Storz Broadcasting

Robert Todd Storz (May 8, 1924 – April 13, 1964) was an American radio broadcaster, credited with being the inventor of the Top 40 radio format.

Storz was the grandson of Omaha brewer Gottlieb Storz. Growing up in the family mansion in Omaha, Nebraska, Storz became a ham radio enthusiast while living there.

In 1949, Storz, along with his father Robert, purchased radio station KOWH in Omaha; Todd became the station's general manager. At the time, typical AM radio programming consisted largely of blocks of pre-scheduled, sponsored programs of a wide variety, including radio dramas and variety shows. Local popular music hits, if they made it on the air at all, had to be worked in between these segments.

Storz noted the strong response certain songs received from the record-buying public and compared it to the way certain selections on jukeboxes were played over and over, which he, program director Bill Stewart, national program director and radio presenter Jim "Grahame Crackers" Richards as well as KOWH staff observed. According to producer Richard Fatherly, Storz also commissioned a study from the University of Omaha before switching KOWH to a music focused/"Top 40" format.

Storz expanded his stable of radio stations in 1953, purchasing WTIX in New Orleans, Louisiana, gradually converted his stations to an all-hits format, and pioneered the practice of surveying record stores to determine which singles were popular each week. It was at WTIX where he counter-programmed market rival WDSU's Top 20 at 1280 program with the Top 40 at 1450 on WTIX. In 1954, Storz purchased WHB, a high-powered station in Kansas City, Missouri, which could be heard throughout the Midwest and the Great Plains.

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