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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 24, 1996
G2/5.0 compatible TOP STREAM 32 Kbps (UPGRADED FEBRUARY 21, 2010)

History of Rock and Roll Demo (24:15)

History of Rock and Roll Demo The History of Rock and Roll Demo was first distributed in 1971, when Drake-Chenault and American Independent Radio were succesfully syndicating the magic of KHJ worldwide. Originally produced by Ron Jacobs for KHJ, it aired February 21-23, 1969 and ran 48 hours. Addtional material was added to this syndicated version to bring the total to 50 hours, and portions are included in the closing minutes of this demo.

Introduced as a KHJ Rockumentary, the credits for this most celebrated of all Top-40 radio specials are taken from this demo tape for the syndicated program:

"The History of the History of Rock and Roll begins with Bill Drake, who conceived it; Ron Jacobs produced it, generally after Pete Johnson wrote it. Ellen Pelissero directed it. Production Coordinator was Sandy Gibson, and Vicki Larson was Music Coordinator. Sound supervision and production techniques by Bill Mouzis."

Three different narrators appear on this version of the demo: Mark Elliot does the intro, Robert W. Morgan narrates from "Tribute to the early blues" through "Alan Freed, 1952" and Harvey Miller (Humble Harve) narrates from "Broadway Musicals" through "Credits and Copyright Notice". Thanks to Ray Randolph and Ron Jacobs for providing additional background information. (Jacobs says the original KHJ version was much better than the syndicated version.)

The History of Rock and Roll was immensely successful and broadcast by stations all over the world. Some version of this program is still available in syndication to U.S. radio stations with fee-free transmission of the program's music.

The program itself was a massive undertaking, and included rare interviews and exhaustive retrospectives of the roots of rock 'n' roll. According to the demo, "the initial cost of the program exceeded $75,000 and expended over 12,000 man-hours of research, writing and production." (Simple math reveals the cost of those man-hours at a little over $6 an hour - which seems hard to believe, but it was over 40 years ago.)

Highlights of this demo are linked for your convenience. Enjoy!

Introduction
Tribute to early blues and R&B Influences
In the Beginning
Fats Domino
Ray Charles
Little Richard
Sam Cooke
Smokey Robinson
Early Elvis (Carl Perkins Interview)
Joni Mitchell
Bob Dylan
Frank Sinatra
Alan Freed, 1952 Introduced by Radio Archivist Charles Hefty
Broadway Musicals, 5th Dimension
Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock
The Beatles Solo
Elvis Comeback
Alan Freed Again
Closing and Details
Credits and Copyright Notice

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