Bill Virgin's Radio Beat August 14, 2008

[radiofan]

The professor's rock history class is back in session
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER

Until his retirement 10 years ago, Danny Holiday ran what might be termed an on-air symposium on early rock 'n' roll, tracing its development, playing the familiar, the obscure and the forgotten, mixing in history, details and trivia of the music's first decade.

As of Sept. 7 on Everett-based KSER- FM/90.7, Professor Holiday's class is back in session.

Holiday is bringing back the "Rock 'n' Roll Time Machine" to the community station for two hours a week, at 11 a.m. Sundays. The tag line to Holiday's e-mails promises that the program will have "no jingles, no bumpers, no stagers, no spots. Just Danny and his music."

But gimmicks and outrageousness weren't a big part of Holiday's radio career, anyway. "I have never been a funny guy when I was jocking," he says. "I was there because of the music."

The music, as well as Holiday's wealth of knowledge about it. He can tell you such details as Elvis doing 17 takes of "Blue Suede Shoes" in his recording session; the one that was released was the 12th. Or that the count that launches The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" comes from a different take from the song that follows. He knows the rarities, what songs and artists influenced what was to come (and how), and the context of the music in its times, noting that the mixing of white and black artists on radio helped break down society's racial walls.

That knowledge was accumulated from a lifetime of listening to, collecting and playing the music. From an early age, he recalls, "I could tell you the B side of every record I owned, but I had trouble with state capitals. ... It was a hobby at first. It was never a job to learn about the music or the artists."

It's a body of knowledge that is rapidly getting lost because the music that launched rock radio no longer has a home on the dial.

"The (demographic) for the '60s is too small to have an audience," Holiday laments. "There are not enough people who are 65 like me to support a radio station. My era got lost."

Holiday's return to the air comes less than a month after his old station, KBSG-FM/97.3, dumped its music format and its call letters. But it had dropped any early rock long ago. "I want to reach people who may not be familiar with the songs that came before whatever they're listening to now," he says.

The debut of the show on KSER is a bit of a homecoming for Holiday, who was born and raised in Everett. He counts as a major early influence legendary Canadian broadcaster Red Robinson, whose broadcasts Holiday could pick up in Everett and later when the family moved to Anacortes. His own radio career included stints at KOL and KZOK in Seattle, before he joined KBSG in 1991, retiring from there in 1998.

"I feel very lucky to have been able to retire at 55," he says. "There aren't many occupations other than Microsoft where you can do that."

But retirement got interrupted by serious medical issues, including a triple-bypass operation. While recuperating, he had time for reflection on what he wanted to do. One conclusion: "To go back and play the music of my era that isn't being played any more."

Holiday is doing his show for KSER as a volunteer, even taking the station's training course. The first song of the first show will be Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock." That's a tune everyone has heard, but what Holiday plans to play is the unedited version, complete with studio chatter.

What he says about that version could apply to his approach to "Rock 'n' Roll Time Machine" in general: "I'm going to play something you've heard before, but you've never heard it this way."

In other radio notes:


Speaking of KSER, it plans to add the new public radio show "The Takeaway," with John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji, at 8 a.m. weekdays beginning Sept. 8.


Gov. Chris Gregoire takes listener calls on "The Conversation" at 1 p.m. Friday on KUOW- FM/94.9.


Jim Wilke's "Jazz Northwest" at 1 p.m. Sunday on KPLU- FM/88.5 features a recent performance by saxophonist Eric Alexander.


Seattle P-I foreign editor Larry Johnson, author of the new book "Trouble: Dispatches From the Middle East, Asia and Central and South America," is the guest on "Weekday" at 10 a.m. Monday on KUOW-FM.


Brandi Carlile performs in the "Mountain Music Lounge" at 3:15 p.m. Monday on KMTT-FM/ 103.7.

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat Thursdays in the Seattle P-I