Late word this Saturday night/Sunday morning, that one of my boyhood heros has passed away. Bill Drake, the man behind what was arguably the most successful and influential radio station in the nation beginning in the mid-60’s and running well into the 70’s–KHJ in Los Angeles–has died at the age of 71 from lung cancer.
Drake, along with his right hand man and program director–Ron Jacobs, created the sound that he labelled “Boss Radio”. It was perhaps the most tightly controlled and well executed version of the “Top 40” radio format that would come to dominate radio just as the sounds of the Beatles and Beach Boys would crash across the American music scene and dominate until the rise of music on FM radio stations in the mid to late 70s.
But even though scholars may debate Drake’s role in the success of “Boss Radio”, one thing is clear: Drake was a driven man with a vision, and that vision was to create one of the most significant radio formats for the next decade. For a young man who idolized what American contemporary radio sounded like during this period, the name Bill Drake was synonymous with a hard-charging, yet precisely executed radio sound that was sweeping the country.
Like any good ego driven artist, Drake even put his own personal stamp on the sound of “Boss Radio”. The beginning of each hour on a Drake formatted station began with Drake’s own words laying out the succinct, but mermorable promise. Drake’s voice would boom across KHJ (and ultimately each station of the RKO radio chain) –at the top of each hour: “And now Ladies and Gentlemen…the Solid Gold Weekend!” Or perhaps what would become the true battle cry of the medium, “And the hits just keep onnnnnnnn coming!” In each case, Drake’s voice would be followed by another of his innovations–and incredibly short jingle, featuring the Johnny Mann singers, who would half-sing/half-shout acapella “K-H-J…Los An-gelesssss!”
I wish I had been able to meet the man, because his leadership of KHJ and ”Boss Radio“ were a big influence on me, a young man just starting in the radio business. It took me years to figure out what the attitude at ”Boss Radio“ was all about, and that ultimately pushed me towards working where my passion in broadcasting really was. (It only took that long, because it was easy to not understand the not-so-obvious reasons for the success of KHJ in ”Boss Angeles.“)
But you can decide for yourself. There is a good amount amount of what KHJ sounded like ”back in the day“ all over the internet. One good place to start is a amazing website (from Woody Goulart) named the same thing that I think would perhaps make the best epitaph for the late Bill Drake.
If you’ve never heard of the man or his station, it is well worth the time to take a listen.