Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll Music – Ghost Rider Has Seen It All!

‘Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll Music – Ghost Rider Has Seen It All!’

By John Weeks – 9 November, 2025

“From the Dawn of the 50s, and to the Twilight of the 60s” – that is the description of the music format of the radio show, The Golden Age of Rock’n’Roll, broadcast on 3MDR 97.1FM. The Ghost Rider celebrates the 20th Anniversary of his radio show. He remembers the exact date of the first show – 29 October 2005!

During the 1950s and 1960s, commercial radio stations in Australia, such as 3UZ, 3DB, 3XY and many others in Melbourne,  predominantly played American and British pop and rock ‘n’ roll hits, alongside a smaller but growing amount of local Australian content. The playlist was heavily influenced by international charts, especially from the US (Billboard) and UK (NME, Melody Maker).  The Ghost Rider saw this situation exciting to his listening ear, and sometimes a little frustrating because he knew that there was so much more music, in many styles, that needed to be heard and exposed to the listening public. 

Nevertheless, Ghost Rider took an extreme interest in the music charts, eg Top 40 Music Charts, that were published in newspapers, magazines, and distributed in record shops. Top 40 music charts were extremely important—arguably the central mechanism for discovering, promoting, and measuring the popularity of pop and rock music. They were not just lists; they shaped youth culture, drove record sales, influenced radio playlists, and launched international and local artists into stardom. Ghost Rider saw it all! To date, GR has been able to collect all songs that were listed on the Melbourne Top 40 Charts, covering the periods from 1956 to 1979, and from 1980 to 1999.

Over the 50+ years, Ghost Rider, built up a huge vinyl (albums, singles) and CD collection, reflecting his own musical tastes of rock and pop music from the 50s leading up to the 1990s. He has amassed over 16,000 items. 

In 2005, a collector who saw Ghost Rider’s collection, queried if this great music has been featured on radio with the Ghost Rider himself being a host of a radio show. It hadn’t, but it was a germ of an idea for GR to consider for the future. Through a good contact from this collector, GR was able to approach the management of 3MDR with a proposal to host a radio show titled The Golden Age of Rock’n’Roll. The proposal was accepted almost instantly.

The Ghost Rider regards the 1950s-1960s as an era described, in his own opinion, as the ‘golden age of Rock & Roll’, where the Top 40 Charts represented a wide range of musical styles such as Rock & Roll, Pop, Rock, R & B, Rockabilly, Soul, Country, Cajun, Jazz, Blues, Garage, Punk, Psychedelic, Folk, Ballads, Calypso, Skiffle, Instrumental, Novelty and Parody. This cross-section of music styles, and artists, known and unknown, GR loves to share on his radio show. And it is a great joy for him to pass on pertinent information of who these artists are, and the impact of the music that was featured at the time of the music release.

In recent years, Ghost Rider has extended his exposure of his music collection to the public by playing music to the residents of a nearby the Menarock Life Aged Care centre, on Tuesdays and Thurdays. He takes requests for the following week’s presentation of music. GR has noticed a lot of ‘toe tapping’ and ‘finger snapping’ each week from the residents.

The Golden Age of Rock n Roll is featured on 3MDR 97.1 FM each Monday afternoon 1pm-3pm. Requests are taken from the public, and weekly text messages are greatly appreciated. Relive your musical memories from the Fantastic Fifties and the Swinging Sixties safe in the knowledge that Rock & Roll is here to stay!

When asked how long will he host the Golden Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll radio show. His reply: “As long as I am able!”

From the lyrics of the old Chuck Berry song ‘Rock and Roll Music’ – “Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music. Any old way you choose it…” … The Ghost Rider is living the dream!