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Bill Drake Presents The History of Rock & Roll TimeSweep, 1981 (0:49:52)

… a retrospective collage of number one songs beginning in November, 1955 …
[Description by Uncle Ricky] Bill Drake provides narration for the opening, closing, and each of the segments created for The History of Rock & Roll Time Sweep, produced for Hour 52 of the last release of Drake-Chenault’s History of Rock & Roll. The time sweep ends in February 1981, because that’s when they decided to sell the show one more time. This is high-fidelity stereo, and quite revealing. The production quality, from Perry Como to Eddie Rabbitt is outstanding. In late 2010, for most “baby-boomers”, this is still powerful, at one point or another.

Welcome to the new ReelRadio!

This site is now operated by the North Carolina Broadcast History Museum. 

We want to thank the board of ReelRadio, Inc. for their stewardship since the passing of the founder Richard Irwin in 2018.  It has not been easy and they have maintained the exhibits for future generations to enjoy.

I met Richard Irwin, aka Uncle Ricky, when we were freshmen at East Carolina University.  We both had worked at local stations in our hometowns.  No one was more passionate about radio, especially Top 40 radio, than my friend Richard. 

Our goals with this site are to preserve the exhibits and make them available free of charge for people to enjoy.  Over time, we hope to add some airchecks to the site.  This will not happen immediately.  Time and resources will determine the future of new exhibits. 

Many thanks to the web folks at the Beasley Media Group for countless hours of work.  Again thanks to the board members of ReelRadio, Inc. for their faith in us. 

Richard Irwin’s hope was that his site would live on long after his passing. He said, “I hope REELRADIO will survive as my contribution to the ‘radio business’. The business is allowed to forget me, but the business should never forget the great era of radio that we celebrate here”.

We remember Richard and we thank him. If you enjoy this new site, we would appreciate a contribution. We hope you enjoy the new ReelRadio!

Carl Davis
Trustee
North Carolina Broadcast History Museum