DMS is sad to report the passing of Lucille Rudman this morning two days after Kal’s passing.

DMS CEO (and former FMQB CEO) Fred Deane expresses, “The Deane Media Solutions family is deeply saddened by the passings of Kal & Lucille Rudman. Kal & Lucille were married for 63 years and dedicated themselves to serving the music and radio industries for over six decades as operators of FMQB (Friday Morning Quarterback). Kal & Lucille also formed the Kal & Lucille Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supported several charitable, educational, and civic causes throughout the Philadelphia and South Jersey region. They are indeed legends on multiple levels.

I personally worked with Kal and Lucille for a good portion of my career during my FMQB tenure, and have always had the fondest and warmest relationship with both of them. Kal was, in the truest sense, a legend and an original. He was an innovator, a scholar, and a very generous humanitarian. Kal & Lucille always cared for people, supported numerous industry pros during their active years, and many of us owe them a career debt of gratitude for the genuine care, concern, contribution and opportunity they provided all of us throughout our industry. ”

Fellow industry legend Clive Davis reflects, “Kal was a man who was truly passionate about music and he communicated that passion so enthusiastically and so colorfully. For many vibrant years, his voice was distinctively heard by everyone working in music. Kal was indeed one of a kind.”

Scott Shannon’s brilliant career speaks for itself, and he was always one of Kal’s favorite radio sons. Scott often speaks with the highest degree of reverence about Kal, and comments, “Kal was definitely an underrated and under-estimated giant in the music and radio business. We became very close friends in the early days of my career and I made it a point to stay close to him throughout my career. The things I learned from him were invaluable. Basically, how to read the importance of a hit record and how to spot one before your competitor, and quickly act on your gut. Another great quality about Kal was that he treated the small market programmers and music directors with respect, and would make them stars to the record business by supporting them in print and on the phone. He had no boundaries to his professional generosity toward all programmers.”

Scott continues, “His Front Red Page was a real classic and I would study its contents every single week all through my career in Nashville, Memphis and Atlanta, and it meant so much to me to see some guy in Peoria yelling about the phones he’s getting on a certain record. Kal was the captain of that ship. He gave several of these young programmers notoriety and respect in the record business and across the radio business. I made it a point to talk to him every week before I finalized my music, and I knew I could always get an honest read from him. He broke more records than any other publication of that era, was a true pioneer of our business, a very colorful character and networking genius to the extent that many of his methods of doing business have endured up until today. He LOVED music, plain and simple, and few had his passion to express and convey his precise forecasts of future hits. I was a big fan, he was instrumental in my career, and I loved him dearly.”

Kal created Friday Morning Quarterback in 1968 in the basement of his Cherry Hill, NJ residence. Combining his passion for music with his love of sports, he thought the name would translate well as he strived to be the industry’s prognosticator of hits.

Kal’s days of networking included trusted relationships with industry movers and shakers of the time like radio’s Bill Drake, Mike Joseph, Kent Burkhart, Jay Cook, Dean Tyler, John Rook and Rosalie Trembly, as well as music industry leaders like Berry Gordy, Clive Davis, Al Coury, Jerry Wexler, Ahmet Ertegun, and Charlie Minor.

But it wasn’t just the elite class of the industry that Kal had time for. Kal would spend as much time on the phone with programmers in small and middle markets advocating on their behalf for record service, label attention, and ultimately helping advance their careers.

Kal’s legacy will live on as will the contributions he’s made to the industry he loved so dearly. In every corner of our industry there is a piece of
Kal Rudman.