From AllAccess.com:
It’s a huge loss for the radio industry, as ALL ACCESS reported on SATURDAY (NET NEWS 11/29) that radio legend BILL DRAKE died from lung cancer at age 71 in LOS ANGELES. DRAKE passed away SATURDAY at WEST HILLS HOSPITAL in the SAN FERNANDO VALLEY.
DRAKE streamlined the Top 40 format, using modern methods, such as market research and ratings demographics, to maximize the number of listeners. He believed in forward momentum, limiting the amount of disc jockey chatter, the number of advertisements and playing only the top hits, as opposed to less-organized programming methods of the past. DRAKE created concepts such as 20/20 News and counter-programming by playing music sweeps, while his competitors aired news.
I frickin worked at KYNO briefly in the 80s.
And here I am. Still spinnin’ the hits.
RIP Bill Drake.
Without you, I’d be a different me.
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It used to was, back in the mists of antiquity, before computer-algorithm-driven playlists, that bands looking for a way to get airtime would cut “Hey, Mr. DJ” type singles.
Can any of the former radio jocks here confirm that this ploy was only marginally effective?
These days the deejays referenced in pop music are pretty much all club deejays, alas.
The best one I’ve heard recently is “Great DJ” cut by one of the UK’s innumerable next big things, The Ting Tings. I couldn’t embed it for some reason so here’s a link to a very good live performance (there are others and an “official” video at YouTube, but I’m old school: live music over teevee.)