R.I.P.: Atlanta GM Jerry Blum, Inspiration For WKRP's Art Carlson

Jerry Blum

Gerald “Jerry” Blum, former president and general manager of former top 40 powerhouse WQXI 790 AM and what was then known as 94Q, passed away Saturday.

He was 86, according to Atlanta Media Watcher Rodney Ho at ajc.om.

Blum was the inspiration for the Arthur “Big Guy” Carlson character played by Gordon Jump in the CBS sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” according to Hugh Wilson, the creator of the show who passed away in 2018.

Blum ran WQXI from 1960 to 1989 and what is now WSTR-FM (Star 94.1) from 1967 until 1989.

At the time, WQXI was known as “Quixie from Dixie” and drew huge ratings when people primarily listened to AM radio.

He was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame in 2007.



“He was still brash, still in your face,” said Rob Stearns, who was a sales guy at WQXI/94Q in the late 1980s. “He was an old-school guy. He was a fighter. He wanted to crush the competition. He had a very charismatic way. Always surrounded himself with the best talent and best people. A real strategic guy. Nothing could constrain him. He wanted everything big. That’s where his ‘Big Guy’ nickname came from.”