Ever Heard a Bill Drake Reference on air?

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Ever Heard a Bill Drake Reference on air?

Postby jon » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:56 am

If you ask anyone "outside the Biz" who lived through, and listened to, Bill Drake-inspired radio, I seriously doubt they will ever have heard the name Bill Drake.

So, I was surprised to hear a reference to him, on air, on Sirius/XM yesterday. On 50s on 5, Pat St. John ran a very long drum roll behind his announcement of the anniversary of the release of "Don't Be Cruel" (Elvis), the first single ever to have 1 million orders before the date of release. But he prefaced it with the remark "This is worthy of a Bill Drake timpani."

Must have been fresh in his head, as he ran his daily "Ladies and Gentlemen, you're listening to Pat St. John" (recorded by Bill for CKLW in the late 1960s) less than 10 minutes prior.
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Re: Ever Heard a Bill Drake Reference on air?

Postby albertaboy4life » Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:16 pm

Only reference I can think of where he would have given his name would be the Drake-Chenault syndicated "History of Rock 'n Roll" programme.
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Re: Ever Heard a Bill Drake Reference on air?

Postby jon » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:02 pm

You're right, of course. The later Bill Drake-narrated History of Rock and Roll syndications were widely heard. Robert W. Morgan narrated the original that aired solely on KHJ Los Angeles in 1969. And Humble Harv did the syndicated version that immediately followed it, though some of the Drake-consulted stations were given the materials with which to narrate their own.
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