Radio’s Bill Drake Dies

Bill Drake, 71, the radio programming consultant who pioneered the less talk, more music format, died of cancer at a Los Angeles-area hospital Nov. 29.

Drake championed what became known as the “Boss Radio” format – where Top 40 hits were more important than the on-air personalities – in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Georgia native and Gene Chenault co-owned a radio consulting business that fostered the careers of DJs such as “The Real” Don Steele and Robert W. Morgan.

Drake sold his interest in the company in 1983.

He was reportedly developing a new Top 40 format for satellite radio at the time of his death.