John Gilliland's Pop Chronicles

[DavidKaye]

When he was at KSFO, John Gilliland was a popular night DJ. He began to intervew people in music and collected anecdotes and recordings. The result was "Pop Chronicles".

After he died, his estate gave John Gilliland's "Pop Chronicles" to the University of North Texas. The tapes would eventually be digitized, but every time I checked back I found only some notes about the collection. Finally, an index of the series content appeared, but that was it.

Well, it took forever to digitize the tapes because, after all, "Pop Chronicles" is a 55-hour series!

Here's a link to the index of shows:
http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/index-to-pop-chronicles

And a link to the 55 shows in the series:
http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/JGPC/browse/

Have fun!

--dk

 

[LKellerIII]

When he was at KSFO, John Gilliland was a popular night DJ. He began to intervew people in music and collected anecdotes and recordings. The result was "Pop Chronicles".

After he died, his estate gave John Gilliland's "Pop Chronicles" to the University of North Texas. The tapes would eventually be digitized, but every time I checked back I found only some notes about the collection. Finally, an index of the series content appeared, but that was it.

Well, it took forever to digitize the tapes because, after all, "Pop Chronicles" is a 55-hour series!

Here's a link to the index of shows:
http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/index-to-pop-chronicles

And a link to the 55 shows in the series:
http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/JGPC/browse/

Have fun!

--dk

The Pop Chronicles is terrific, but your history is a bit off, David. Though there were probably revisions later, Gilliland produced his series in the late 60s, when he was at Top 40 KRLA. He was a newsman there, and one of the founding members of The Credibility Gap, a satirical news program that KRLA began about 1968. The original members of the Gap were earnest and serious newsmen like Gilliland and Lew Irwin. Somewhere in my vinyl record collection, I have an LP produced by the Gap, and Gilliland is one of the men shown on the back cover, naked from the waist up...very 1960s. I believe John is the tall man in the back holding a cigarette.

http://m1.ikiwq.com/img/xl/w0QSPuJmMtsIzylUGZe4md.jpg

At some point, other non-news performers like Harry Shearer, David L. Lander and Michael McKean got involved, - Irwin left KRLA, and Gilliland started writing the Pop Chronicles. It was a great time at KRLA, which had been hurt big-time in the ratings by Bill Drake's KHJ, and were counter-programming by trying a lot of unique and ground-breaking stuff...imagine that in today's radio world.

KRLA publicized The Pop Chronicles for weeks (maybe months) before its premiere, and was racing Bill Drake's History of Rock and Roll to be first on-air sometime in 1969. I don't remember who got there first.

 

[DavidKaye]

The Pop Chronicles is terrific, but your history is a bit off, David. Though there were probably revisions later, Gilliland produced his series in the late 60s, when he was at Top 40 KRLA.

You're right, but only partly right. The Pop Chronicles is two series, one produced at KRLA (rock) and one produced at KSFO (MOR). The KRLA one came first, in 1969. The KSFO one was done in 1972. I'm not exactly sure how the two mesh, given that the collection makes no distinction between them.

The Wikipedia entry isn't quite clear about the 55 parts, either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Chronicles

 

[mofocat]

WoW! Great Find!! Gooood stuff! Thanks for posting this David. How'd you happen to find this?
After about 3 hrs, I'm liking this more than thr Drake 'History of RnR'.

 

[Madmansam]

I have fond memories of John Gilliland' Old Time Radio Hour & The Comedy Hour too. In fact, I think he did some sort of character as host of the Comedy Hour. While John's successor, Jerry Gordon was good, John was great. I wonder if his estate has anything more of John's KSFO years like his Old Time Radio intros or The Comedy Hour?

 

[DavidKaye]

WoW! Great Find!! Gooood stuff! Thanks for posting this David. How'd you happen to find this?
After about 3 hrs, I'm liking this more than thr Drake 'History of RnR'.

It wasn't easy finding it since I couldn't find any links directly on the college site. I have checked back from time to time since they got the donation, but figured that they just hadn't digitized it all yet. So, the other night when the thought occurred to me again, I used the keywords "john gilliliand pop chronicles" (no quotes). It's the 4th or 5th entry on most search engines. I don't know when they digitized it but I think it's been in the last 3 months or so.

Yeah, I've never been much impressed with the Drake product. It just doesn't go deeply enough, I feel.

 

[bobgowa]

Somewhere in my vinyl record collection, I have an LP produced by the Gap, and Gilliland is one of the men shown on the back cover, naked from the waist up...very 1960s. I believe John is the tall man in the back holding a cigarette.

http://m1.ikiwq.com/img/xl/w0QSPuJmMtsIzylUGZe4md.jpg

At some point, other non-news performers like Harry Shearer, David L. Lander and Michael McKean got involved, -

Great to see that photo again! Harry, David, Michael and Richard Beebe later released a couple of albums. I was involved with the second, "A Great Gift Idea."

- Bob Gowa

 

[radioguy39nj]

Is this the same "Pop Chronicles" I recall from WCBS-FM New York around 1970? This was the station's pre-oldies era, when it was a hybird of pop, oldies and rock.

Pop Chronicles aired early Sunday evening, followed by IIRC Moldy Oldies, the forerunner to Norm N Nite's "Nite Train". Moldy Oldies played mostly NY doo wop. I think Gus Gossert was the host.

 

[RadioJunkieMike]

Is this the same "Pop Chronicles" I recall from WCBS-FM New York around 1970? This was the station's pre-oldies era, when it was a hybird of pop, oldies and rock.

Pop Chronicles aired early Sunday evening, followed by IIRC Moldy Oldies, the forerunner to Norm N Nite's "Nite Train". Moldy Oldies played mostly NY doo wop. I think Gus Gossert was the host.

Yes -- you remember correctly! 'CBS-FM at that time was an odd station. They even had Tom Clay as a jock for a while -- a year before he had his hit with "What The World Needs Now".

 

[radioguy39nj]

Is this the same "Pop Chronicles" I recall from WCBS-FM New York around 1970? This was the station's pre-oldies era, when it was a hybird of pop, oldies and rock.

Pop Chronicles aired early Sunday evening, followed by IIRC Moldy Oldies, the forerunner to Norm N Nite's "Nite Train". Moldy Oldies played mostly NY doo wop. I think Gus Gossert was the host.

Yes -- you remember correctly! 'CBS-FM at that time was an odd station. They even had Tom Clay as a jock for a while -- a year before he had his hit with "What The World Needs Now".

WOW!!!! I'm happy my memory still serves me well! Yes, CBS-FM was an odd, but listenable station in 1970. They dropped the automated "Young Sound" format in October 1969 for this new format of pop, oldies and rock. You could hear hard rock by Mountain, R & B by Sly and The Family Stone, sappy pop by The Carpenters and doo wop by The Five Satins all on 101.1 FM!

CBS-FM became NY's fourth rocker on FM. They were searching for a middle ground between hard rockers WABC-FM and WNEW-FM and Drake adult top 40 WOR-FM. CBS-FM had a great sound during this period, but couldn't find an audience for this hybrid format. When WOR-FM dropped pre-Beatles oldies in early 1972 in search of a younger audience, CBS-FM had an opening and capitalized on it, flipping to oldies that summer. The rest is history!

 

[RadioJunkieMike]

Is this the same "Pop Chronicles" I recall from WCBS-FM New York around 1970? This was the station's pre-oldies era, when it was a hybird of pop, oldies and rock.

Pop Chronicles aired early Sunday evening, followed by IIRC Moldy Oldies, the forerunner to Norm N Nite's "Nite Train". Moldy Oldies played mostly NY doo wop. I think Gus Gossert was the host.

Yes -- you remember correctly! 'CBS-FM at that time was an odd station. They even had Tom Clay as a jock for a while -- a year before he had his hit with "What The World Needs Now".

WOW!!!! I'm happy my memory still serves me well! Yes, CBS-FM was an odd, but listenable station in 1970. They dropped the automated "Young Sound" format in October 1969 for this new format of pop, oldies and rock. You could hear hard rock by Mountain, R & B by Sly and The Family Stone, sappy pop by The Carpenters and doo wop by The Five Satins all on 101.1 FM!

CBS-FM became NY's fourth rocker on FM. They were searching for a middle ground between hard rockers WABC-FM and WNEW-FM and Drake adult top 40 WOR-FM. CBS-FM had a great sound during this period, but couldn't find an audience for this hybrid format. When WOR-FM dropped pre-Beatles oldies in early 1972 in search of a younger audience, CBS-FM had an opening and capitalized on it, flipping to oldies that summer. The rest is history!

I got my first FM radio for Xmas 1969, so I missed the "Young Sound" thing, tho' I do remember TV commercials promoting a DJ named "I.M. Flowers" (LOL). I do remember Bob "the Wizard" Wayne and Bill Brown -- I think he stuck around when they went Oldies.

 

[radioguy39nj]

I got my first FM radio for Xmas 1969, so I missed the "Young Sound" thing, tho' I do remember TV commercials promoting a DJ named "I.M. Flowers" (LOL). I do remember Bob "the Wizard" Wayne and Bill Brown -- I think he stuck around when they went Oldies.

I hardly listened to the "Young Sound" on CBS-FM, but it's safe to say it was a forerunner of the adult contemporary format.

Bobby "The Wizard" Wayne was one of the early voices on oldies CBS-FM. Bill Brown started at WOR-FM, later moving to CBS-FM. Brown was there until "The Day The Music Died", June 3, 2005, the day of the flip to JACK.

 

[DougKUCI]

Somewhere in my vinyl record collection, I have an LP produced by the Gap, and Gilliland is one of the men shown on the back cover, naked from the waist up...very 1960s. I believe John is the tall man in the back holding a cigarette.

http://m1.ikiwq.com/img/xl/w0QSPuJmMtsIzylUGZe4md.jpg

At some point, other non-news performers like Harry Shearer, David L. Lander and Michael McKean got involved, -

I think that John is the one on the left. I think that's Richard Beebe on the right in the back. If this is wrong, then someone should change the label on the photo at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Credibility_Gap

You can also see photos of Gilliland at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gilliland,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Chronicles , and
http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/gallery .

 

[DougKUCI]

You're right, but only partly right. The Pop Chronicles is two series, one produced at KRLA (rock) and one produced at KSFO (MOR). The KRLA one came first, in 1969. The KSFO one was done in 1972. I'm not exactly sure how the two mesh, given that the collection makes no distinction between them.

The Wikipedia entry isn't quite clear about the 55 parts, either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Chronicles

The two series differ by the times they cover, not really the music format. The KRLA series started in 1969, and covered the 1950s and 60s. This is mostly on rock-and-roll, but also covered musicians such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. This series is now available online from unt.edu. (This has 55 parts.)

The KSFO series, started in 1972, covered the 1940s. This does not yet seem to be available online. However, you can find an edited version as a used audio book. I don't know whether unt.edu will be putting this online. (I think this had 24 parts.)

If you go to:

http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/audio2008/

you can hear a presentation about Gilliland and the Pop Chronicles that, among other things, describes the collection that unt.edu has.

And if there is anything wrong or confusing at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Chronicles ,
please fix it. Anyone can edit wikipedia.