The History of Rock'n'Roll with Wink Martindale

The all-new, weekly two-hour 'History Of Rock 'n' Roll" barter radio series hosted by WINK MARTINDALE, will debut nationally (and internationally) the weekend of JUNE 5th. Set to Premiere on Racketeer Radio Saturday, June 5th at Noon, where it will find its home each Saturday at noon, and then again on Mondays at noon beginning, Monday June 14th.  

The original “History of Rock & Roll” was a highly ambitious 48-hour production assembled in 1969 at and for KHJ in LOS ANGELES.  Hosted by ROBERT W. MORGAN, the “rockumentary” aired locally and was later syndicated around the country to stations like WLS in CHICAGO.

GARY THEROUX worked for a succession of key radio stations in LOS ANGELES, including KIIS, KDAY, KSRF and KRLA.  It was during his KIIS tenure that GARY was invited by legendary programmer BILL DRAKE to bring “The History Of Rock ‘n’ Roll” back to life.

GARY asked BILL for permission to completely reformat, reprogram and rewrite “The History of Rock ‘m’ Roll” from scratch – and, to his surprise, got it.  He chose to break down the history into themed hour or half hour blocks – which could be broadcast in succession as a 52-hour marathon or broken out into standalone themed episodes.  As much as possible, GARY had the stories behind the songs told by the hitmakers themselves – with other narration minimized to simply link elements together.  He made sure every minute was compelling -- studding each script with “wow-I-didn’t-know-that”-type fun facts which illuminated both the songs and the stars.

THEROUX's 1978 iteration aired on more than 800 stations worldwide – and was named BILLBOARD’s “Top Special Program Of The Year.” GARY went on to teach music at UCLA before becoming READER'S DIGEST's Music & Entertainment Editor. Over the next 20 years, THEROUX compiled and annotated hundreds of multi-disc CD box sets, with cumulative sales topping 39 million copies.  

When WINK MARTINDALE approached him to revive "The History Of Rock 'n' Roll" as a two-hour weekly series, it was launched, with WINK as host via THEROUX's RESERVE PRODUCTIONS in association with WINK MARTINDALE enterprises and engineer PETER GOULD's INTERVALE GROUP. 

The all-new two-hour weekly “History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” answers key music fan questions, such as “What’s that song?  Who’s the performer?  How did they get that name?  What inspired those words?   Why does this music touch my heart ...make me smile ... make me cry ... make me want to dance, romance and fall in love? Whatever happened to the great songs I grew up with?”  
Each episode of “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” is built round a theme spotlighting yet another aspect of rock and pop history – from “Leading Ladies Of The ‘80s” to “The ‘60s Greatest Dance Hits,” “Singer-Songwriters Of The ‘70s” to “The Best Of Folk-Rock,” “The Magic Of Motown” to “The Top 25 Hits Of 1980,”  “Super Groups Of The ‘60s” to “Inside BEATLEmania,” “Goodtime Gold” to “The Super Summer Song Collection."  

Finally, among the affiliates on board for the JUNE 5th debut is WMPS/MEMPHIS -- where WINK MARTINDALE got his first job in radio.. 

For more information, e-mail winkhrr@gmail.com or phone (203) 847-3085.