Bill Drake Has Passed Away

[Kevin Vahey]

Last time I heard the History of Rock and Roll was on XM and Drake did
the narration.

When Drake first assumed control of WRKO his first move was replacing
Al Gates with Dorman who he knew from KFRC.

He also wanted Charlie Tuna for WRKO but he had a non-compete clause
at WMEX and RKO didn't want to battle Richmond again after losing with
Arnie Ginsburg. Drake then hired Tuna for KHJ.

Drake would call the coupler phone at RKO 3 or 4 times a day to listen live.



On 11/30/08, SteveOrdinetz <hykker@wildblue.net> wrote:
> Sid Schweiger wrote:
>
>
>>What the Wikipedia article doesn't say is that he personally voiced
>>at least one version of the HofR&R (they were usually voiced by one
>>of the DJs from the stations it aired on; "Bobby Mitchell" [Frank
>>Kingston Smith] did the WRKO/Boston version) as well as most of the
>>voice-only sweepers and IDs on the stations he consulted (as in:
>>"And now, ladies and gentlemen, Dale Dorman!" followed by the
>>legal-ID-as-jingle).  So, many people heard his voice without
>>knowing who it was.
>
>
> I knew he was the one that was the imaging voice for the RKO-General
> stations during the "boss radio" era, but I wasn't aware he ever
> narrated HofR&R.  The original 1969 version was, as you said voiced
> by a jock at each station but every later version I ever heard was
> voiced by one of his LA jocks, either Humble Harve or Robert W. Morgan.
>
>