|
By JAMES BUCHANAN Herald staff Writer
Todd Storz, 39-year-old president of the six-station Storz Broadcasting Co., died at his home on Sunset Island III Monday, apparently the victim of a stroke.
Mr. Storz, who owned WQAM in Miami, also owned stations in Kansas City, St. Louis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and St. Paul.
Family friends said Mr. Storz apparently died durinz the night. He was found at 7:30 a.m.
Mr. Storz acquired WQAM in 1956 and soon after changed its program policy to the popular music and news format which had proved a success at his other stations.
Unimpressed by other broadcasters' claims that radio could not survive television's invasion, Mr. Storz believed his stations could hold their listeners - and their advertisers - if the public was given what it wanted at the moment, plus regular up-to-the-minute news broadcasts.
Despite the apparent decline of rock 'n roll on many stations, WQAM and its sister outlets have maintained a steady diet of such music.
Mr. Storz, born in Omaha the son of a wealthy civic leader and brewer, picked up his interest in radio during his grade school days and had his own amateur "ham" station while attending high school.
His first venture into commercial broadcasting came in 1945 when he became an announcer for a Hutchinson, Kansas station.
After acquiring sales experience on other stations, young Storz and his father, Robert Storz, acquired an Omaha station and set up Mid-Continent Broadcasting Co.
As the company acquired other properties outside the midwest its name was changed to Storz Broadcasting Co., and in early 1961 Mr. Storz moved its headquarters from Omaha to Miami Beach, where he maintained offices at 767 41st St.
Prior to that he had purchased a home at 2345 Lake Ave., on Sunset Island III, where he lived with his wife Lori; their daughter, Lynn, two sons, Robert and Bradley.
All survive him, along with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Storz of Omaha, and a sister, Suzanne, also of Omaha.
Combs Funeral Home, which is in charge of local arrangements, said Mr. Storz' body would be sent to Omaha for Service and burial.
|
