Richard L. Strauss
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Richard L. Strauss served as the nation's first-ever White House Radio Director, holding the position for three years (1993-1995) during the first term of the Clinton Administration. In this newly developed role, Strauss created and implemented radio communications strategy for the Executive Office of the President, in addition to coordinating, producing, and syndicating President Clinton’s weekly Saturday morning radio address.
Strauss implemented the first nationwide radio communications program at the White House, booking talk radio interviews on Administration-wide efforts such as the 1993 Economic Plan, 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and the failed 1993 Health Care Plan.
Following a major health care speech that was delivered by President Clinton to a joint session of Congress on September 22, 1993, Strauss coordinated a 65-station live remote broadcast on the White House North Lawn – the first-ever such event to occur on White House grounds.
Before working at the White House, Strauss served as the Director of Radio for the initial Clinton for President Campaign and the Clinton/Gore transition team, working in eight states, including campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas for nine months.
Strauss left the White House in January 1996 and founded Strauss Radio Strategies, Inc., a strategic radio communications firm with offices in Washington, DC and New York, NY.
Strauss began his radio career as a news reporter at radio station KTRB-AM in Modesto, California. Strauss also founded Universal Media Service in Los Angeles, a freelance radio services company which covered news, entertainment, and sporting events in Southern California for radio stations around the country. Strauss is also a former contributor of freelance news and sports articles to the Modesto Times and San Francisco Chronicle.
Additionally, Strauss worked in Los Angeles as a production assistant for Financial News Network (now CNBC) and at news/talk radio station KFBK-AM in Sacramento.