled off a quick ‘worst to first’ featuring a classic radio battle with KMAK, which was being programmed by Ron Jacobs. It is reported that the battle featured all the dirty tactics possible…going through the other station’s trash, secretly recording conversations and more. When the battle ended, Drake and KYNO were strong winners. KYNO had more audience than the other 17 stations combined. (Bill Drake with former K-EARTH general managers Pat Duffy and Maureen Lesourd)

Excited by the success, Chenault talked with a friend of his, Willet Brown, who owned another ratings disaster, KGB-San Diego. Chenault wanted to buy the station. Brown decided that he wanted to keep it and made a deal for Drake to come to KGB and work his Fresno magic at the San Diego property. Again, it was a quick win. KGB went from last to first in 63 days. Meanwhile, Brown was talking to a friend of his, Tom O’Neil, who was head of RKO. The conversation was about this whiz kid from Fresno who turned Gene’s station around, then rolled into San Diego and did it again. O’Neil was well aware of the poor position of most of the RKO stations at that time. So the decision was made to see if Drake could pull it off again.  

KHJ was given over to the team of Bill Drake and Gene Chenault. Chenault dealt with the ownership and Drake made the programming plans. Drake began running practice shows in a KHJ production room, getting ready for the debut of ‘Boss Radio.’ During this period, a newsman at KHJ was fired and, in reaction, took much of the material and tapes in his possession to then market champ KFWB. KFWB attempted to beat KHJ to the debut of the new format. Drake and KHJ responded by popping the format immediately and ran promos on KHJ inviting listeners to sample KFWB and KRLA and then come back to ‘93/KHJ’ to hear the real ‘Boss Radio.’ 

The pd’s job at KHJ was especially important and Drake selected his former Fresno competitor, Ron Jacobs, for the job, having been impressed with Jacobs’ battle skills during the ‘Fresno War.’ The a capella jingles, reduced commercial load, tight format, high profile promotions and unique djs all worked together, and KHJ was another ‘worst to first’ for Drake. Detractors said that his was a West Coast style that could not work anywhere else.   Drake and Chenault decided to test the format elsewhere and went to work at KAKC-Tulsa. So the friendship of Gene Chenault, Willet Brown and Tom O’Neil, which was really three guys operating radio stations that were ‘dogs,’ provided an opportunity for the birth of a new format. Drake said, ‘Getting cooperation on the format was really pretty easy – they had nothing to lose.’ The reduced commercial load wasn’t a problem, Drake notes, ‘Most of the stations didn’t have any commercials anyway.’ Another factor was that all the stations, while performing poorly when Drake came on board, had good signals. (Photo: The Real Don Steele holding his Hollywood Walk of Fame Star plaque with Bill Drake on the right)

The necessity for a strong signal was a position also held by Top 40-pioneer Gordon McLendon who said, ‘it doesn’t matter how good you are if the people can’t hear you.’ O’Neil recognized the potential of KFRC-San Francisco and handed it over to Drake. Within about a year, RKO also delivered CKLW-Detroit, WHBQ-Memphis, WRKO-Boston and WOR/fm-New York to be remade in the image of their winning sisters.  

Anyone who worked a Drake station knows that it wasn’t just the spot load and jingles that made the Drake sound unique. Drake has been described by Bill Watson, a long-time programming associate, as having the kind of ‘listener ear’ that programmers often don’t have. Watson said that he once went into a gas station, and the attendant made a comment about his station that went right to the point. ‘Why didn’t I think of what that gas station guy said?’ Watson commented, ‘That’s the kind of feedback Drake would give all the time.’  

Drake also set up the station in a way that put air people directly under the pd, who was essentially the only one who could deal with the air staff. The pd’s, in turn, were coached on style and morale techniques, and a real attitude developed that grew into pride. It was kind of the Marine Corps of Radio. Programmers were in constant contact with the air staff via the famous ‘Batphone.’ Drake pd’s all had car phones long before they became so popular. And Drake and his team were available to the pd’s 24-hours-a-day to talk through any sudden change in the market.  So it was in Los Angeles that the nation really first noticed a new air product that received life primarily through the friendship of three radio executives who shared their frustrations with each other and decided to give it a try.”

Bill Drake started as a jock in Northern California. In December 1973, he took over KIQQ and brought along Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele to wage battle against their alma mater. In his definitive book on the history of radio and pop music, Music in the Air, Philip Eberly described the “Drake formula” this way: “He declared dead air a felony. He decreed more rapid-fire talk by disc jockeys. He dropped the traditional 40-song playlist down 10 to 30 (that is, ‘Boss 30’). He reduced the allowable 18 commercials per hour (the FCC quota) to an ironclad 12.”  

During the first half of the early 1990s, Drake played a pivotal role in the success of “K-Earth 101,” which at the time was the sister station to KHJ.

Charlie Tuna 
Remembers Bill Drake

Bill Drake completely changed my life. He heard me in Boston working opposite his WRKO when he was in town to change that station to the KHJ format in 1967. To this day, I have no idea what made him pick me, but he sent a tape to KHJ pd Ron Jacobs, who called me in October of 1967 out of the blue to offer me the opportunity of a lifetime to join 93/KHJ. When I eventually arrived at KHJ to start (ironically 41 years ago this past Thanksgiving Day was my first day on the air in Los Angeles), I remember meeting Bill Drake for the first time in the production room with Bill Mouzis. Drake was a towering presence, both physically (very tall), and the way he had changed radio. I remember his quick smile and southern charm trying to put this obviously nervous 23- year-old kid at ease, but he communicated, with very few words (Drake format obviously), that made you believe you belonged here.

Talk about intimidating, Drake would later tell me in a conversation that I was his “morning man” because that’s when he usually woke up to start his day during my initial 9 to noon shift on KHJ. And despite all the rumors, I never did hear from Bill Drake on the “hotline” ever. Matter of fact, the only time the hotline rang, it was usually our pd Ron Jacobs just checking in to see what we were hearing on the street about KHJ and radio in general, if he was away from the station that day. And the Drake format, as all of us Boss Jocks came to learn, was a great support system that always made you sound your very best. Bill never once complained about a break being too long or criticized anyone for pushing the envelope of his radio design, but on those days when you might have been less than 110%, the format was always there to fall back on, and that, as Robert W. Morgan and I talked about many times, was something you felt very lucky to have.

There’s only a few people in this radio business you can say really changed it for the better, and forever. Bill Drake is one of them! His legacy still makes stations number #1, just look at what Jhani Kaye, our K-Earth pd has done with what essentially is the Drake format on K-EARTH. When I started on K-EARTH this past February, Jhani was just getting ready for a new jingle session and didn’t have one for me yet. But our resourceful imaging director, Keith Smith, had copies of all the original 93/KHJ acappella jingles. Keith found my original Charlie Tuna jock jingle that Drake and Jacobs created, and for the few weeks until the new K-EARTH jingle package came back, edited the “Charlie Tuna” sing, to the K-Earth jingle, and you would never have known 41 years had passed.

Bill Drake is a radio man for the ages, and we’ll never see anyone like him again. Very quiet and humble is the way I’ll always remember him, with southern charm and an instinctive gift for knowing what made people listen to the radio. I can’t imagine what heaven must be like today with Drake, Morgan and The Real Don Steele all back together again. Now that’s a party!” 

Mike Lundy 
Remembers Bill Drake

I didn’t know Bill Drake. And now it is impossible to believe that this icon is gone.

In the early sixties, I was hot for a job in real radio. I traveled up the San Joaquin Valley with a “slightly edited” tape and “slightly expanded” resume, looking for that first real radio job.

Taft. Bakersfield. Delano. Porterville. FRESNO.

That was the end of the first day, and all the rejections had convinced me to head back home to Alhambra – via my grandmother’s in Redwood City and a quick stop looking for work at KMBY in Monterey – where I knew I had to enroll in Ogden’s (then in Burbank) and get my “First Phone.”

(As luck would have it, my drive took me through Merced, where a friend had landed the job as pd.  I was the new morning man. But that is another story.)

FRESNO. 1962.

KYNO was king, with Drake having joined Gene Chenault in a combo deal with Knox LaRue at KSTN, Stockton after leaving KYA.

KYNO sounded great. But competition was just around the corner. A tiny local-frequency AM, KMAK, was doing “dress rehearsal” on the air.

Ron Jacobs, following success at KPOI in his beloved Oahu and KMEN-San Bernardino, was shepherding the third Colgreene station into the format and billing.

The battle was intense. Two programming superstars fighting head-to-head.

Ultimately, after success at KGB, Drake came to KHJ, with former rival Jacobs as the pd. (To this day, the “who conceived and executed” the Boss Radio format argument has never officially been resolved. But it appears to this outside observer that it was collaborative, with each using each individual strengths to craft the ultimate “Top 40” format. And let us not forget Bill Watson and others, including air talent, who contributed so much to the success.)

By this time, I was going to UCLA for my degree in Political Science, while working afternoons for Ted Randal, an early radio programming consultant in Hollywood, and initially driving to Bakersfield to work weekends at KAFY – ultimately landing a weekend gig at KDAY under Bob Wilson and Art Astor.

Weekdays meant just one thing. 5 p.m., off to the bar at Martoni’s.

That restaurant on Cahuenga was the gathering place for a motley assortment of promo “men,” “recording artists,” currently-employed radio talent – and a whole lotta wannabees!

It was also the place where some of us would not-so-innocently hook for an invite from one of the promo folk to leave the bar and sit down for a nice, expensive – and free – dinner.

But it was mostly booze which greased the wheels of radio and records in those days.

 (I often look back and wonder how I drove home from there to my home up on Apian Way in Laurel Canyon. Thank God I didn’t kill myself or someone else! And Thank God those boozing days are now a long forgotten part of my life.)

Sal the bartender was our mentor. Mario and Tony smoothly handled the various factions. And it was at Martoni’s Drake would occasionally stop by with his entourage for “winkiepoos” and camaraderie. That’s the closest I came to knowing the man.

When they entered, bartender Sal would whisper “Drake is here.” A literal hush fell over the joint as he and his cronies headed for a booth. Soon the place was bustling again, but the mere presence of the then-God of radio programming felt very special and important, even if from some distance.

His mark on programming was without peer. Working with Gene Chenault, he convinced RKO and their other clients that “less is more.”

And it was wonderful, both as a listener and a “wish I could be part of it” – guy in his early twenties.

No, I never knew Bill Drake. But in my gut I feel that I did. And I was fortunate enough to bask in some of his sunshine – reality and my ego notwithstanding.

So much of Mr. Yarbrough’s effort made so much sense. And it worked! Those halcyon days are gone forever, of course. Sales once again runs radio (into the ground?)

But the memories of brilliant radio programming will never die.

Rest in Peace, Bill Drake. 

Bill Mouzis 
Remembers Bill Drake

An era is quickly disappearing, and a man who expressed and exhibited such a mutual respect and appreciation for our personal and working relationship during the Boss Radio years at 93/KHJ has left us to join Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele. Bobby Tripp and Frank Terry. I cried a bit yesterday when I learned of his passing and flashed back to when I last saw Bill at Casey’s Bar in Woodland Hills a few months ago and how we once again had such a great time visiting and recalling some of the great moments in our long association. I will dearly miss his friendship, professionalism, understanding and working relationship during some of the greatest days radio has ever experienced since Marconi. He is also a legend.   

It was the highlight of my 45 year career being the engineering and production director during the glory years of Boss Radio, 93/KHJ. No one can ever take away the memories. 

Others are also paying tribute to the legend of Boss Radio:

John Rook was a friend and colleague of Bill Drake: www.JohnRook.com 

Bill Earl has posted a Bill Drake entry in his scrapbook: Click here: Classic DJ & Radio Scrapbook: The Death Of BILL DRAKE 

Bill Drake was one of the most influences in Ken Levine’s life: http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/ 

Woody Goulart was a student at the time of KIQQ and had unique access to Bill Drake. “One especially unique aspect that my Web site provides is the commentary from Ramona Palmer, who was married to Drake in the 1960s. Very touching, very cute photos from when they were just starting out as young newlyweds,” emailed Woody. “I feel truly honored to have known and worked for Drake, even if it was for such a brief period. His agreeing to an interview with me in 1975 directly led to my attempts to preserve a bit of rock and roll radio history online on www.bossradioforever.com.”

Drake Memorial. A memorial service for Bill Drake is planned for Wednesday, December 3rd at 3 p.m. at:

THE LITTLE BROWN CHURCH
4418 COLDWATER CANYON BLVD.
STUDIO CITY, CALIFORNIA

 

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