THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL (Radio Program) [1978]

THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL (Radio Program) [1978] (39 x CDs)

The History of Rock & Roll is a US radio documentary on rock and roll music, originally syndicated in 1969. One of the lengthiest documentaries of any medium (48 hours in the 1969 version, 52 hours each for the 1978 and 1981 versions), The History of Rock & Roll is a definitive history of the Rock and Roll genre, stretching from the early 1950s to its day. The "rockumentary," as producers Bill Drake and Gene Chenault called it, features hundreds of interviews and comments from numerous rock artists and people involved with rock and roll.

Notable features introduced in the 1978 edition of this documentary include the "chart sweep," featuring a montage of #1 songs and notable hits from a given year or artist, a "time sweep" for each one-hour segment providing a montage of the major hits for each year or individual artist, and closing with a special climactic time sweep featuring a montage of every #1 hit from 1955 to the year of the latest version.

While the documentary focuses on Rock & Roll and its variants, some songs and artists from other genres are also represented as they also became major hits on stations that primarily played Rock & Roll.

A revised version of the series is currently syndicated to internet networks as a short-form segment hosted by Gary Theroux, writer of the 1978 and 1981 editions. In 1975, Theroux found that the History of Rock and Roll 1969 script contained too many inaccuracies and omissions, so as Drake-Chenault programmer/DJ/music historian and their Director of Special Features he researched, rewrote and rebuilt the program entirely from scratch. The new version dramatically expanded the story with fresh interviews, insightful narration, far more music and a host of innovations—all in a modular format which allowed stations more programming flexibility. Bill Drake knew that the rising popularity of stereo FM rock stations made it necessary to redo the show in stereo. The documentary approached each year with a focused half-hour and had separate segments devoted to all the key artists or trends. Bill Drake himself narrated the rockumentary.

This is the 1978 version of the radio program "The History of Rock and Roll", broadcast on the air (2002) of KHJ (and then on the radio WLS and WABC) for three years. The first version was launched in 1969, and in 1978 - reissued. In total, 38 CDs and almost 52 hours of music, hundreds of interviews and comments on the first 25 years of Rock and Roll.

 I have separated each show into a CD folder so you can pick and choose what you want to listen to but I suggest you listen to the entire program. Each of the 38 chapters has a Text Document listing the tracks. Also there is a Master Document listing all tracks in one file. And finally, there is a Bonus presentation Titled "KHJ Drake History of Rock and Roll - Phil Spector"

Enjoy this terrific radio show.

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Pt.1     Pt.2     Pt.3 

Pt.4     Pt.5      Pt.6

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