Bill Gavin (November 6, 1907 – January 27, 1985) was an American radio personality and publisher of the influential ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The pu ...

''.

Life and education

Gavin was born in

Chetek, Wisconsin Chetek is a city in Barron County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,221 at the 2010 census. The city is located partially within the Town of Chetek. History The original inhabitants of the area were the Ojibwa Indians, who referr ...

in 1907. He attended the

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

and the

University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

. Before his radio career, he was a teacher,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and singer. He briefly traveled with an all-male vocal group called ''The Blenders.'' He died of cancer in 1985 at the age of 77.

Career

Gavin founded the

in 1958. It was a publication that "monitored air play for

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

records, and later expanded to other categories; it asused as a programming aid by radio stations and record companies." The publication gathered information from various

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s and was used to measure song popularity. Gavin was called the "most powerful man in the business." It was also said that "every

record company A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

subscribed to and quoted the

...Everybody copied him, but he originated the thing." Gavin is also noted for his progressive stance in regards to

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

. He worked to help

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

s break into the radio business by playing black artists and hiring black

Disc-Jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

s at a time when it was unpopular to do so.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gavin, Bill American radio personalities 1985 deaths American publishers (people) 1907 births University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire alumni 20th-century American businesspeople People from Chetek, Wisconsin