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What does the name Boss Radio mean? Well, it has nothing to do with an employer or supervisor. The word boss in this instance is neither a noun nor a verb. It is used here as an adjective that modifies the word radio. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, boss was slang, meaning something was exceptionally good or first rate or superior. The success of the Boss Radio name and the radio format on 93/KHJ could only have grown out of the culture of Los Angeles. Los Angeles became known as “Boss Angeles” because of Boss Radio. By whatever name, this city literally was the only place on the planet where Boss Radio could have happened. This city is the nexus of what Joni Mitchell called “the star-maker machinery” and many of the hottest pop music stars of the day like Sonny and Cher and The Beach Boys were drawn to the magic of Boss Radio 93/KHJ in Hollywood. The radio station owners needed something magical to rescue their financially underperforming property. This radio station at this time created a rare combination of financial exigence and an opportunity to try something bold and edgy like the Boss Radio format certainly was. Being in Los Angeles gave the format and 93/KHJ a visibility within the radio broadcasting and entertainment industries that helped magnify the ratings success that the programming made possible. But, had this format been launched in a smaller market, the impact would likely not have been as great as it was in LA. Who would have noticed, for instance, if this rock and roll radio approach had been launched anywhere else but in the entertainment capitol of the world? I posed this question to Bill Drake, asking whether he thought that there was something inherent in California that allowed for growth in the creative sense in radio programming as compared to other states. Drake said, "I think that Boston and Detroit are pretty much like LA as far as operating a [rock and roll radio station]. I think it wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference [had Boss Radio started in the east instead of in the west]. I'll tell you this: I sure as hell would rather have been living here and going to New York from time to time than living in New York and going anywhere. I'm sure that if I'd lived in New York at the time, I'd probably have been on the road 300 days a year." What about the differences between radio programming in Los Angeles versus San Francisco? After the success of the Boss Radio format in Los Angeles on KHJ in 1965, the parent company (RKO) had Drake and company bring the same sound to San Francisco on KFRC. Prior to making a success of the Boss Radio format in Los Angeles, Drake had previously worked in San Francisco, so he had a high familiarity with all that was San Francisco radio in the 1960s. One well-known and uniquely San Francisco style or sound belonged to Tom Donahue in the 1960s. Drake told me that he knew Donahue quite well. "We were doing two different things," Drake said. "Donahue and I had worked together at KYA. When I was program director at KYA, he was a jock there, and a damn good one." Drake explained to me that the trade magazines' commentary in those days about Donahue's "aesthetic appreciation" of music programming versus Drake's "product oriented" approach was a mischaracterization. Drake said, "I don't think that I could ever try to explain away what I did by saying I was doing it for art's sake. That's bullshit. I think that anybody in this business who says they are--I don't care if they're a liquor company or a radio station or whether they are an artist or [musical] group or anything--anyone who says they're doing it for art's sake is either lying or a failure, one of the two." Clearly, what Drake did for radio programming was not about art for art's sake. Rather, the sum total of what Drake did for radio programming was always all about reaching Drake's own extremely high professional standards. Drake's business partner, Gene Chenault, provided for me a unique inside view about he he evaluated his partner, the legendary radio programmer: "Drake is so much of a perfectionist that he is sometimes unhappy because perfection is not easily attained, Chenault told me. |
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