R.I.P.: Kal Rudman, Iconic Music Tipsheet Publisher

Kal Rudman 1930-2021

UPDATED 6PM 12/2:  Iconic industry figure Solomon "Kal" Rudman has died in Camden NJ.

Rudman was an American disc jockey, long-time publisher of the music industry magazine "Friday Morning Quarterback," and a philanthropist. He founded the Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation with his wife.

Born in Philadelphia, Rudman attended Ferguson School, then graduated from Central High School with a strong interest in radio. 

He received a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951, and worked as a special education teacher.

Rudman became a Top 40 disc jockey at WCAM in Camden, New Jersey, and later Billboard magazine's first R&B editor.

In 1968, out of his basement, he began publishing Friday Morning Quarterback, a music industry trade magazine. 

Rudman appeared on The Merv Griffin Show more than 30 times, was a music-expert regular on the Today Show, and was known as "Killer Kal" for his work as an announcer for the World Wrestling Federation.

He advised Bruce Springsteen on how to make his music more popular with females. "Hungry Heart" on The River album, released in 1980. "Kal explained to me that Top 40 radio is mainly listened to by girls and that my female demographic was low," Springsteen said in an interview at the time.

Forbes once called Rudman one of the major influences in the leisure and entertainment industry in the United States.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports Rudman’s death after a long illness was confirmed by Deane Media Solutions, the company that he sold FMQB to in 2020. Rudman died with his wife of 63 years, Lucille, by his side on Tuesday at their home in Cherry Hill. Two days later, Lucille Rudman, also 91, died, according to Michael Lessner, a music business associate and longtime friend of the family.

“Kal was a man who was truly passionate about music and he communicated that passion so enthusiastically and so colorfully,” legendary music executive Clive Davis told Deane Media Solutions about Rudman. “For many vibrant years, his voice was distinctively heard by everyone working in music. Kal was indeed one of a kind.”

The Rudmans were active philanthropist’s through the Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation, which supported public safety, children’s programs, and religious institutions, as wells as the Rudman Institute at Drexel University and the Kal & Lucille Rudman Media Center at Temple University, both of which focus on education. Kal Rudman was awarded a 2011 Lew Klein Alumni Honoree from Temple, from which he held a graduate degree.