This is the front cover of Boss Radio’s 1967 Top 300 souvenir booklet. It’s eight pages and contains artwork of the artists who made the Top Ten as well as a listing of the Top 300 songs. Measures 8.5" x 11".
Click the image below to view a list of the titles.
22 comments:
There it is! I am overwhelmed. I though I'd never see it again. How could I have ever parted with this treasure? Thank you Ray. Thank you for your entire blog. Thank you for sharing something this meaningful for so many of us. I've been dropping this link to my friends on Delphi forum "True Beatles Fans Only." I will soon write a feature about your blog as a topic.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/truefab4fans/start
I consider the KHJ's Top 300 listings a virtual time capsule of the hearts and minds of a generation so very much in love with music. The diversity and balance of these 66 and 67 playlists is stunning. When Eric Burdon said in the great song Monterey "You wanna find the truth in life, don't pass music by... And you know... I would not lie..." Eric was speaking of the hearts and minds of a generation that almost as an entity was embracing and trusting music as perhaps no generation had before or has since. KHJ’s playlists and the top 300s document our sincere and absolute love of music for music’s sake.
Excellent blog!
The Real Don Steele and KHJ were a HUGE influence on my musical tastes as a kid growing up in the Southern California in the 60s-70s.
I recorded a song called "Boss Angeles" on my first album, Synthetrix I, which was released in 2001. It's a tribute to Boss Radio, KHJ, Robert W. Morgan and Don Steele. You can hear it on iTunes.
Great to see the 1967 Top 300 now, and I look forward to 1968. Like relic52, I once had all three of these, and somewhere along the decades, along with all of my handwritten copies of Boss 30s, they were dumped.
And yes, the diversity of the songs is fabulous. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the real fun part is seeing so many songs that were L.A.-only hits and other lower-national chart songs that never get airplay anymore.
When I was 11 in 1969, I kept waiting for KHJ to do its Top 300 for that year, but it never came, nor for any year after that. Ray, do you know why the 1968 version was the last one?
I have no direct knowledge as to why they discontinued the Top 300 countdowns. If I had to speculate, I'd say the "The History of Rock & Roll" may have been a factor. In 1969 KHJ aired the updated version of the HRR around the same time that it had counted down the Top 300 in previous years. In 1970 and 1971 they aired the "KHJ Hall of Fame" on the Labor Day weekends. The "Hall of Fame" had certain HRR overtones. In a booklet for the 1970 "Hall of Fame" it states, among other things:
"During these fifteen years of growth and change certain records stand out as leaders, milestones in the development of contemporary music. KHJ has honored these giants with charter membership in the 'Hall of Fame.'
"Every hit in the Hall of Fame earned its place with a number one ranking on the Boss 30 (1965-70) or Billboard (1955-1965). A panel of musical experts carefully weighed each nominee, basing their decision on requests, national sales, musical value, professional opinion and popularity. The result of this painstaking work..."
All of that sounds very "History of Rock & Roll-ish" to me. It's like they were still trying to capitalize on the success of the original HRR. If that was their intent, it was a dud. To heck with the cerebral approach and the "musical experts," let the fans vote for their favorites. I think that most people really enjoyed the Top 300 countdowns.
And these things have just gotten worse over the years. I remember in the 1990s when KRTH was going to do some sort of Top 500 countdown. They had a ballot in the Los Angeles Times and a list of around 700 songs. You had to select YOUR three favorite oldies from THEIR list! It was about that time that I gave up on KRTH altogether. Sorry for drifting off topic. I get a little wound up when I think of how it is compared to how it was...
Odd. I don't remember those KHJ Hall of Fame weekends in 1970 or '71, even though it was still the only station I was listening to in those years.
As for KRTH, I may have mentioned in an earlier post that in the early '80s, it started playing a lot of L.A-regional hits from the '60s, such as "Roses and Rainbows" and "Live." That's when KRTH was really at its peak, I think. It was still playing current records, but its weekends were all oldies, and the playlists went deep. They played a lot of Rolling Stones album cuts you just never heard on oldies stations, like "Back Street Girl," "Ride On Baby" and "If You Can't Rock Me." Ironically, it wasn't until KRTH went all-oldies in fall 1985 that it started to slip; its playlist slowly got narrower, and the regional hits and album cuts weren't heard anymore. A shame. Anyway, in the early '80s, KRTH had the Firecracker 300 around the Fourth of July for a few years, and those were voted on by listeners with no prompts. I have some of those lists somewhere, and they are quite diverse. The top positions were usually some combo of "Satisfaction," "Light My Fire," "Hey Jude," "Yesterday" and "Stairway to Heaven." If I can find those lists, I'll post what the top songs were.
Odd. I don't remember those KHJ Hall of Fame weekends in 1970 or '71, even though it was still the only station I was listening to in those years.
I think that pretty well sums up how unsuccessful the concept was. Everybody remembers the Top 300, nobody remembers the Hall of Fame.
I remember listening to KRTH in the early '80s. There was a request show on Saturday nights where the jock would act like he was talking to his dog in the studio (complete with sound effects). I can't think of his name for the life of me, but he was quite entertaining and I remember him playing "Live" as it really stood out since it hadn't received much airplay since it was originally a hit in L.A. It really is a shame that the local and regional hits have gone by the wayside.
KRTH also did a weekend I believe of all #1 (or was it #2) songs back about Labor Day 1980. For me, that was very effective, almost eerie programming as the good memories sequentially played past me.
I left the LA area in 1995 but recently had a chance to listen to KRTH on a trip back. Unfortunately, it is but a shadow of its former glory. No longer is there the fervor of the now retired Mr. Rock N’ Roll Brian Beirne to “dust another one off from the top shelf.”
Relic is right -- KRTH lost its soul when Brian Bierne left.
Relic, in the early 1980s, KRTH would play the No. 2 songs the weekend before Labor Day, then over Labor Day weekend it would play the No. 1s, and what was fun about those weekends was that they used SoCal charts, not the national charts. It would start in 1955 and go right up to the current week. I forget what station's charts it used for the '50s, but I think it used KRLA's for the early '60s, then would switch to KHJ's from mid-1965 until sometime in the late 1970s, and then maybe its own chart to bring it up to day. I'm actually not sure about that last part, but those were fun weekend shows.
It was a wonderful marathon. I'd lose interest in the early 70's, but they'd own me from 55 to 70. Mr. Rock N' Roll's show (I'd always refer to Brian exclusively by his moniker) captured the late 60's during one rotation. My high school life passed before me. LoL
I met Mr. Rock N' Roll at a Disneyland remote during the 80's Blast to the Past promotion. Very nice man!
Hello gentlemen;
I'm not a native angeleno, and maybe I'm missing something, but KHJ revived the Top 300 in 1973. I primarily listened to KFI and KMPC, but was fascinated with KHJ's promise of an all-time top 300. It seems to my memory, #300 was "Something", #2 was "Stairway To Heaven", #1 was "My Sweet Lord". The oldest song in that list was probably "Surfer Girl">
B rand, are you sure it was KHJ? I was still listening to the station in 1973, but I have no memory of it bringing back a Top 300, plus there is no promo evidence of it on that year's Boss 30s. However, I DO remember a station doing a Top 300 that year, because I remember being surprised that "Stairway to Heaven" finished so high (remember, at that time it was only about two years old). I can't recall if "My Sweet Lord" was No. 1, but I remember it ranked high. Maybe it was KRTH or KKDJ or one of the other Top 40 FM stations at that time.
Yes, KHJ did a Top 300 countdown over Thanksgiving weekend, 1973. I was very surprised that “My Sweet Lord” was #1, less surprised that “Stairway to Heaven” was #2. I think #3 was Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”. That list, along with the year-end countdown of the top 100 of 1973 and a special playback of the top 100 of each year from 1968-1972 over one weekend in the spring were the broadcasting highlights of what was otherwise a very disappointing year.
Dave, thank you for that verification. The countdown was printed at least one of the local newspapers. I lived in Brea at the time, so perhaps it was the Orange County Register. I lost that list sometime after 1979. Happy to see that someone else remembers.
Guys, KRTH in fact did a #1 Music Weekend over Labor Day Weekend and a Runner's Up of Classic Rock & Roll Weekend (#2's), the weekend prior. These specials began in 1978, after Bob Hamilton took over as PD for KRTH in 1977, and they ended around 1988 or so.
They utilized Los Angeles radio surveys for the duration. They actually used the KFWB Fab 40 for the 1958 thru 1964 segment, followed by the Boss 30 from KHJ from 1965 thru mid 1977 and then, the KRTH radio surveys from 1977 through 1985, the last year used. From 1986 onward, KRTH only played music through 1979 on both specialties. Prior to Feb 1958, it is unknown which surveys KRTH used, although I've heard that the L.A. Hitline charts might have been used. Other surveys might have been used in addition to the ones I mentioned. Wanna check out the complete list of songs used on both specials?? Please check out my website....
http://www.oldies76.info/
One other thing, the Number One Music Weekend was (and still is) considered a Southern California Tradition, the grand daddy of specials on K-Earth 101 back then. Other themed weekends included the Firecracker 300, a Memorial Day Weekend A-Z, a top 10 Weekend around New Years weekend, a Top of the Pops weekend in November, Super Sixites Weekend and a Souveniers of the Seventies Weekend. Beginning around 1986 or 1987, KRTH had the Saturday Night Request Show that went from 7pm to midnight.
Those were the days!! Today's KRTH does not even compare and is a distant shell of what it once was. Today's restrictions and repetition don't hold a candle to the real days of radio....about 30 years ago to the Boss Radio days!
Another thing, 1990 was the final year the #1's or #2's aired on K-Earth 101 and in that year, the specials ended in 1973, instead of the usual 1979.
It was not long after that (late 1990 or early 1991) when KRTH constricted their playlist, setting the stage for their format of the next 15 years (until competition forced them to break out of their microscopic comfort zone). What remained was a playlist that was narrow, repetitive, stagnant, and boring. Even Robert W. Morgan and the Real Don Steele (the two greatest deejays ever) could only do so much with such a stagnant playlist. Of course this also meant the end of the specials we used to enjoy on July 4 and Labor Day weekends. How can you have a Firecracker 300 when the entire playlist has fewer than 300 songs? How can you have a #1 music weekend when the vast majority of songs which topped the charts are now off limits?
Yeah, the Firecracker 300 was based on listener votes and this aired for ten years (1978-1987) over the 4th of July. As for the Number One's (and two's) weekends, they were unfortunately axed after the 1990 airings. Even when they aired annually in the 1980's, many of the songs in those specials were not in regular rotation, hence is why they were known as themed weekends, a nice way for a station to have some fun and showcase their massive music library, instead of the monotony of regular playlists heard daily.
I mean, can you imagine back in 1985, hearing every single local number one song in chronological order over a four-day holiday weekend?? 645 songs reached #1 in Los Angeles from 1955 to 1985 and every single one of them aired that Labor day weekend. Beginning in 1986 and lasting through 1989, #1 songs from 1955-1979 aired. In 1990, just 1955-1973 aired, a haunting indicator that this great special was on it's very last legs.
Those were certainly the days, the golden days of K-Earth 101.
I believe the KRTH Firecracker 300 lasted through 1990. Then sometime between mid-1990 and mid-1991 they sharply narrowed their playlist, leading to the stagnant repetitive playlist they would have for the next 15 years or so. For July 4 weekend, 1991, they had a top 101 but it was based on listener votes restricted to a list of (about) 295 songs chosen by KRTH.
That sounds about right KG Dave. That would explain why the #1's and 2's weekends in 1990 only showcased music through 1973, instead of the usual 1979 in years prior. And I very well remember the repetitive Motown, Beatles and mid-late 60's playlists KRTH drilled to death following 1990, until Jhani Kaye revived K-Earth around 2005. It seemed the only Motown songs they ever played was "My Girl" and (pardon the pun) "It's the Same Old Song"!
K-Earth 101 also aired year ending countdown shows in the early 1980's, such as the Top 82 songs of 1982, which can be found on www.archive.org at last check. There is also a portion of the #2's (Runners Up of Classic Rock & Roll Weekend) from 1977-1979 which can be found there also. No commercials, just the music and some ID's and jingles between some of the cut off songs. That was recorded in August 1987. Just more proof of the vast creativity this station accomplished back then unlike today.
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