Legendary Radio Programmer Bill Drake Has Died

"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," writes Wikipedia.

Drake died Saturday, November 29, 2008 from lung cancer. He was 71.

"Bill Drake did for Top 40 Radio what Ray Kroc did for hamburgers," says Ron Jacobs a longtime radio personality, programmer, and consultant. Jacobs has written a heartfelt tribute to Drake at radiodailynews.com.

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