Drake-Chenault was based from 8399 Topanga Canyon Road, Canoga Park, CA 92304.  Their phone number was (213) 883-7400.  Sales material from them stated their "formats are designed to be run on standard automation equipment readily available from several manufactures.  A basic system sufficient to run the complete formats, 24-hours a day, can be purchased for as little as $18,000 or leased for as little as $425 a month."

It was great to get more information by e-mail from Denny Adkins, who was the "original"  PD of WBNQ when it went with the "Olde Golde"(from Draper-Blore) format in August of 1972 and left to work for Drake Chenault in 1976.  He was President of Drake-Chenault when he left the syndication company in 1987.

Drake-Chenault also produced the long form program "The History of Rock and Roll."  The special was a 52-hour program narrated by Bill Drake and  researched, written and co-produced(with Bill Drake) by Gary Theroux.  I heard from Gary, who told of his experiences at Drake-Chenault.  He explained that "The History of Rock and Roll" debuted on more than 400 stations in the U.S. and over 400 stations overseas and won Billboard's "Top Special Program of the Year" award.  He also explained how the 52-hour program was broken down into "modules, each designed to focus on and spotlight a particular genre, or in some cases, a key artist in rock history."  The "modules were presented, more or less chronologically, starting in the early '50's(prior to "Rock Around the Clock") and running through to what was current in the year the program was produced: 1978."  Gary also designed each hour of the show to stand on it's own which would allow

stations to strip the show throughout the week, and use any number of hours each day.  Gary went on to describe the show as taking the approach of a "reporter" not a critic, and tried to have the individual artists tell their story as much as possible, using the narrator Bill Drake to tie each story or items together.  It was Gary who did chose to end the series with the Number One montage of all of the number one hits of the rock era.  The time sweep is available at  Reel Radio .  More on Reel Radio later.

Gary also told of the situation of his leaving the company, not by his choice, but by the choice of a former GM of Drake-Chenault.  Gary's leaving the company, angered Bill Drake and Drake made a move to bring Gary back into the fold.  By then, though, Gary accepted an offer to teach music and entertainment history at UCLA.   He later co-hosted a long running Saturday night oldies radio show in New York and was Music and Entertainment Editor for Reader's Digest, where he created over 300 multi-box sets of music featuring nearly every style and era of 20th Century music.  He's also the author of "The Top Ten" which tells the story of each of the top 10 biggest hits of each year.

I remember "The History of Rock and Roll" as being a holiday tradition at WDNL when I was there in the early years.  The show debuted on Memorial Day Weekend in 1978 on D-102 where it was an instant hit.  I remember one advertising client whom I tried to persuade to advertise on the show, having turned me down, was upset that I didn't persuade him more.  The next time we ran the show....on Labor Day weekend in 1978, he was the first to sign up for sponsorship!

I also remember the "Silver Anniversary" edition of the 52-hour special, which was released in the early 1980's.  I felt at the time the show was not of the quality of the original presentation of 1978.  Gary Theroux explained that a new staff came in and "hacked the hell out of" the original show, adding elements featuring then current artists even though they had no historical significance or should not have been included because they didn't fit the genre as rock artists.  For example, producing an full hour on the "legendary rocker, Dionne Warwick."  Gary goes on to explain that Ms. Warwick was a pop balladeer, and one of the all time best, but didn't warrant being included in the program.  The new version also cut the history of the 1950's down to just one hour of the 52 hour series!

Reel Radio also features a demo of "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" an all oldies format from 1970.  It appears to be the second format after "Hit Parade" developed for automation by Drake-Chenault.  It contains many of the same type of elements of the later formats, but the style of voice overs for the music was considerably different from later examples.  The jingles read, "Solid Gold-Rock and Roll."   This was probably replaced by "Classic Gold" and "Solid Gold" evolved into a mix of oldies and currents.  Many, if not all of the jingles from the early period were produced by the  Johnny Mann Singers.   You'll still hear the style of many of the Johnny Mann Singer's jingles on many oldie stations today.

It appears that, and has been confirmed by contributors, that Drake-Chenault ownership and management failed to ride the changing tide of technology and re-direct the format services from being a reel to reel format supplier to that of being a satellite format programming supplier, of which there are several operating today.  What was left of the original company's assets were ultimately absorbed by the Jones Radio Networks.

It's unknown if the original "History of Rock and Roll" would be available today.....but I would suggest perhaps a CD set???

To hear an air check of "Solid Gold" go to the CHR History page and look under WWTO and WBNQ.

Drake Chenault From the Inside   Here's a wealth of information about "how they did it!" as described by the Director of Engineering at Drake Chenault from 1974 to 1988.  Henry "Hank" Landsburg's narrative of the technical aspect of supplying over 300 radio stations with formats is featured on this site.  There's more to be added including pictures and audio, so check back often for updates!!!  Be sure and return here!

thanks to Denny Adkins, former PD of WBNQ in Bloomington, Illinois and a former President of Drake-Chenault for his contribution!!
thanks to Tim Brown from KGRS in Burlington, Iowa, former D-C station for his contribution.
thanks to Jon Rohrer for his contribution of more D-C demos from the 1970's!
thanks to Gary Theroux for his contribution about "The History of Rock and Roll"!!
thanks to Cliff Rogers for his contribution of music reels from Drake Chenault's "Solid Gold!"