Ken Roberts (28 Feb 1941 - 22 May 2014) was a concert promoter who developed KROQ 106.7 FM into an important modern rock station, helping to introduce

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Culture Club Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and formerly included Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Emerging in the New ...

, and

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

.
Ken Roberts, who nursed KROQ into radio behemoth, dies at 73," Variety, 7 July 2014. Retrieved 17 Feb 2015
Woo, Elaine "Ken Roberts dies at 73; promoter transformed KROQ-FM into a powerhouse," LA Times, 4 July 2014> Retrieved 17 Feb 2015 Roberts was born in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

. After attending

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...

, he became a concert promoter in the 1960s, with such acts as

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

and

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

. When he took control of the KROQ in 1974, it was seven million dollars in debt, but he sold it for $45 million to

Infinity Broadcasting Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Opie and Anthony, Don Imus an ...

in 1986. This was the highest price paid for a US radio station up to that time. Roberts was owner of The

Robert Taylor Ranch The Robert Taylor Ranch is a ranch located on Mandeville Canyon Road, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, California. The ranch was built in 1956 for Waite Phillips and designed by architect Robert Byrd. It is about large, with more than 20 ...

, a private, 112-acre property nestled in the Mandeville Canyon within Los Angeles' affluent Brentwood neighborhood. He purchased it in 1975 for $900,000 In 2010 he was forced to sell the estate for $27.5 to hedge fund New Stream Capital to repay his loans. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/auction-without-reserve-announced-for-rare-112-acre-estate-in-los-angeles-prestigious-brentwood-neighborhood-175995831.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Ken 1941 births 2014 deaths