Dick Storck
August 26, 1942 – April 6, 2024
RALEIGH – Dick Storck, 81, passed away in the evening hours of Saturday, April 6, 2024, at his home in the historic district of Raleigh, following a period of declining health.
Dick was born in the Bronx, New York on August 26, 1942, the son of the late Phillip David Storck and Mabel Hyde Storck. He was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and thus became a “naturalized southerner.” He became interested in broadcasting at the age of 10, when he built his own neighborhood radio station. His original audio console consisted of a plywood frame wired with toggle switches and volume controls removed from old radios. He also assembled a Knight-Kit low-power AM transmitter. In 1956, when he was 13, The Charlotte News published a feature story on Dick’s radio station, and the manager of WWOK 1480 radio called him to congratulate him on the article and invited him to visit the station. That visit led to an internship as a music librarian and coffee runner for the announcers. He eventually landed a job at the station as a disc jockey playing mid-1950s rock’n’roll hits from the WWOK “Nifty Top Fifty” music list. He also worked part-time at the NBC radio affiliate, WSOC.
Dick proudly received a WBT/WBTV scholarship in 1958 to the Ninth North Carolina High School Radio-TV Institute conducted by the Department of Radio Television and Motion Pictures at UNC-Chapel Hill. Attending the institute became a life-changing experience for him. He adjusted his career goals from being a “holler-and-scream teenage rock DJ” toward becoming a well-rounded professional broadcaster.
After graduating from East Mecklenburg High School in 1960, he attended his first and only college choice, UNC-Chapel Hill, and majored in RTVMP. During his years at Chapel Hill, he worked his way through college by working on the production crew of the Chapel Hill studios of WUNC-TV (Channel 4 was the only UNC station at the time). A benefit of being a crew chief at WUNC-TV included the Dick having the opportunity to travel to all ACC campuses on weekends to operate television cameras for the C.D. Chelsey Network, which televised ACC basketball and football sporting events. He also continued to enjoy being a night and weekend “rock jock” at Durham’s popular but low-power top-40 station, WSSB 1490. Dick worked during all his summer college breaks. He returned to Charlotte each summer to be on the production floor crew of WBTV and did voice work on weekends as “duty booth” announcer for both WBTV and WBT radio.
Dick became a producer-director at WUNC-TV upon graduation from UNC. After a brief stint at WDNC, CBS Radio in Durham, NC, he joined the US Air Force. The recruiter in Durham arranged for him to be placed directly in his chosen career field of broadcasting. For two years, Dick produced, directed, and narrated Air Force training films at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, Texas. At night, he moonlighted in his first job as program director, at KNTO, a Wichita Falls “Beautiful Music Station,” (such as Percy Faith and Montovani). Dick has been a program director since 1967.
He was deployed overseas to Thailand in 1968, where he received the Air Force Commendation Medal for duties performed as AFTN “Top of the Morning Show” host and radio program director of the network lead station of the American Forces Thailand Network.
Having obtained the rank of Sergeant, Dick was honorably discharged from the Air Force in 1970. He returned to the Raleigh-Durham area as program director of WDNC (AM and FM) in Durham. Later he became production manager and announcer for then NBC-TV affiliate, WRDU-TV, channel 28. His ultimate career goal was finally achieved in 1976 when he joined the announcing staff of 50,000-watt legacy AM station, WPTF, in Raleigh. He served at WPTF/WQDR as production manager, interim program director, computer operations director, and as host of various talk shows, along with service within the WPTF Record Vault, a popular music history program. He spent 22 years on the air and in management at WPTF.
Dick often joked he was fast becoming “the world’s oldest disc jockey.” Even at 81, he was still working in broadcasting and still playing the hits…of the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s, with The Classical Station-WCPE. Dick knew WCPE general manager Deborah Proctor when both worked together at WRDU-TV 28 in the early 1970s. When Deborah put WCPE on the air, Dick soon became a WCPE volunteer and eventually chairman of the WCPE advisory board. Dick had always wanted to work with WCPE, so when the program director position became available in 1998, he joined the staff.
Throughout his career as a television and radio production manager and program director, he has taught and coached hundreds of volunteers and employees. Dick also served as a guest lecturer at area schools and universities. At the time of his passing, Dick currently held the position of network operations manager of The Classical Station.
In addition to his parents, Dick was preceded in death by his brother, Robert Phillip Storck. He is survived by his niece, Meg Storck; and nephew, Matt Storck, both of Greenville, North Carolina; along with a host of dear friends, coworkers, professional colleagues, and his Historic Oakwood neighbors.
A graveside service will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Historic Oakwood Cemetery (701 Oakwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27601) with Monsignor David Brockman officiating.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be given in memory of Dick to WCPE or to a charity of your choice.
Funeral arrangements are by Bryan-Lee Funeral Home of Raleigh. Online condolences may be made at www.bryan-leefuneralhome.com.