Now Playing: O K Broadcaster
Topic: Art Kellar
Arthur C. Kellar, 84, a Northern Virginia businessman and civic
leader who built a multi-station broadcasting company that helped
usher easy listening to FM radio, died of cancer March 18 at his home
in Fairfax.
Mr. Kellar founded O.K. Broadcasting in 1956 and that year purchased
his first radio station, WEEL-AM in Fairfax. In the 1960s and 1970s,
WEEL was one of the Washington area's most popular Top 40 stations.
In 1967, Mr. Kellar brought WEZR in Manassas and founded EZ
Communications Inc., which owned or operated 26 AM and FM stations
across the United States.
At WEZR, Mr. Kellar helped popularize the easy listening format of
largely instrumental or soft, laid-back music on an FM station. In
1970, his company used the format to much success on its newly
acquired FM station in Richmond.
In 1996, after the easing of deregulation rules, EZ Communications
merged with Boston-based American Radio Systems Inc., sealing a $655
million deal that made the resulting company the second-largest
station operator in the country. He retired shortly afterward.