According to an obit by Amy Rabideau Silvers at jsonline.com, they talked about how he cared about people. When one employee was always late, another manager said they'd probably have to let him go. Land didn't think that was the solution. He was trying to figure out how to help the man get a car, so he could get to work on time.
People realized that he could land at an airport, pick up a rental car and hit the radio button for the company station in that market. Within 20 minutes, he'd have a pretty good idea what was working and what wasn't - and the start of a plan, said Steve Wexler, executive vice president of the Journal Broadcast Group.
"We call it ears in our business," Wexler said. "He had great ears."
And people learned Land believed some things were more important than ratings. At the KSRZ station in Omaha, Neb., he organized an adopt-a-family program with the Salvation Army, matching descriptions of families in need with callers who wanted to help. Wexler admits that he raised a question about all that talk in a music format.
"He looked me straight in the eye," Wexler said.
"Wex, we're saving Christmas for 500 families," he said.
Land got his way.
He died of cancer Thursday in hospice care. He was 51.
The first clue that something was wrong came in Memphis as he was running through the airport during a business trip and felt a sudden stabbing pain in his lower back. Back in Milwaukee, his doctor said it was stage 4 lung cancer that had spread to his bones.
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