RETRO FRIDAY: “WHEN JESUS WAS A HIPPIE”

Just Say Yo

Before Jesus became a Republican, he was One Toke Over the Line, so to speak. Before He rolled away the stones, Jesus was just another Doobie Brother, singing Jesus Is Just Alright By Me.

Jesus was a big hit in the popular culture.  Jesus Christ Superstar brought in an incredible amount of money. Meanwhile, students performed the soundtrack of Godspell.

I know this stuff because I played these songs on the radio back in the late 1960s. On time; when I was on the air, I played O Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers followed by Steppenwolf’s Born to Be Wild.

The station (KISD-AM, Sioux Falls, SD) was a hit Top 40 rock station. The FCC at the time required that stations like KISD air a minimum of an hour a week of “religious programming.”

Religious programming at KISD meant the syndicated weekly show Silhouette, hosted by John Rydgren. 

Rydren played the Top 40 hits of the day interspersed with conversations recorded in coffee houses. 

He produced and voiced short audio essays.  His style was  in the vein of Rod McKuen.

Rydgren was an ordained Lutheran minister working in the communications department for the American Lutheran church. There he created Silhouette. It fit right into the Top 40 music format and satisfied FCC minimum program requirements.

Silhouette was heard on 650 Top 40 stations by 1969. 

That was also the year Rydgren moved to New York in 1969 to become the voice of ABC’s new national FM Format: Love. When Love tanked he moved the LA.

Rydgren worked on-air at KROQ, KMET, KRLA and KOST. But he was best known for his work on KRTH “K-Earth.” 

In 1982, he suffered a debilitating stroke while on the air. With therapy he recovered and and began taping commercials in 1985. The following year joined K-Earth, where he worked until his death in 1988.

Today we are featuring one of Rydren’s most powerful audio essays Grooving on a Saturday Night in Vietnam. We added the video from an online archive. Here it is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=126&v=UbUGFKfneGc