William Edward "Bill" Compton III (December 29, 1945 – June 21, 1977) was an American
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
personality best known for creating
Phoenix's first
free-form radio station,
KCAC-AM, and helping to "invent" notable
AOR station,
KDKB-FM.
Compton Terrace, an amphitheater in Phoenix was named in his honor and he was inducted into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2005.
Early life
Compton was born in
Henderson, Texas
Henderson is a city and the county seat of Rusk County, Texas, in Northeast Texas. Its population was 13,271 at the 2020 census. Henderson is named for James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas.
The city has functioned as a major cro ...
, but his family soon moved to
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the largest city and county seat of Smith County, Texas, Smith County. It is also the largest city in Northeast Texas. With a 2020 census population of 105,995, Tyler was the List of cities in Texa ...
where he attended John Tyler High School and got his first disc jockey job in 1964.
Radio career
Compton first began to influence Phoenix radio in 1969 when
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 "conte ...
radio station KRUX-AM hired him to host a Sunday night free-form show. Using the on-air name of "Little Willie Sunshine," Compton played a diverse collection of music—folk, blues, jazz, and, of course, tracks on albums other than their hit singles.
The opportunity arose for Compton to become the station manager of a failing Spanish-language station, KCAC-AM.
At the time, KCAC was a low-power AM station that was only allowed to broadcast during daytime hours.
Compton used it to continue the freeform format he had pioneered at KRUXhosting on-air shifts and hiring similarly minded disc jockeys such as Gary Kinsey (on-air name, Toad Hall) and Hank Cookenboo.
Initially housed in a small house on
Camelback Road
Many arterial roads in the Phoenix metropolitan area have the same name in multiple cities or towns. Some roads change names or route numbers across town borders, resulting in occasional confusion. For example, the road known as Apache Boulevard ...
, KCAC quickly attracted a loyal audience seeking an alternative to Top-40 radio.
Mark Davis, a guest columnist in the ''
Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
'' described its air sound:
Free-form programming as used by KCAC allows the individual announcer complete discretion. This allows some of the innovations in rock air time denied under Top 40 programming, as well as opening the door to other musical forms. A typical show on KCAC will include elements of jazz, blues, folk, classical, hillbilly, country, soul and, of course rock. The absence of prescheduled news programs allows occasional hour-and-a-half collages of uninterrupted music.
KCAC could not sustain itself financially and went into bankruptcy in November 1970.
The year after KCAC's demise, Compton helped bring FM station KDKB to the airwavesdebuting on August 23, 1971.
He served as its first program director and, along with co-owner Dwight Tindle, developed its format as a progressive rock stationthe earliest FM station in Phoenix to adopt that format fulltime.
Death
Compton died in a car accident in June 1977, age 31.
References
External links
Inductee Biography for William Edward Compton the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
KCAC recordings many of which feature Compton, on the Internet Archive
*
KCAC lives!'—a blog devoted to the memory of KCAC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compton, William Edward
American radio personalities
1945 births
1977 deaths