I'm a little late with this but just recently came across the news myself.
The Washington Post obituary.
This is not a name familiar to many today, probably, but if you were around Houston radio in the late 50s early 60s, especially if you were a teen and listened to KILT, you'll remember Joel. I remember him doing evenings on KILT; he was my favorite jock of all the voices brought to town by Gordon McLendon when he purchased KLBS. Later he did mornings before being demoted again to evenings and then leaving town. I believe he left once in the late 50s to join Eliot Field at KFWB in Los Angeles from what I've read. He was low key, funny, weird, sardonic, in an era before boss jocks. There's one anecdote in the obit about his career in Houston and I'll have a few more in an upcoming article from a former co-worker. I remember the time he joined the Salt Grass Trail Ride, broadcasting his show each evening from along the trail, one night from the studios of KWHI, Brenham, after it had signed off. I lived to hear his faux commercials, especially a running series about Polly Pelham Pizza - "look for it wrapped in old newspaper in the freezer section of a grocery near me."
ETA: Here is another obituary and resume from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, which Spivak worked for in his final years. The link includes not only more detail on Spivak's antics in Houston but also an embedded link to an extended excerpt from Marc Fisher's Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation with much about the launch of Top 40 radio, Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon. The excerpt is worth reading even if it didn't mention Spivak or KILT.
KNUZ was still doing quite well vs. KILT with it's 250 watts; second place ain't bad. Note only two FMs showed up.
