Kal Rudman, ‘Friday Morning Quarterback’ creator and pop guru, dies at 91

KAL RUDMAN, 1930-2021

Solomon “Kal” Rudman, who created the trade publication Friday Morning Quarterback in his Cherry Hill basement in 1968 and built it into a major force in the music and radio industries, died Dec. 1, at the age of 91.

As the publication grew in influence, Rudman — who had previously worked as a DJ and as an editor at Billboard magazine — became a celebrity in his own right, making frequent television appearances on “The Merv Griffin Show” and “The Today Show.”

In 2016, I wrote about his influence on Bruce Springsteen: In the late ’70s, he had given Springsteen some tips on making his work more commercially viable, and Springsteen took his advice, which led to his first Top 10 single, “Hungry Heart.” You can read that article here.

In recent years, Rudman and his wife Lucille supported various health, education, police and firefighting organizations through their Kal and Lucille Rudman Foundation.

“I look to find vacuums and important needs that matter to me, and in the big picture of the world, and I fill those vacuums and meet those needs,” he said in 2016.

Friday Morning Quarterback stopped publishing last year and sold its assets to Cherry Hill-based Deane Media Solutions.

Kal and Lucille Rudman

In an article posted on deanemediasolutions.com, the company’s CEO, Fred Deane, wrote, “Kal was, in the truest sense, a legend and an original. He was an innovator, a scholar, and a very generous philanthropist and humanitarian. Kal always cared for people, supported numerous industry pros during his active years, and many of us owe him a career debt of gratitude for the genuine care, concern, contribution and opportunity he provided all of us throughout our industry.”

In the same post, music industry legend Clive Davis said that “For many vibrant years, his voice was distinctively heard by everyone working in music. Kal was indeed one of a kind.”