Thursday, June 03, 2010

Bob Doll, national figure in small-town radio, dies

Robert "Bob" Doll, founder and editor emeritus of Small Market Radio Newsletter and author of Sparks Out of the Plowed Ground, a book about small-town radio, died Tuesday, June 1 in Seguin, Tex. He and his wife Barb started the newsletter in 1983 and sold it to Jay Mitchell 10 years later. "If I'd been born before radio, I'd have been a small-town newspaper editor like William Allen White in Emporia, Kansas," Doll said.

Doll grew up in Cincinnati and had his first full-time radio job at WDLB in Marshfield, Wis. His first management job was at WEKY in Richmond, Ky., and he was chairman of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association board in 1972. He and his partners owned The Cardinal Group of small-town stations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio from 1960 to 1973. After selling them, he bought WAOP in Otsego, Mich. For a full biography, click here. A memorial service will be announced later.

2 comments:

Rod said...

Broadcasters and other friends of Bob are invited to share their favorite stories, recollections, and impressions of Bob at Radio Sales Café. Here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/BobDoll

Thank you for taking time to share.

Cordially,

Rod Schwartz
Grace Broadcast Sales

Unknown said...

Bob gave me an award in 1971 for best in my age group for 4-H state speech contest. I just found a picture of him giving it to me today 49 years later. His congrats meant a lot to a nine year old from Russellville Ky.