Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) headed a very successful chain of American radio broadcasting stations and is generally credited with being the foremost innovator of the Top 40 radio format in 1951. The selection of records to be played was based on sales reported by record stores, an indication as to which would be of greatest interest to listeners. Only the favorites would be played, in rotation. Some sources also credit his Omaha radio station as among the first to play at least some rock and roll records.
31-689: Robert Todd Storz (known as Todd to avoid confusion with his father) was the grandson of Omaha brewer Gottlieb Storz . His father, Robert H. Storz, positioned himself as a “mover and shaker” in Omaha, Nebraska . He joined his eldest brother Adolph in running the Storz Brewing Company, and became active in local associations and activities. Indeed, Robert Storz played a role in getting the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) headquarters to relocate to Omaha in 1957. SAC's huge and growing payroll portended good business for Storz beer. Having no interest in
62-579: A fine home that today is listed on the National Register of Historic Places , as is his own home . His first son, Aldoph Gottlieb Storz , was born in 1884. His adopted daughter Louise was noted for her short marriage in 1912 to Carl Hans Lody , who was to win notoriety as the only German spy to be publicly tried for espionage in either World War. Lody was executed in the Tower of London in November 1914 after
93-497: A recreational drug from the 1960s through the 1980s. The pill was known colloquially under the street names "tuies", "tumies", "double trouble", "blue tips", " F-66's" (which were the markings on Lilly's capsule), "rainbows", "beans", "nawls" and "jeebs". It came in the form of bullet-shaped capsules, half-reddish orange and half-turquoise blue. Like other barbiturate depressants , Tuinal promotes physical and psychological dependency beginning after one week of regular use and carries
124-527: A fresh location more in keeping with a modern, upbeat corporate identity, offer hoped-for relief from a persistent sinus condition and migraine headaches, and bring him closer to the woman who soon become his second wife–station WQAM's receptionist. But the changes were short-lived. On April 13, 1964, Todd Storz was found dead at his Miami Beach home. He was about three and a half weeks shy of his 40th birthday. The coroner's report cited “pulmonary congestion and edema” and “marked coronary and aortic narrowing” as
155-502: A programming "disconnect" on what the stations were doing that he once asked KXOK manager Jack Sampson if the station "could play some Lawrence Welk from time to time, or a lively Sousa march in the morning." The managers humored him and did whatever they could to keep the elder Storz from changing the established programming elements that had made the Storz organization so successful. But they could only do so much as their own influence waned in
186-427: A shift from a 'programming company' to a 'money company.' “ That is a succinct description of the shift in the Storz stations' focus that transpired after Todd's death. Unfortunately, Robert Storz neither understood nor acknowledged that Top-40 programming was central to the success of the company Todd had run. Instead, the senior Storz complained that station managers were spending too much money. Indeed, he had such
217-727: A short-acting barbiturate, secobarbital, with an intermediate-acting barbiturate, amobarbital, aimed to provide "a rapid yet prolonged hypnotic action". Eli Lilly has discontinued the manufacture of Tuinal in the United States due to the diminishing use of barbiturates (largely replaced by the benzodiazepine family of drugs) in outpatient treatment, and its widespread abuse . Currently, Valleant Labs markets secobarbital capsules only. Flynn Pharma of Ireland no longer manufactures Tuinal, Seconal (secobarbital), or Amytal (amobarbital). Amytal has been discontinued, though injectable forms of amobarbital sodium remains. Tuinal saw widespread abuse as
248-401: A specific slice of the available audience for a finite amount of time, the Storz operation offered a single program type—recorded hit music—during all of its broadcast hours. Ratings showed that KOWH's music appealed to the largest percentage of audience of any independent (non-network) radio outlet in the country. Playing popular music, and repeating the top-selling (“Top-40”) hits most often,
279-463: A spectacularly short and unsuccessful career as a spy. His marriage to Louise was equally a failure; she first filed for divorce alleging assault and battery a mere 2 months after marriage. Lody left the USA for 6 months soon after this but returned to a (blissful?) state of matrimony after the suit was withdrawn. However, Louise (or perhaps it was the whole family) was not to be denied and after reinstatement of
310-744: The William Lemp Brewing Company in St. Louis . After arriving in Omaha, Storz worked at Joseph Baumann's brewery. In 1876, Bauman died. Storz was renamed the foreman under Baumann's widow, then rented the brewery from her to run it himself. In 1891 Storz founded the Omaha Brewing Association, with himself as president. After purchasing the company, in 1892 Storz built a state-of-the-art facility at 1819 North 16th Street in North Omaha , located at
341-548: The 1970s. After years of declining audiences and revenues, the six Storz AM stations were sold between April 1984 and September 1985 for prices far below what they would have fetched during their heyday under Todd's guidance. The order in which the stations were sold, and their value in 2017 dollars is as follows: WTIX, New Orleans, $ 7,066,400; KOMA, Oklahoma City, $ 7,066,400; WDGY, Minneapolis, approximately $ 3,000,000; WHB, Kansas City, sale price not determined; KXOK, St. Louis, $ 4,710,933; and WQAM, Miami, $ 6,713,080. The decline of
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#1732884984800372-584: The Signal Corps. When he mustered out in 1946, he enrolled in a 12-week radio course sponsored by NBC and Northwestern University. Next, he took a low-paying “jack-of-all-trades” job at KWBW in Hutchinson, Kansas, to gain some commercial radio experience. He returned to Omaha in 1947 to take on a sales position at KFAB—and to marry Elizabeth Ann Trailer. In mid-April 1949, Robert and Todd Storz announced their purchase of KOWH-AM and its FM companion outlet KOAD from
403-480: The Storz Broadcasting Company is instructive because—as the saying goes--"It didn't have to be this way." If management had purchased FM facilities as the medium grew after 1970, and if inventive program directors and managers had been adequately supported, the company might have continued to be a programming innovator—not only retaining but further expanding its audience. Still, for nearly three decades,
434-535: The Storz stations were the epitome of innovative, memorable, and delightful radio broadcasting. They were the most fun you could have with your ears. Not often acknowledged in the Origins of rock and roll , Storz' station, and others which adopted the Top 40 format, helped to promote the genre: by the mid 50s, the playlist included artists such as "Presley, Lewis, Haley, Berry and Domino". The Top 40 format eventually spread across
465-524: The US. An article in the Spring 2012 issue of Nebraska History magazine offered this comment as to the importance of Storz' approach to programming: "the radio revolution that Storz began with KOWH was already sweeping the nation. Thousands of radio station owners had realized the enormous potential for a new kind of radio. When television became popular, social monitors predicted that radio would die. However, because of
496-503: The beer business, however, young Todd Storz was far more attracted to the potential of broadcast radio. He built a crude AM radio crystal receiver when he was only eight, and from then on, was “hooked” on radio. In 1940 Todd passed the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) amateur ham radio license examination, and set up his receiver and transmitter on the third floor of the family home. Robert H. enrolled Todd at
527-689: The brewery. The brewery won medals in international competitions at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha in 1898, at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon in 1905, and in Paris in 1912. In 1905 Gottlieb had a mansion built at 3708 Farnam Street that today is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Statewide prohibition went into effect in Nebraska in 1916, with
558-686: The intersection of Sherman Avenue (North 16th Street) and Clark Street. Storz also owned many saloons , also called " tied houses ", and ran one next to his plant. In response to pressure from the Prohibition Movement , in 1907 the Nebraska Legislature passed the Gibson Law which made it illegal for breweries to own saloons. In response, Storz transferred his saloons to the Independent Realty Company. While this appeared to meet
589-522: The invention of Storz and others like him, radio would be reborn". Fatherley, Richard W., and MacFarland, David T.: The Birth of the Top 40 Radio Format. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2014. MacFarland, David T.: The Development of the Top 40 Radio Format. New York, N.Y.: Arno Press, 1979. Gottlieb Storz Gottlieb Storz (1852–1939) was a pioneer entrepreneur in Omaha, Nebraska . Born in Benningen, Wurttemberg , Storz
620-662: The later acquisitions enjoyed top-notch technical facilities. Storz could easily afford their purchase. Other station operators took notice of the Storz phenomenon and began to program similar tightly-formatted Top-40 music. In January 1961 Todd's wife of fourteen years filed for divorce. A month later Storz announced that the company had designated a Miami Beach building as the company's new national headquarters. In retrospect, there were several good reasons for Storz to move his home and office from Omaha to Miami Beach. Doing so would distance him from his failed marriage, remove him somewhat from his father's close scrutiny, provide him with
651-509: The law taking effect in 1917. On January 16, 1919, Nebraska became the required 36th state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment . Nationwide Prohibition began exactly one year later. When Nebraskans voted to repeal the state's constitutional prohibition in 1934, Storz was again in business and quickly was making up to 150,000 barrels a year. Gottlieb Storz died in 1939. The brewery made beer until 1972. Gottlieb's brother, Charles, built
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#1732884984800682-487: The letter of the law, in 1914 the Nebraska Supreme Court revoked an Independent Realty Company saloon's liquor license , finding that the grounds were still controlled by Storz Brewery. Additionally, they also found that the company's president was Storz's wife, Minnie; the vice-president was Maggie Buck, who was also the Storz brewer and Minnie's cousin, and; the secretary/treasurer had also previously worked for
713-540: The owners of the Omaha World Herald. The elder Storz was named president and his son became vice-president and general manager. For the first two years under Storz management, KOWH followed industry practice and offered a varied “conglomeration of programming” that resulted in only four percent of Omaha homes listening even once to the station in a sample week. By mid-1951 however, KOWH began to turn around as Todd observed that audience ratings rose when recorded music
744-678: The prestigious Choate school in Connecticut, hoping that his son would pay more attention to academics than to radio. Instead, he became president of the Choate Radio Club. In 1942, he transferred to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he put an unlicensed AM station on the air, though it was quickly shut down by the FCC. Todd enlisted in the Army in 1943 and served as a warrant officer junior grade in
775-399: The probable causes. However, a second cause of death might have been barbiturate intoxication. The drug in question was Tuinal , which was sometimes prescribed to insomniacs to help induce sleep. Tuinal was known to be dangerous because the amount of the drug that induces drowsiness is only slightly less than the amount that can lead to death. But the specific cause of Todd's premature death
806-605: The suit, decree nisi was eventually granted in March 1914. His son Arthur Charles Storz was born in 1890, and Robert Charles Storz was born in 1898. Robert Storz's son, Todd Storz , is credited with being the father of the Top 40 radio format and developed a chain of highly successful AM radio stations. Tuinal Tuinal was the brand name of a discontinued combination drug composed of two barbiturate sodium salts ( secobarbital and amobarbital ) in equal proportions. Tuinal
837-423: Was introduced as a sedative - hypnotic (sleeping pill) medication in the late 1940s by Eli Lilly . It was also used in obstetrics for childbirth . It was produced in brightly colored half-reddish orange and half-turquoise blue gelatin capsule form (bullet-shaped Pulvules) for oral administration . Individual capsules contained 50 mg, 100 mg, or 200 mg of barbiturate salts. The combination of
868-420: Was never determined. Robert H. Storz took over the operation of the Storz Broadcasting Company, shifting the headquarters back to Omaha. With Todd gone, his vision, of how compelling radio could be, relied upon the station managers and staff he had trained. But, as former Storz station manager Deane Johnson later put it, “Todd's death [and the control of the radio stations falling to Todd's father] brought about
899-400: Was played but declined when talk shows were aired. He concluded that listeners wanted most to hear hit records. By the fall of 1953, all of KOWH's programming was being produced in-house, featuring local announcers, recorded popular music, and a wide array of promotional jingles. In an era when network and local radio were relying on a more staid variety of short programs designed to appeal to
930-605: Was the founder of the Storz Brewery . He was an important member of Omaha's German immigrant community , and an important businessman in Omaha history. Storz was regarded as a "giant in the brewing world". After immigrating to the United States in 1870 from Germany, in 1876 Storz moved to Omaha and became the foreman of a brewery founded in 1863. Storz learned brewing in Wurttemberg and had several years experience in New York and at
961-830: Was the main engine driving KOWH's phenomenal audience growth. This was the beginning of a radio revolution, which would soon expand to six other Storz stations, beginning with WTIX, New Orleans in 1953, which also became phenomenally successful despite having a weak signal. Todd Storz went on to buy WHB in Kansas City in 1954, WDGY in Minneapolis/St. Paul in January 1956, WQAM in Miami in May 1956, KOMA in Oklahoma City in 1958, and KXOK in St. Louis in 1960. Most of