About Gordon McLendon
Gordon Barton McLendon was an American radio broadcaster. Nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio", McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s and 1960s, the commercially successful Top 40 radio format created by Todd Storz. He also developed offshore pirate radio broadcasting to both Scandinavia and the British Isles. In addition, he was active in circles of conservative business-political power in the 1960s until the time of his death. McLendon was known for his elaborate practical jokes, orchestrated on such notables as sitting President Richard Nixon and J. Later, in 1964, McLendon shared his experience at offshore broadcasting with Don Pierson of Eastland, Texas, who created a mirror of McLendon's KLIF radio station in Dallas. He won a nationwide political-essay contest judged by journalists Arthur Brisbane, Henry Luce, and Walter Lippmann.
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