About Randy Brown

(Probably more than you ever wanted to know)

With a career that has spanned five decades, Randy started on his broadcasting journey in 1969 in his hometown, Kansas City. He quickly became fascinated with radio, listening to WHB, one of the original top 40 stations and part of the legendary Storz Broadcasting group. His career path led him to Tulsa's KAKC in 1970, where he was part of the Bill Drake empire (albeit in its smallest market). In 1972, his career really began to blossom when he moved to Dallas and worked for Gordon McLendon at KNUS.

"I consider myself uniquely blessed, having grown up listening to Todd Storz' most admired radio station, and then working in both the Bill Drake and Gordon McLendon chains," says Brown. "These three men, more than any others, shaped contemporary radio as we know it today. Even now, whether this modern crop of broadcasters knows it or not, the fingerprints of those three radio pioneers are all over music and talk radio formats of every kind."

For those too young to know, Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon are credited with inventing Top 40 radio in the 1950s, and Bill Drake perfected it in the 1960s. It can be said that the format mechanics and promotional techniques that were borne out of those early days of Top 40 radio spawned virtually every format heard on radio today. To have been directly influenced by these three giants of the industry is no small thing. Few, if any, broadcasters share Randy's experience of having worked around all three men.

During his years as a disc jockey, Randy was twice honored as "Air Personality of the Year" by national trade publications.

Randy's resumé as a Top 40 program director includes stints at KNUS ("K-News") in Dallas, KEGL ("The Eagle") in Dallas, KTKS ("Kiss-FM") in Dallas, KKBQ ("93Q") in Houston, and KRUX in Phoenix. He was also one of the originators of what we now call the "Smooth Jazz" format, having served as the original program director of KOAI ("The Oasis"), one of the nation's first five major market stations in that format, from 1987 to 1989.

He eventually moved over to News/Talk, where he spent five years as Creative Director for KRLD NewsRadio 1080 in Dallas. There, he also served as program director for the 125-station Texas State Network, the largest state radio network in the country. He was also responsible for the Texas Rangers Radio Network and over 50 hours of talk programming each week. While at KRLD, he also performed duties as the station imaging voice, and handled KRLD's and TSN's imaging production.

"As a production guy, I was like a kid in a candy store in the News/Talk format," says Brown. "With all the breaking news stories and a plethora of talk shows on the station, there was never a shortage of new sound to use, which made that job a producer's paradise."

Randy's KRLD production of a 1996 Texas Rangers season retrospective won the prestigious Katy award from the Dallas Press Club.

During his time at KRLD, Randy also became a graphics designer of some note, and was recognized for his excellent work with a statewide award for graphics design, a skill that would serve him well when he turned his attention to video production many years later.

After spending over 25 years in the market, Brown left Dallas in 1997 for Atlanta to become the lead play-by-play voice of PGA TOUR Radio. He claims the distinction of having called more PGA TOUR events on terrestrial radio than any other broadcaster in history.

"I love radio, and I love golf," says Randy, "so getting to walk the fairways 'inside the ropes' with Tiger Woods while carrying a microphone and an RF pack on my belt was easily the most fun job I've ever had."

Brown has continued to serve occasionally as a golf commentator on international television, and on webcasts seen around the world for AOL and PGA.com through his association with Turner Broadcasting.

In 1999, he left Atlanta to run Cumulus Broadcasting's Central Production Facility out of Chattanooga, where he and his staff were responsible for producing commercials and all ratings-promotion imaging production for the 350-station group.

An award-winning broadcaster, Randy was twice named national "Air Personality of the Year," and was nominated for Program Director of the Year. In 1996, he produced a longform radio special commemorating the Texas Rangers' first-ever playoff season, and received the prestigious Katy Award from the Dallas Press Club. While working for Cumulus, Randy's "Marconi" promo, a radio spot designed to recruit radio sales people for Cumulus stations, won a national award for Best Promo from Radio and Production Magazine. Randy also received a statewide graphic design excellence award for a KRLD Christmas Card he created in 1993.

In 2001, Randy returned to suburban Atlanta, where he launched his own home-based company, Brown Media, Inc. He now provides voice imaging services to broadcasters and non-broadcasters the world over, as well as radio imaging and video production. At last count, he was the imaging voice on around 70 radio stations nationwide. His voice has been heard on promos that have aired on major television networks, including CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and he narrated a series of television programs produced by PGA TOUR Productions that aired on regional television network FOX Sports South.

Randy has also shared his knowledge with aspiring broadcasters -- "baby deejays," as he likes to call them -- as an instructor at a broadcasting school in Atlanta. He has taught on-air skills, as well as radio production using Adobe Audition (Cool Edit Pro) and Pro Tools, as well as video editing with Avid and field camera operation. He is a moderator on two User Forums at Avid.com, the website of the world's leading digital video editing software.

On July 23, 2009, the official announcement was made that Randy had been voted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, where he will be formally inducted this November.

Randy, who bleeds blue and silver for his beloved Dallas Cowboys, lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, about 18 miles north of Atlanta, with his TV-watching, crime-fighting dog Mulligan. He is a proud grandfath--...uh...he doesn't like using "the G word." Let's just say he's "RanDad" to two adorable grandchildren.