[HCDX] [radiostamps] STAMP MAY HONOR RADIO INNOVATOR
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[HCDX] [radiostamps] STAMP MAY HONOR RADIO INNOVATOR



>From DX LISTENING DIGEST 3-216, December 2, 2003 
        edited by Glenn Hauser 



OKLAHOMA [and non]. STAMP MAY HONOR RADIO INNOVATOR
   BY BETSIE FREEMAN, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER 

If U.S. postage stamps go up to 40 cents, a veteran broadcaster thinks 
they should pay homage to a notable Omahan who had a way with the 
number 40. 

A commemorative stamp should honor the late Todd Storz, widely 
credited as creator of Top 40 radio, said Richard Fatherley, a former 
Storz Broadcasting employee who now is an independent producer, 
consultant and radio voice. 

Storz owned Omaha's KOWH-AM in the early 1950s, turning it into the 
top-rated independent station in the nation. He acquired other 
stations across the country - in New Orleans, Kansas City, Oklahoma 
City [KOMA] and Miami, where he moved to in the early 1960s. He died 
there in 1964 at age 39 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. 

Fatherley is petitioning the U.S. Postal Service's Citizens Stamp 
Advisory Committee to create a tribute stamp for Storz. He's said he's 
gotten encouragement from Terrence McCaffrey, manager of stamp 
services for the Postal Service, and longtime broadcasters. He's 
seeking more support on the Internet. 

Where to write 

To voice your support for a Todd Storz stamp, write Terrence 
McCaffrey, Manager of Stamp Services, U.S. Postal Service, Suite 5670, 
L'Infant [sic] Plaza Southwest, Washington, D.C. 20260-2435. 

He recently submitted his second proposal for the stamp after being 
turned down on his first. The committee said thousands of stamp ideas 
are put forth each year. 

"I resubmitted it with a little more ammo this time," Fatherley said. 

Several noted broadcasters have written in support of the idea. 
Fatherley also is tying it to the 40-cent milestone and the 50th 
anniversary of Top 40 radio. 

The news-and-hits format caught on across the country in 1954, after 
Storz implemented it at WTIX-AM in New Orleans and WHB-AM in Kansas 
City. 

Fatherley said many Americans have earned a place on stamps for 
similar career achievements. 

"They're doing this for all kinds of different personalities," he 
said. "You name it. Football players, authors, Andy Warhol. Why not 
Todd Storz? He rejuvenated the radio industry." 

Bud Connell of Little Rock, Ark., morning man for KOWH in the mid-
1950s, said Storz should be recognized. 

"He was a marvelously creative individual," Connell said of his former 
boss. "If Presley deserves a stamp for his achievements as a music 
artist, then certainly Todd Storz deserves recognition at least on a 
small stamp for what he contributed to a huge industry - 
broadcasting." 

The Storz programming strategy called for stations to sever ties with 
networks, create station promotions for publicity and listenership, 
and broadcast spaced repetition of popular music determined by jukebox 
selections and record sales. First it was the Top 10 records of the 
day and then the Top 40. His methods swept across the country and 
survive today. 

"MTV was an outgrowth of Todd's Top 40," said Connell, now an 
independent producer and writer. 

Fatherley was so taken with Storz's story that he produced an audio 
documentary about the Omahan's career: "Radio's Revolution and the 
World's Happiest Broadcasters," portions of which can be heard at 
http://www.reelradio.com. 

He's urging friends, fans and others impressed with the Storz legacy 
to write the Postal Service and their congressional representatives. 
"I'm looking for lots of letters to the right people," he said. 

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=1636&u_sid=930792&PHPSESSID=225a2
e3faa07ddb07f5437a5d058f7f
(via Mike Terry, DXLD)



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