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When I was in my very early twenty’s I was a disc jockey at
the original Top 40 station…KOWH in Omaha. The station was
owned by successful Todd Storz who also owned stations in
Kansas City, the Twin Cities, and New Orleans. And Todd had
signed a contract with the owners of WQAM in Miami to
purchase it…and in fact filed with the Federal
Communications Commission for transfer of WQAM ownership to
his company.
HOWEVER, quite a few station owners in Miami were very upset
that a typical Storz station would soon be a competitor.
They were afraid of his presence in their market. So the
Miami station owners filed a protest with the FCC requesting
the transfer be denied because of the Storz format…which not
only played the Top 40 hits…but also ran contests and
promotions…which the Miami station owners stated was unfair
competition and was not in the public interest. They did not
want a Storz station to come roaring into their sleepy
market…and take the ratings as Storz stations did.
Well, the FCC called for a meeting in DC of all the Miami
owners and Todd to determine if a hearing was necessary. I
was more than interested in the results of the hearing
because I wanted the program directors job at WQAM….which I
eventually got…but not after some tense months.
I WAS THERE in Omaha to receive a memo dated July 23, 1956,
from Todd to all the Storz employees….and here are excerpts
from it…. which describes what happened:
“As most of you know, I have just completed a very trying
ten days in Washington on the WQAM transfer. The question,
during that time, was not whether the Commission would
approve the transfer to us, but instead, whether the
Commission would approve the transfer to us without a
hearing”
“We were positive as anyone could be that if we had to go
through a hearing, the ultimate outcome would be favorable.
However, as a practical matter, the hearing could never
happen since our contract to buy the station expires August
15th unless we received favorable approval from the
Commission before that time. As you can readily see, if the
Commission had failed to act, or if the Commission had voted
to send the matter to hearing, we would have in all
likelihood, lost the purchase of WQAM.”
“As a practical matter, it’s evident that the Commission
will have to determine whether it wishes to attempt to
approve and disapprove various types of programs (contests
and giveaways) broadcast by radio and television stations.
One this determination is made, it is evident that the
Commission will have to apply its policies with equal force
and effect to all radio and television licensees without
exception. For example, if the Commission eventually
determines that large money contests are not in the public
interests, we feel certain, it would have to discontinue all
such contests whether originated by a local radio station,
or by some source such as a TV network.”
“Having represented to the Commission that we will
discontinue certain types of contests and giveaways, we now
intend to do precisely that, as quickly as possible …”.
“The problem has arisen as to what we will tell the general
public about the discontinuance of these contests. The truth
of the matter is that we discontinued these contests because
they were questioned by the FCC. However, if we were to
announce this over the air, or even over the telephone in
reply to inquiries the FCC would be flooded with thousands
of irate letters. One of the contests here in Omaha, for
example, has been on the hair continuously for seven years.
My guess is that such an announcement would produce
approximately twenty thousand personal and individual
letters of complaint at the FCC. I also don’t think we
should have to tell our listeners that we discontinued the
contests because we want to, or anything of the sort. The
only thing I see that we can do is to make no announcement
on the air at all as to why the contests were discontinued,
and to answer phone calls by saying we are not able to give
that information.”
“We feel certain that the air will clear on this whole
general subject, and the Commission will promptly determine,
when it reconvenes, whether it should extend its control
into this who general area, or not.”
The memo was signed by Todd and typed by Todd’s personal
secretary, Ruthie Peterson.
As I look back, three commissioners wanted to vote for a
hearing, and three did not….and one in effect abstaining. As
Storz wrote in the memo, “This presented a pretty dark
picture”.
Todd wrote, “In its last days before adjournment, the
Commission was tremendously busy, and our matter was not on
the agenda for reconsideration on Thursday. We felt our only
hope was to go right down and line and agree NOT to do
anything questioned in the Commission’s original letter. We
did this as a last resort, and it worked”.
In other words, Storz cleverly went along with the Miami
owners request of no contests, no promotions, etc. And the
FCC eventually approved the transfer without a hearing.
And Todd kept his word, as always. No contests, no
promotions. But, he put together a fabulous disc jockey
team…really talented. Those Miami owners really missed the
point….it wasn’t the contests or promotions that made the
Storz stations the most listened to in their markets.
Indeed, contests and promotions were only a small part it.
It was the total programming package!!!! But the Miami
broadcasters probably figured it out within six months when
WQAM bolted to number one in ratings in the market with 30,
40, and 50 rating shares. On the air WQAM boasted “A Runaway
without A Giveaway”!!!!
And so it is today…a broadcaster can contest, promote,
advertise…you name it…but if the product is lousy the
ratings are too. On the other hand it is very possible to
get good ratings with a GREAT product without a tremendous
promotional effort….harder, but possible.
And, there was a probable first amendment issue…maybe!!!
Hey, if there had been a hearing could it have been possible
that the FCC would have told all broadcasters…no contests,
or promotions. Would that rule be in existence today???? We
will never know due do Todd’s confidence in his total
programming concept!!!!
e-mail Kent
kent@kentburkhart.com
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