John Gilliland
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio broadcaster and documentarian best known for the Pop Chronicles
Pop Chronicles
The Pop Chronicles are two radio documentary series which together "may constitute the most complete audio history of 1940s-60s popular music." Both were produced by John Gilliland.-The Pop Chronicles of the 50s and 60s:...
music documentaries and as one of the original members of The Credibility Gap
The Credibility Gap
The Credibility Gap was a satirical comedy team comprising Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander and Michael McKean. Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler also performed in their early days...
. He was born and died in his hometown of Quanah, Texas
Quanah, Texas
Quanah is a city in and the county seat of Hardeman County, Texas, United States, northwest of Fort Worth, and a few miles from the Oklahoma-Texas state line...
. He worked for a number of radio stations in Texas and California including KOGO in San Diego (1961-1965), KRLA 1110 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(1965-1970), and KSFO (AM)
KSFO (AM)
KSFO is a conservative talk radio station in San Francisco, California, USA, broadcasting on 560 kHz AM. It is owned by Cumulus Media.The content of the KSFO's talk programming is solidly conservative, which is in stark contrast to the rather liberal San Francisco area, with show hosts such as Rush...
in San Francisco (1971-1978).
Texas Radio
His radio career began in 1952 with KOLJ in his native Quanah, Texas. While attending Texas Christian UniversityTexas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
, he worked as a disc jockey at KCUL in Fort Worth. His shows were The House of Wax and The Man on the Beat. From 1959-1961 he worked for KLIF
KLIF
KLIF is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Dallas, Texas, USA. The station is owned by Cumulus Media. KLIF broadcasts a conservative-leaning news/talk radio format to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.-Call sign history:...
in Dallas. He also worked at KILT
KILT (AM)
KILT is a Sports/Talk formatted radio station in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by CBS Radio. KILT shares its call letters with sister station 100.3 FM, a country music station....
in Houston.
California Radio
At the news department of KOGO in San Diego, Gilliland used the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s of John Land and Johnny Land.
In 1965, Gilliland came to the news department of KRLA radio in Los Angeles County, where he became one of the original members of The Credibility Gap
The Credibility Gap
The Credibility Gap was a satirical comedy team comprising Harry Shearer, Richard Beebe, David L. Lander and Michael McKean. Lew Irwin, John Gilliland, Thom Beck, and Len Chandler also performed in their early days...
which mixed topical humor along with their news broadcasts. Fellow founding member Richard Beebe
Richard Beebe
Richard Beebe was on the air for five decades in Los Angeles and won two Golden Mic Awards. A founding member of The Credibility Gap, his experience and wit that moulded into its famous four man group. He was an original Beatnik still working and being creative in the late 1960s when he discovered...
said of him that
Even though John was an integral part of the "Gap," working on the Pop Chronicles was always number one for him. It seemed like he was always working on it. John was a very talented guy and a lot of fun.Gilliland researched this radio documentary, The Pop Chronicles, for over two years prior to its broadcast. It covered popular music of the 1950s and 1960s, was originally broadcast on KRLA 1110, later broadcast on many other stations, and now can be heard online.
Starting in 1971, at KSFO in San Francisco, he hosted weeknights 7pm-midnight. His shows included rebroadcasts of his Pop Chronicles, an old-time radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
hour, Mystery Theater, The Comedy Hour, and The Great LPs
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
. While working there he also produced and broadcast, beginning in 1972, The Pop Chronicles 40’s, about the popular music of the 1940s. He was succeeded in his on-air time slot at KSFO by Jerry Gordon
Jerry Gordon
Jerry Gordon is an American radio broadcaster. He is the afternoon news anchor on KNUU-AM in Las Vegas, Nevada. His voice-over work included 10 years as "the voice of Disney." He previously worked at KSFO in San Francisco.- Notes :...
.
Retirement
Gilland left KSFO in 1978 and returned to his native Texas. He edited and in 1994 published Pop Chronicles: the 40's as a four-cassette audiobook, which was rereleased later (and somewhat less accurately) as The Big Band Chronicles. During his retirement he did some work for KREBKREB
KREB is a radio station broadcasting an all sports format. Licensed to Bentonville, Arkansas, USA, it serves the Fayetteville area. The station is currently owned by Butler Broadcasting Company, LLC. In the mid-1960s the KREB call sign was a small rock & roll AM station in Shreveport,...
in Houston and KXIC
KXIC
KXIC is a radio station licensed to serve Iowa City, Iowa. The station is owned by Clear Channel Communications and licensed to Citicasters Licenses, Inc. It airs a News/Talk radio format....
in Quanah. He died in 1998. In 2003, Gilliland's sister donated the Pop Chronicles
Pop Chronicles
The Pop Chronicles are two radio documentary series which together "may constitute the most complete audio history of 1940s-60s popular music." Both were produced by John Gilliland.-The Pop Chronicles of the 50s and 60s:...
tapes to the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
Music Library where they form The John Gilliland Collection.
Discography
- 1968 - An Album Of Political Pornography, with Lew Irwin and The Credibility Gap (Blue Thumb)
- 1994 - Pop Chronicles the 40's: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40's (SoundeluxSoundeluxSoundelux is an audio post production company based in Hollywood, California. Founded by Lon Bender and Wylie Stateman in 1982, Soundelux is currently a member of the CSS Studios, LLC consortium of sound companies....
) ISBN 978-1559351478
Online sources
- The Pop Chronicles (audio) from the University of North TexasUniversity of North TexasThe University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
Music Library - Biography at The John Gilliland Collection at the University of North TexasUniversity of North TexasThe University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
Music Library - Los Angeles Radio People, G
- Obituary from http://www.laradio.com
- The Pop Chronicles Presents The Forties originally broadcast November 5, 1972, from the Bay Area Radio Museum
- The Man on the Beat: John Gilliland and The Pop Chronicles, 2008 Association for Recorded Sound CollectionsAssociation for Recorded Sound CollectionsThe Association for Recorded Sound Collections as stated on their website, was "founded in 1966 [and] is a non-profit organization dedicated to research, study, publication, and information exchange surrounding all aspects of recordings and recorded sound."...
conference presentation by Andrew Justice and Jonathan Thorn (audio).
Print sources
- Gilliland, John. "On Chronicling Pop." in Los Angeles radio people : Volume 2, 1957-1997, by Don Barrett. Valencia, CA: db Marketing, 1997. (The pages in this book are not numbered, but Gilliland's essay is located between the E and F entries.)
- Vernon, Sondra Stewart. "Music plays on for longtime broadcaster: Semiretired disc jockey boasts collection that documents the history of popular records." The Dallas Morning News. July 14, 1988