"The Amazing and Adventurous Gene Chenault"
by Woody Goulart, http://www.bossradioforever.com

A proud photo with his grandfather, Gene Chenault, from the private collection of Ryan Moore.

Few people in real life get to meet actual heroes. But, I am one of the fortunate ones.

I met Gene Chenault  in Hollywood in 1973 under very tense circumstances. I had been working as production manager for a year at KIQQ, 100.3 FM, which was promoted on the air as K-100. The station owners were unhappy with the ratings of the station, so they selected Drake and Chenault to come in and take over management and programming.  It is standard practice for incumbent employees of an underperforming radio station to hear those two most dreaded words, immortalized by Donald Trump, “You’re fired!” When Drake and Chenault came in to K-100, everyone at that station was fired except for the bookkeeper and me.

Eventually, I, too, heard the famous words nobody wants to hear. But, I remember being treated with courtesy and respect in my termination, even though to the Drake-Chenault people, I was “an outsider.” Gene Chenault personally ensured that I got severance pay. I share this memory today to dispel a decades-long prevailing myth that the Drake-Chenault people were ruthless and heavy-handed.

Gene Chenault will best be remembered for leading a broadcasting business revolution. Of course, the legendary success in Los Angeles of 93/KHJ Boss Radio starting in 1965 is unforgettable. But, Chenault was one of the first broadcasters who believed that fm radio should become the rightful home of popular music programming in the United States.  Starting in the 1970s, his company’s national radio programming consultancy boosted fm  radio outlets in major markets to prominence, most notably in New York City on WOR/fm. Later, iconic Drake-Chenault syndicated radio formats such as “Hit Parade,” “Solid Gold,” “Great American Country,” and other brands enabled smaller market stations to attain high standards in music programming that otherwise would not have been affordable.

The 25th anniversary of Boss Radio KHJ in Century City in 1990 gave Drake, Chenault, and their talented team one last opportunity to celebrate their kinship and accomplishments together. The Drake-Chenault syndicated radio programming business was sold by Jones in 1991 to Broadcast Programming in Seattle. At that same time, Jones bought out the remaining interest Drake-Chenault had in Jones Radio Networks and the famous hyphenated brand name Drake-Chenault was no more.