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Johnny Holliday, WHK Cleveland
Johnny Holliday, WHK Cleveland

Johnny Holliday, WINS New York
Johnny Holliday, WINS New York, 1964

Johnny Holliday at KYA, 1966
Johnny Holliday at KYA, San Francisco, 1966

Johnny Holliday, today
Johnny Holliday, today

The Johnny Holliday Collection
Johnny Holliday was born in Miami Florida, but his tour in Top 40 began in 1959 at one of the first big-time Top 40 stations: WHK in Cleveland.

Johnny joined WINS, New York, in 1964, and played the last record on WINS before the switch to All News. He was named Gavin Top 40 DJ of the Year in 1965 while at KYA, San Francisco, where he stayed until 1969. Johnny is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Holliday has spent over 35 years in Washington D.C., beginning with morning drive for WWDC from 1969 to 1978, and sports reporting for WMAL from 1978 to 1991.

He began working for ABC Sports in 1984, and his sports reports are heard coast to coast on the ABC Radio Network, including shows on XM and Sirius satellite radio.

His credits include coverage of the Olympics in 1984, 1988, 1994, 1996 and 2000, championship boxing, The Masters, the USFL Game of the Week and the Liberty, Aloha, Orange, Peach and Gator Bowls. Since 1979, Johnny has been the voice of the University of Maryland Terrapins football and basketball teams.

Off the air, Johnny has been featured in more than 30 leading roles in summer stock production, among them 42nd Street, How To Succeed In Business, Finian's Rainbow, Follies, Carnival, and Me And My Girl, which brought him a Helen Hayes nomination for Best Actor in a Washington Musical.

Johnny's network announcing credits include NBC's Hullabaloo and The Roger Miller Show, ABC's This Week with David Brinkley and This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts. He was also seen on the CBS-TV comedy series Good Morning World, and is co-host of the nationally syndicated Catholic Radio Weekly.

Johnny's book is titled From Rock to Jock and it's a memoir of Johhny's amazing broadcast career as a Top 40 Disc Jockey and a nationally known sportscaster.

In October, 2003, Johnny Holliday was inducted into the Radio Television Broadcasters Hall Of Fame.

The Repository thanks Johnny Holliday for sharing!

[Descriptions by Uncle Ricky]

G2 5.0 compatible TOP STREAM 32Kbps (10Khz)
WHK Cleveland Ohio Station Presentation, 1960 (09:20)

. . . The Sun. The luminous, celestial body, around which the earth revolves . . .

This 1960 Station Presentation for legendary WHK/Cleveland begins with a short astronomy lesson, and follows the sun through a broadcast day (and night.)

The narrator is not identified, but each of the station personalities and their custom Color Radio jingles are featured. Included are Alan Michaels, Scott Burton, Johnny Walters, Johnny Holliday, Carl Reese, Keith Morris and Pat Fitzgerald (who is asleep.)

And of course, this presentation was sent to agencies and used to introduce the station to advertisers.

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G2 5.0 compatible TOP STREAM 32Kbps (10Khz)
Johnny Holliday, WHK Cleveland, February 1962 (10:03)

. . . in the Metropolitan area . . .

Amazing, authentic and early Top 40 with Johnny Holliday on WHK, time-tone included, along with a mix of classic jingles and Jimmy Fiddler for a straight-shootin' automobile dealer.

This one is cut tight, with each edit summoning another lost memory to be erased a few seconds later. And what about being in space beyond space? Too many treasures here, please just listen.

Thanks, Johnny!

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G2 5.0 compatible TOP STREAM 20.7Kbps (10Khz)
Johnny Holliday, WHK Cleveland, September 2 1963 (04:06)

. . . We had a rehearsal last night of the Scott Burton - Johnny Holliday Hooteneers . . .

If you heard Johnny Holliday broadcast Maryland's win in the NCAA Basketball Championship game (2002), you will immediately recognize the same friendly voice, precision and enthusiasm in this short aircheck of Johnny from Labor Day weekend, 1963.

Then it was Hootenanny. Now it is Hoops. Johnny is undoubtedly the only Top 40 jock to have broadcast a national championship basketball game.

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TOP STREAM 32Kbps (8Khz)
Johnny Holliday, WHK Cleveland, 12-23-1963 (14:44)

. . . The Johnny Holliday show is an exclusive and copyrighted feature of Channel 14 . . .

Here's a smooth, young Johnny Holliday on legendary WHK in Cleveland, getting ready for a Christmas holiday in Florida.

The classic content cuts through the unfortunately high noise level and limited frequency response of this aircheck - this was top-flight personality Top 40 in Cleveland, circa 1963.

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TOP STREAM 32Kbps (8Khz)
Johnny Holliday, WINS New York, March, 1965 (19:04)

. . . WINS Winners with a record of 16 wins and 15 losses for the year . . .

Johnny Holliday is heard in afternoon drive on WINS, New York, about one month before WINS abandoned Top 40 for an all-news format.

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TOP STREAM 32Kbs (8.5Khz)
Johnny Holliday, WINS New York, April 18, 1965 (15:06)

. . . the Sinatra Sunday Serenade for the sad, suffering secretary . . .

Johnny Holliday had the dubious distinction of hosting the last music show on WINS, New York. This aircheck features the 6PM hour of that show on Easter Sunday, April 18, 1965.

This may have been the end of Johnny's New York Top 40 adventures, but it was barely the beginning of his long career in broadcasting. Still to come was KYA, San Francisco, over 35 years in Washington D.C. at WWDC and WMAL, and a continuing association with ABC Sports and the University of Maryland Terrapins football and basketball teams.

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TOP STREAM 32Kbps (10Khz)
Johnny Holliday, KYA San Francisco, May 5, 1969 (5:29)

. . . Avco Radio, San Francisco . . .

(From Billboard magazine, March 26, 1966)

"SAN FRANCISCO — So strong are the personalities at KYA, the leading Hot 100 station here, that Johnny Holliday once out-Pulsed a baseball game in audience ratings. His real strength at being able to influence his teen-age listeners also cropped up in Billboard's latest Radio Response Rating survey of the market. He was leading air personality at influencing sales of singles records with 42 per cent of the votes of record dealers, distributors, one-stop operators, and local and national record company executives. Billboard's comprehensive survey showed the station over-all leading the singles market with a hefty 63 per cent of the votes; last year, the station had only 49 per cent of the votes, though it still led the market, because of stronger competition from KEWB."
This short sample of Johnny Holliday in morning drive at KYA was recorded during his last year in Top 40. Note the excellent PAMS jingles and the upcoming "Folk and Rock Festival", featuring some of the greatest rock 'n' roll legends of all time.

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Additional Exhibits in The Johnny Holliday Collection...

Johnny Holliday, KYA San Francisco, October 21, 1967
Johnny Holliday, Top 30 of 1967, KYA San Francisco, December 9, 1967

The Johnny Holliday Collection was established July 18, 1999.
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