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Who Deserves Credit for Boss Radio?

Boss Radio became successful in 1965 and even though four decades have passed, there are still some who want to keep asking "who deserves credit for Boss Radio?". One answer will never satisfy everyone, but you can make up your own mind after you know the facts. Read more.

This site is a fun exploration into one particular rock and roll radio station in Los Angeles.  Why?  This one rock and roll radio station influenced the entire radio broadcasting industry.  On May 5, 1965, a rock and roll music format called Boss Radio was launched on KHJ because the owners needed to reverse the AM station's money-losing ways.

You can tell right away by the three call letters that KHJ was an old station.  Started in 1922 before the FCC switched to requiring AM radio stations to have four call letters instead of just three, KHJ genuinely was one of the oldest AM stations in Los Angeles.

But, you have to think that the KHJ owners at some point must have asked themselves:  Does a station need to sound old-fashioned because it's old?

Prior to the 1960s, KHJ did not play rock and roll music. But, in Los Angeles and elsewhere, the AM stations of the day that did play rock and roll often sounded as though they were programmed by the person who happened to be on the air at the time.  Some stations chose to use playlists of the 40 most popular songs.  Others placed no such limits on the number of songs played.  Typically, the person on the air not only could pick the music they played, but they also enjoyed the freedom to talk as much as they wanted.  Fully one third of the hour could be taken up by commercials on those stations.  Music jingles on those stations often ran as long as one full minute and were embellished with lyrics that promoted the station, it's city, the person on the air, the weather, and what not.

The Boss Radio format offered a modern sound as an alternative on KHJ:  Only the top-selling 30 rock and roll hits made it on the air.  The format allowed on-air talent only to talk over the musical introduction of the songs (prior to when the vocal starts).  The musical jingles lasted only a few seconds and got quickly to the point before transitioning immediately back to another hit song.  Instead of 18 minutes of commercials in any given hour, KHJ cut that down to around 12 minutes maximum literally making room for much more music.

This emphasis on a tight playlist of 30 hits, less announcer talk, fewer commercials, and short jingles that led back to more hit songs may not seem revolutionary now, but it certainly was in 1965.  Or something similar.  Boss Radio turned KHJ from a money loser to the number one station in Los Angeles in only a few months.  The Boss Radio format then quickly spread to other California cities and eventually across the United States and into Canada.

Are there secrets behind these business successes in the radio broadcasting industry?

Yes! First and foremost, the rock and roll music of that time created a pop culture sensation that implicitly invited a buy-in from the listeners.

Rock and roll music was never meant to be enjoyed passively. Quite the opposite is true. Rock and roll always has been designed to attract the active participation of its listeners.

The "secret" behind the rapid success of Boss Radio is clear: Rock and roll music was only about a decade old. So, it was fresh and new. Rock and roll music in the 1960s brought its listeners together into a literal community that embraced its freshness, its influence, and its various messages about life. A radio documentary called "The History of Rock and Roll" was conceived by Bill Drake and produced and directed by Ron Jacobs for broadcast on KHJ in 1969. The documentary was updated over the years to keep pace with the fast-growing rock and roll music industry. The significance of rock and roll was explained simply and directly in the 1980 edition of "The History of Rock and Roll" like this:

And now, ladies and gentlemen, listen to this TWO MINUTE KHJ HISTORY (2:00) MP3, 947 KB

If you love rock and roll radio like I do, then BossRadioForever.com will bring you much to discover and enjoy. My name is Woody Goulart. While I worked in rock and roll radio, I had a lot of luck and was in the right place at the right time.

This convergence enabled me to conduct face-to-face interviews with the key people responsible for the radio programming format known as Boss Radio that started in 1965 in Los Angeles. Those rare, first-person accounts given directly to me were augmented over several years by my primary research into the inner workings of the radio programming business in the United States. Few sources anywhere else in print or online present you with the objectivity, accuracy, multiple perspectives from a variety of different people, and spirit of honesty that this site does.

The earliest version of this website was launched online in 1996 and the most recent update of this site was completed in August 2007. Jump in and enjoy an adventurous journey into rock and roll radio.

Los Angeles Boss Angeles

What does the name Boss Radio mean? Well, it has nothing to do with an employer or supervisor. The word boss in this instance is neither a noun nor a verb. It is used here as an adjective that modifies the word radio. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, boss was slang, meaning something was exceptionally good or first rate or superior. The success of the Boss Radio name and the radio format on 93/KHJ could only have grown out of the culture of Los Angeles.

Radio Programming Timeline:  1940s to Boss Radio

         Mid 1940s to Early 1950s

• In the United States, popular music takes a giant evolutionary step when rhythm and blues mixes with country music and recording artists like Elvis Presley become the first rock and roll stars.
  
  1950s

• In Omaha in 1955, Todd Storz introduces Top 40 format emulating juke boxes that played 40 rock and roll singles.
• In Dallas in 1955, Gordon McClendon's formulated mixture of Top 40 music, news, spirited station promotion, and the first singing jingles to promote the call letters ushers in the current era of radio programming formats.
  
  1960s

• Many variations of Top 40 radio formats prevail coast-to-coast in America.
• John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr come to America, landing in New York City in 1964 and push the rock and roll music recording industry in a new direction.
• In Los Angeles in 1965, the Boss Radio format introduced as Bill Drake, Gene Chenault, Ron Jacobs, Robert W. Morgan, and The Real Don Steele establish themselves as rock and roll radio pioneers.

This website is dedicated to three talented men that I met in Hollywood. I am privileged to have known and worked at the same radio station with Roger Christian, Robert W. Morgan, and The Reel Don Steele (left to right, in photographs from the 1960s.)

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You can contact the author if you modify this text to make it a working email address:
 wg (at) woodygoulart (dot) com or visit woodygoulart.com.

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