Fifty-five years ago – almost 56, actually, since it first aired in February of 1969 – the station that helped change radio forever presented a special that helped change music history forever. It was February 21, 1969, at noon – the beginning of George Washington’s birthday holiday weekend – that KHJ (930 AM) presented “The History of Rock and Roll,” a 48-hour “rockumentary” that chronicled the events leading up to and through the evolution of popular music into rock and roll.
That first edition, coveted by many due to it being the original, was hosted by KHJ personality Robert W. Morgan. There were actually two versions of the original, though: the very first, voiced by Morgan, and another voiced by Humble Harv Miller, that ran on Labor Day weekend of 1969 on KHJ and was also syndicated across the country. Miller did the second one because by the time it was to air, Morgan had left the station in a contract dispute.
In 1970, the show was expanded to 52 hours and voiced by various DJs — localized to whatever station decided to run it — using an expanded version of the original script. This was the last time the program would air on KHJ.
As I wrote on the 50th anniversary of the show, KHJ programmer Ron Jacobs assembled a team to put together the program. L.A. Times pop music writer Pete Johnson would write the material, legendary KHJ production and engineering guru Bill Mouzis would engineer it, then-morning man Robert W. Morgan would voice it. Ellen Pelissero, who had thought of the idea as a way to help advertisers understand the KHJ format better, would be production coordinator, providing research, setting up, conducting, recording and editing interviews.
The only catch, Pelissero explained long ago, was that according to Jacobs they only had seven weeks to complete the project because KRLA was about to go on the air with Pop Chronicles. “If we could lay out 48 hours of continuous radio, we could bring them to their proverbial knees.”
It is said that on Sunset Boulevard, you could hear echoes of the program as radios in cars throughout the area were tuned in to KHJ. The show earned a 25.4 share in the Hooper Ratings, meaning that 25 percent of radio listeners tuned in.
While the original was good, it wasn’t perfect. According to Gary Theroux, who worked at Drake-Chenault when the time came to revise the special program, the original contained errors and omissions, misjudgments and more, so the decision was made to totally rewrite it for 1978. Theroux was the man chosen for the job, and work on the revision began in 1975.
It is the 1978 edition that I remember best, as that was when I was old enough to really listen, and I did … constantly. I heard it, if I am remembering right, on KRTH (101.1 FM). This new version was researched and re-written with new interviews, more music, and whenever possible, stereo versions of the music.
Hosted by Bill Drake himself and running for 52 hours in total, it also featured perhaps the most memorable segment ever featured in a rock special: the History of Rock and Roll Time Sweep, a 45-minute medley of music featuring segments of every song to hit No. 1 on the music charts from 1955 to the fall of 1977, when production elements were complete.
Timing played an important role in at least one portion of the show: Theroux told me of having to revise material when Elvis Presley died in August of 1977 … the segment had already been completed, but they were able to not only rewrite it, they expanded the content as a tribute to The King.
The program aired on over 400 stations
Want to hear it for yourself? Luckily for all of us, we can. The 1978 version of “The History of Rock And Roll” will air on the Top-40 Hit Clock, starting at Noon on December 26th for five hours each day, concluding on Sunday, January 5.
And if that isn’t enough … Drake-Chenault also produced a “mini-documentary” — running about 20 minutes — called “The Making of The History of Rock And Roll.” It features Drake with his comments about how the show was written and produced, plus studio engineer Mark Ford describing his editing techniques, including how he created some of the amazing production elements and music montages that are heard in the show. It’s a fascinating “peek behind the curtain” of 1970s studio technology, mostly using analog recording tape and razor blades to do the actual cutting and pasting!
“The Making” has never been heard by radio listeners, since it was never intended to be aired with the show, but Top 40 Hit Clock will run it! It will be heard at noon on December 26, just before the start of the first hour of the actual History. Point your browser to bit.ly/HitClock. This might be a good time to do some recording of your own!
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com
