<


Bill Drake's History of Rock & Roll

It was maybe the biggest thing to happen to rock and roll since Bo Didley, Bill Haley or Chuck Berry, discounting Elvis and the Beatles. It’s a definitive historical account of the transition of rhythm & blues to the most marketable genre in radio. It still stands as the longest and most listener-impacting documentary of any American medium. The History of Rock and Roll was so successful it was produced in numerous versions over three decades.The first HRR was produced by Jacobs and written by Pete Johnson, who at that time was the music critic of the Los Angeles Times. In addition to the music, it included historical detail and comprehensive interviews never before heard in a single production. Completed on a crash seven-week schedule and after extensive LA area promotion, the 48-hour rockumentary debuted on KHJ in February ’69, followed just days later by airings on CKLW (Windsor-Detroit) and other RKO-owned stations.The original 1969 version, a landmark broadcasting feature, ignited a stir across the nation’s pop music radio world.