Storer, Doug

Radio producer, talent agent, and writer Doug Storer was born near Harlem, N.Y., in 1899. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1921 and completed one year of medical school there. During the 1920s, Storer worked for the John Curtiss Advertising Agency as an account executive and also managed the agency's radio department. In 1929, he left the Curtiss Agency to reorganize and manage radio stations owned by his cousin George Storer in Ohio. As vice president and general manager of WGHP in Detroit and WSPD in Toledo, Storer developed programming and oversaw nearly every aspect of the stations' operation. With his success as a station manager, in 1931, he became director of radio for the Blackman Company, where he created and produced radio programs for several large firms including the United States Rubber Company, Hudson Motor Car Company, and Proctor and Gamble. While at Blackman, Storer was responsible for introducing Robert Ripley and his Believe It or Not feature to radio.

The Believe It or Not franchise officially began in 1918 as a newspaper cartoon panel drawn by sports cartoonist Robert Ripley that featured unusual sporting feats and facts. Over time, the scope of Believe It or Not cartoons expanded to include all sorts of oddities and unusual facts. By the 1930s, the feature was syndicated in over 300 newspapers worldwide. Despite the questionable veracity of many claims made in Believe It or Not, Ripley insisted on their accuracy. Encouraged by the success of Believe It or Not cartoons and book projects, Ripley, with Storer's help, brought the feature to radio in 1930.

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