Rickey Floyd "Rick" Carroll (September 15, 1946 – July 10, 1989) was a program director (PD) for influential radio station

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronou ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, where he introduced the "ROQ of the Eighties" format. The format was synonymous with KROQ-FM and eventually developed into the

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

format. Carroll spread this format to a number of radio markets across the United States either directly, as a radio consultant during the 1980s, or indirectly as stations adopted the KROQ-FM sound.

Biography

Born in

Contra Costa County, California ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...

, Rick Carroll began his radio career as an intern at KPOP, Roseville / Sacramento, California, continuing at KERS while attending California State University-Sacramento. His professional career included stints as consultant or programming director for various California radio stations, including KKDJ and KEZY before moving to KROQ-FM in 1978. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, mainstream acts dominated rock radio via the

Album Oriented Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. Album-orient ...

(AOR) format, leaving little opportunity for most new artists. Carroll's approach was to play music from the emerging new wave,

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and related genres while retaining a

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

presentation style and Top 40 rotations. Noted for his ability to pick breakout hits, Carroll guided songs to prominence via the "Hot Clock," a pie chart prescribing the music to be played during each portion of a disc jockey's air shift. His system also included a "Jock's Choice" at the end of each hour of programming, during which a DJ could play any song of his or her own choosing. The Jock's Choice became a vehicle for new artists such as

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

and

Juluka Juluka was a South African music band formed in 1969 by Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu. means "sweat" in Zulu, and was the name of a bull owned by Mchunu. The band was closely associated with the mass movement against apartheid. History At th ...

to break into KROQ-FM's regular rotation. Starting in 1983, Carroll consulted other radio stations where he implemented the Rock of the Eighties format, including 91X (San Diego, CA), KYYX (Seattle, WA), KPOP Roseville / (Sacramento, CA),

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (A ...

(Boston, MA), WIFI (Philadelphia, PA),

KQAK KQAK is a commercial classic hits music radio station in Bend, Oregon, broadcasting on 105.7 FM. History of the KQAK call sign KQAK was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) call sign of a now defunct classic rock—and, more memorably, ...

(San Francisco, CA), WRQC (Cleveland, OH) and WYDD (Pittsburgh, PA) among many others. Carroll died of AIDS-related

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

on July 10, 1989. Rick was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in the "Legends of Rock Radio-Programming" category on 2014.

External links

''Rick Carroll: The Architect of Modern Rock''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Rick 1946 births 1989 deaths American radio executives American radio producers 20th-century American businesspeople