John Sanford Gilliland, Jr. (October 18, 1935 – July 27, 1998) spoke on the radio. He made the Pop Chronicles music documentary, which told the story of popular music in America. He was an original member of The Credibility Gap comedy group. He was born and died in Quanah, Texas. He worked for radio stations in Texas and California including KOGO in San Diego (1961–1965), KRLA 1110 in Los Angeles (1965–1970), and KSFO (AM) in San Francisco (1971–1978).
Gilliland worked on his radio documentary, The Pop Chronicles, for over two years.[1] He interviewed many famous musicians.[2] Then it was first broadcast in 1969.[1] It covered popular music of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1969, KRLA and many other radio stations broadcast this show.[3][4] This show can now be heard online.[5][6]
At KSFO in San Francisco, he also produced and broadcast, beginning in 1972,[3]The Pop Chronicles 40’s. This show is about the popular music of the 1940s.[7][8]
He edited and in 1994 published Pop Chronicles: the 40's as a four-cassette audiobook.[9][10] This book was also called The Big Band Chronicles.[11][12] When he was retired, he still worked for KREB in Houston and KXIC in Quanah. He died in 1998. In 2003, Gilliland's sister donated the Pop Chronicles tapes to the University of North Texas Music Library. They form The John Gilliland Collection.[13][14]
↑Gilliland, John (1997). "On Chronicling Pop". In Barrett, Don (ed.). Los Angeles radio people: Volume 2, 1957-1997. Valencia, CA: Db Marketing. ISBN978-0-9658907-0-0. OCLC38994418. (The pages in this book are not numbered, but Gilliland's essay is located between the E and F entries.)