Robert Todd Storz

(1924-1964) born in Omaha. Radio broadcaster, in 1949 he pioneered at KOWH in Omaha what became by 1953 the top 40 radio format for popular music; his station at the time ranked as highest-rated independent in the nation, and the Storz disc jockey credo “I won’t play anything that isn’t a hit, can’t be a hit, or wasn’t a hit” was also used at his other stations in New Orleans, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Miami; credited with rejuvenating the radio industry and developing the precursor of automation in broadcasting. Consult Time, June 4, 1956, pp. 100-102 and South Omaha Sun, January 29, 1959, pp. 24-25 and Who Was Who in America, Vol 4 (1968) 910 and Ben Fong-Torres, The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio (Miller Freeman Books, 1998) Chapter 5 and Omaha Sunday World Herald, June 5, 2005, pp. E-1, E-2.

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