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Report: Former WQXI/Atlanta GM Jerry Blum Dead at 86
RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, February 19, 2019 |
Former CHR WQXI (790)/Atlanta President and General Manager Gerald "Jerry" Blum, who was the inspiration for Art Carlson on "WKRP in Cincinnati," has died reports Rodney Ho at ajc.com. He was 86. His son Gary told Ho that Blum died of congestive heart failure Saturday morning. Blum was the inspiration for the Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson played by Gordon Jump in the CBS sitcom, according to show creator Hugh Wilson.
Blum ran WQXI from 1960 to 1989 and what is now WSTR-FM (Star 94.1) from 1967 until 1989 reported Ho. At the time, WQXI was known as "Quixie from Dixie." He was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2007.
Rob Stearns worked in sales at WQXI/94Q toward the end of Blum's run in the late 1980s told Ho, "He was still brash, still in your face. He was an old-school guy. He was a fighter. He wanted to crush the competition. He had a very charismatic way. Always surrounded himself with the best talent and best people. A real strategic guy. Nothing could constrain him. He wanted everything big. That's where his ‘Big Guy' nickname came from."
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