John Gilliland: The Voice Behind The Pop Chronicles

USA Radio Museum Feature: John Gilliland was more than a disc jockey—he was a radio historian, a pioneer in long-form documentary storytelling, and

USA Radio Museum Feature:

John Gilliland was more than a disc jockey—he was a radio historian, a pioneer in long-form documentary storytelling, and the creator of one of the most ambitious music history projects ever broadcast: The Pop Chronicles. His work captured the spirit, sound, and soul of 20th-century American popular music and preserved it for future generations.

Born on October 18, 1935, in Quanah, Texas, Gilliland’s love for radio started early. He began his broadcasting career in 1952 at KOLJ in his hometown, later moving through a series of Texas stations while studying at Texas Christian University. His early shows like The House of Wax and The Man on the Beat established him as a sharp, engaging on-air personality with a deep appreciation for music and storytelling.

In the 1960s, Gilliland relocated to California and joined the staff at KOGO in San Diego. By 1965, he landed at KRLA 1110 in Los Angeles, a station known for breaking new ground in pop culture programming. There, he became an original member of The Credibility Gap, a group that used satire to bring a fresh voice to news coverage.

Credibility Gap

Then he left for KSFO in San Francisco. Beginning in 1971, John Gilliland hosted a five-hour evening block of music and entertainment on KSFO in San Francisco, airing weeknights from 7 p.m. to midnight. The station had hired him in response to market research indicating that most of its daytime listeners switched to television at night. His program featured a mix of content, including rebroadcasts of his acclaimed Pop Chronicles. Gilliland remained in the role until 1978.

But it was Gilliland’s passion project—The Pop Chronicles—that would define his legacy. Inspired in part by his experience attending the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, he set out to create a definitive oral history of popular music in America. The result was a monumental 55-hour radio documentary covering the 1950s and 1960s. Featuring interviews with dozens of major artists, from Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to Little Richard and Dionne Warwick, the series blended biography, cultural analysis, and unforgettable music clips into a cohesive and compelling narrative. It premiered on KRLA in 1969 and was later syndicated nationwide, including on Armed Forces Radio.

John Gilliland with LaVerne Baker

In the early 1970s, Gilliland moved north to KSFO in San Francisco, where he continued producing innovative radio content. There, he created The Pop Chronicles: The 1940s, a 24-episode series that brought the swing era and big band music to life. It was eventually released as a four-cassette set titled The Big Band Chronicles, bringing his archival work to a new audience in the pre-digital era.

By the late 1970s, Gilliland had returned to Texas, where he continued to work in local radio and preserve his archives. He passed away in his hometown of Quanah on July 27, 1998. But his work did not disappear. In 2003, his sister donated his vast collection of tapes, scripts, and production notes to the University of North Texas. The archive—now known as the John Gilliland Collection—contains more than 700 hours of original material, ensuring that his contributions to music history and radio storytelling will never be forgotten.

John Gilliland’s voice, style, and dedication to documenting music history continue to inspire today’s broadcasters and podcasters. His Pop Chronicles remain a shining example of how radio can educate, entertain, and preserve culture in ways that are as vital now as they were when they first aired.