Gordon Barton McLendon (June 8, 1921 – September 14, 1986) was a radio pioneer and pirate radio broadcaster. He was nicknamed "the Maverick of Radio." McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, during the 1950s and 1960s, the commercially successful Top 40 radio format created by Todd Storz. He also developed offshore pirate radio broadcasting to both Scandinavia and the British Isles. In addition, he was active in circles of conservative business-political power in the 1960s until the time of his death. McLendon co-founded the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. He was a member of the Suite 8F Group.
He is regarded at the inventor of top-40 radio in America, and a pioneer in the all-news format, the easy listening format, and live broadcasting of baseball and other sporting events on the radio.
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In the early 1950s, he founded the now defunct Liberty Radio Network. Based in Dallas, Texas, it was built around Gordon (The Old Scotchman)doing play-by-play recreations of major league baseball games. His "color" man was Lindsay Nelson.
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Based in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, Gordon, with his father, owned and operated several movie theaters (especially drive-ins) throughout Texas, and the Liberty Broadcast network of radio stations throughout the country, including KLIF in Dallas, KABL in San Francisco, XTRA in Baja California, and a station in Pembina, North Dakota that broadcast over the Winnipeg, Canada area.
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Gordon McLendon was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.
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