Phil Nolan

Inducted 2010

Phil began his broadcasting career as a page at NBC in Chicago in 1951.  Just one year later he was on the air at WJBC in Bloomington, Illinois.  After service in the U.S. Army in Korea, he signed on with KSUM in Fairmont, Minnesota, becoming both news and program director.  His next three jobs would find Phil programming rock and roll for KALL in Salt Lake City, leading that station to the top of the Hooper ratings.  KOMA in Oklahoma City was followed by WDGY in the Twin Cities.  At Mars Broadcasting in Stamford, Connecticut, he produced the Dick Clark radio show.  In 1966 Phil joined Westinghouse Broadcasting as national program manager and three years later was sent to Chicago as general manager of WIND.  He put the station back on top by making it the first major market radio station to play all oldies.  One goal remained:  a radio station of his own.  In 1978 Phil left the Windy City for Austin, Minnesota, where he and his family would purchase KAUS AM and FM, providing news, talk, and country music to southern Minnesota and northern Iowa and later adding KEEZ Mankato –– another milestone in an exemplary career marked by success on both local and national levels.

Philip E. Nolan passed away on September 4, 2015, at home in Naples at age 82 from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease.