The Influence of the Limited Playlist at the Storz Broadcasting Company during the Payola Era
M.A., Purdue University, August 2002
Major Professor: Robert M. Ogles. 116 pages
THESIS ABSTRACT The function of the disc jockey at the innovative Storz chain of radio stations during the years 1958-1960 is analyzed through oral histories with Richard A. Braun, Charles K. Murdock, and Lan Roberts. During this period, when music-and-news programming was characterized by record-promoter enticements, the Storz organization promoted a creative environment for talent while emphasizing the strict enforcement of a limited playlist of recordings. Because talent at Storz stations did not debut records, they were not primary candidates for payola during the nationwide diffusion of the Top-40 format developed by Storz. This study reveals the importance of the disc jockey as a component of the Storz programming formula, and the impact of the Storz experience on the later careers of three men who worked with Todd Storz during the years in which his ideas emerged as the dominant management philosophy of the post-war radio industry. |
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Todd Storz 1924-1964 |
Dickie Braun 1928-2006 |
Charlie Murdock 1932-2011 |
Lan Roberts 1938-2005 |
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