FMQB Retiring, Kal Rudman Is Not
• A defining era in the radio trade industry has officially concluded after five decades, as Kal Rudman, the legendary founder-publisher of Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB) has retired the brand and sold off its assets to Cherry Hill, NJ-based Deane Media Solutions, helmed by a couple of longtime FMQB execs, Fred Deane and Bob Burke.
Friday Morning Quarterback— a play on the phrase “Monday morning quarterback” was founded in 1968 by Philadelphia native Rudman, a one-time medical student, schoolteacher and disc jockey (known on-air as “The Round Mound of Sound”), and his wife of 61 years, Lucille, as a mimeographed-and-stapled journal for Top 40 programmers. Under Rudman’s guidance, FMQB became an indispensable music industry resource. Over the years, countless artists were the beneficiaries of Rudman’s uncanny knack for predicting which songs — “Go-rillas” as he called them, would go on to radio success, or were propelled upward by a mention on the famous “Red Sheet,” the Quarterback’s front page, which Rudman had printed in crimson to thwart those trying to avoid subscription fees by copying it.
“Kal Rudman is a force of nature,” said veteran rock programmer Charlie Kendall, while pointing to Lucille as the Quarterback’s not-so-secret weapon, as he said, “The two of them turned a basement newsletter into a multi-million-dollar publication that was an asset to music and radio for 52 years. And their philanthropic efforts through the Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation are legendary.” WCBS-FM/New York morning icon Scott Shannon describes Rudman as “a giant” and “a visionary who had a tremendous impact on music and radio.”
So what’s next for Rudman? “I’m retiring from the music industry, but not the radio business,” he insists. Last year, Rudman and his close friend, prominent Philadelphia endocrinologist Dr. Joseph J. Fallon, debuted Inside Medicine, a weekly program that, as of 2020, airs on two Beasley stations in Philadelphia. “For a long time, I’ve focused much of my philanthropic efforts in the medical world, and now I’m merging that with radio,” Rudman said. “For over 50 years, I have been the specialist in predicting countless hits for numerous artists, and I’ve received unique recognition by the music industry as not only a tastemaker but a star maker. However, times have changed drastically, along with the industry, and it was time for me to move on to my original passion, medicine.” [Kal & Lucille Rudman photo by Scott Weiner]
