Gordon McLendon, Broadcast Pioneer, Wounded by Gun

DALLAS — Gordon B. McLendon, millionaire broadcasting pioneer, was in critical condition Friday with a gunshot wound that his son said occurred accidentally as his father cleaned a pistol.

However, authorities said they had not ruled out a suicide attempt. Ambulance workers treated the 64-year-old McLendon Thursday for “an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound,” the Denton County Sheriff’s Office said.

McLendon’s son, Bart, said his father had accidentally shot himself when cleaning a .38-caliber pistol on his ranch north of Dallas.

Between 1947 and 1952, McLendon created and owned, with his father, B.R. McLendon, the nationwide Liberty Broadcasting System of 458 stations. Calling himself “The Old Scotchman,” McLendon did play-by-play recreated broadcasts of baseball and football games.