Philip Yarbrough’s impact on Top 40 radio can’t be overemphasized. Known to just about every aspiring 60s DJ, “Bill Drake” helped refine the format to it’s bare essence, generating millions of dollars of ad revenue for legendary stations like Ron Jacob’s KHJ and Paul Drew’s CKLW, when the Detroit Top 40 station first aired the program in March 1969.
Drake’s magnum opus has to be the gargantuan “History of Rock and Roll“, a “rocumentary” that covered the rock era with a depth and detail that still sounds fresh today. The show ran for 48 straight hours when it premiered in 1969. An updated version, broadcast in 1978, clocked in at 52 hours.
One of the program’s many highlights is a time sweep, featuring the musical hooks of every Billboard Top 40 number one song from 1957 to 1977.
CKLW * HISTORY of ROCK & ROLL TIME SWEEP * 1969
does anyone board cast or sale this program? “The History of Rock and Roll”
The information above is incorrect.
The ORIGINAL History of Rock and Roll which aired on the February date above in 1969 was VOICED by local CKLW talent (I believe Charlie Van Dyke, among others) and the selections you are hearing are from Bill Drake’s syndicated version, either from 1977 or 1981!
This site is now FREE (simply register) and you can enjoy the ENTIRE original History of Rock and Roll narrated by Robert W. Morgan (a large chuck of it I donated to the site).
I would love to here the complete 48 or 52 hours of “The History of Rock n Roll”
The HISTORY OF ROCK N ROLL Is the best story and music of rock n roll
The HISTORY OF ROCK N ROLL Is the best story and music of rock n roll—GREAT
gmrummler@aol.com
Hello Everyone, this is very special to me. My brother Phil, who is no longer with us, and I used to sing the Timesweep together! I’m wondering, would anyone have the this full version of the timesweep (without the narration) in mp3 format? My brother had taped it off the radio back in 1981… but the quality was never that great! Any advice would be great!!
I first heard “The History of Rock and Roll” on WMRV Radio, an adult contemporary/oldies/soft-rock station located near Binghamton, NY, in April 1978 (late in 10th grade–and rebroadcast in late August, when I had time and was free from scholastic anxieties). I would hear an updated version on the same station in 1981. I was able to tape the 1981 version of the time sweep in June, covering all the songs in the 1977-78 version up through Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love a Rainy Night.” I played this time sweep dozens of times! I was also a fan of CKLW’s diverse, unique music mix during the late 1970s.