Radio exec with WBAP, KSCS credited with helping put country music on FM dial

By BILL HANNA

billhanna@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- Ted Norman Sr. flew B-24 bombers during World War II. Afterward, he became a big-band singer in New York.

But his lasting legacy came when he switched to a career in radio.

He was station manager of WBAP/820 AM and KSCS/96.3 FM. He was credited with being one of the first to bring country radio to the FM dial at KSCS ("Silver Country Stereo").

"FM country didn't exist before Ted Norman," said Jody Dean, a KLUV/98.7 FM disc jockey who had known Mr. Norman since Dean was a teenager in Fort Worth.

"Ted Norman did for country music what Ron Chapman did for Top 40. All these giants in the industry, they copied what he did at Silver KSCS. If he didn't create it, he was certainly there at the beginning."

Mr. Norman died Thursday at his Fort Worth apartment. He was 86.

He was born Aug. 14, 1923, in Fort Worth and graduated from Paschal High School in 1939 and Texas Christian University in 1943. During World War II, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.

After the war, he moved to New York and became a singer with the Ray McKinley and Vincent Lopez orchestras. There, he met Dale Nunnally, a vocalist and former Miss Alabama. They married May 24, 1954, in Gadsden, Ala.

In a 1975 Elston Brooks column in the Star-Telegram, Mr. Norman recalled his days on the road with a big band.

"I spent years of playing one-nighters in ballrooms, colleges, always going on to the next town," he said. "We literally lived in the bus, traveling a day and a half and getting to a place just an hour before it was time to go on. Splash a little water in your face and get on the bandstand. But you know something? At the time it seemed like a drag, but I know today it was the greatest time of my life."

In 1960, the couple moved to Fort Worth, where they would rear four children. Mr. Norman initially sold insurance but switched to radio.

Mr. Norman never stopped coming up with ideas.

He talked about starting an all-Western cable TV channel and a rural-themed cable channel long before either was created by others, Dean said.

"He still wanted to get that Western channel done even though there was one already on the air," Dean said. "He had plans sketched out. He knew he could do it better and do it differently."

But his greatest trait was making people feel special. Dean said Mr. Norman helped him get his start in radio and was one of his biggest fans.

"Ted Norman was the kind of man we all wanted to be but very few of us can be," Dean said. "He was also the kind of man who thought we could be that man. He was an encourager. When you met him, you were destined for great things. He saw your talents and never saw your drawbacks."

WBAP DJ Bill Mack echoed that sentiment.

"He was one of nicest guys I ever met," Mack said. "He really took an interest in you. You weren't just working for him."

Survivors, all of Fort Worth, include his widow; daughters Cathy Norman and Cindy Moser; sons Jody Norman and Ted Norman Jr.; and five grandchildren.

His funeral was Tuesday.

BILL HANNA, 817-390-7698

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