R.I.P.: John Lauer, Former WGST, WPCH Atlanta Executive

John Lauer (1930-2024)

John Lauer, 93, died Dec. 22 of pneumonia and complications of old age. Daughter Amy Lauer Alcorn grew up watching her dad’s career, noting that though her father was a people person, he was no pushover.

“Dad was a big believer in hiring the right people for the job and letting them do the job. But … if you didn’t perform, you left.”

Ajc.com reports Alcorn also had a front-row seat for her father’s passions for sports and technology. She’d perch in the press box for WGST’s broadcast of Atlanta Falcons and Hawks games where Lauer, acting as statistician, used a groundbreaking software program he and a partner had developed called Statman, which turned raw data into statistical bites.

He arrived in Atlanta in 1971 to take the reins at WPCH, fresh from a stint as sales manager of all-news WBBM-AM in Chicago, where he had been passed over for the general manager’s job.

With the help of a savvy New York programmer, Lauer shepherded the station’s changeover from religious programming to music with limited commercials and a trademark 2-second gap between songs. Listeners flocked to it, and two local competitors gave up and switched formats.

Fast forward to 1977. Lauer helped persuade Meredith Corp., an Iowa-based multimedia corporation, to buy WPCH. The firm already owned WGST, a low-rated AM station with a musical mishmash of a format. Lauer sensed that music on the AM band was dying and pushed to change WGST to all news.

A fellow Meredith executive told him, “You can’t compete with (radio competitor) WSB.” Lauer, in a podcast interview recorded by the Friends of Georgia Radio, said he countered with “Yes I can. And I did.”