Jerry Blum
Gerald S. (Jerry) Blum was born in Brooklyn, New York July 14, 1932. In 1947, his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona because of his father’s illness. Blum graduated Phoenix Union High School and then Arizona State University in 1954. He was called to active duty with the Air Force and served as Wing/Staff Information Officer at Canon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico.
Upon discharge from the Air Force, Blum joined a Hollywood public relations firm “earning” $35 weekly. When he received a phone call from a disc jockey friend from his college days, he was offered a job at WIL Radio in St. Louis for $175 a week. While Jerry was in St. Louis, the ownership of WIL purchased radio station, KBOX Radio, in Dallas, Texas and Jerry moved there. While at KBOX, his sales and management reputation grew and he was contacted by the ownership of WLEE Radio in Richmond, Virginia, to become General Sales Manager there. He took the job on February 1, 1960. Then in 1962, Esquire Magazine, who owned WQXI AM/FM Radio in Atlanta, offered him the position of General Sales Manager. He joined WQXI AM/FM Radio on February 1, 1962. In 1968, he was promoted to General Manager and served in that capacity until he retired October 1, 1989. According to former Atlantan Hugh Wilson, creator of the hit television show "WKRP", the character of Art Carlson was modeled after Blum.
Jerry currently lives in Smyrna.
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