For those that grew up during the 50's and 60's, there was that one daily TV dose of Rock and Roll, Dick Clark's American Bandstand but, for a lucky group of people in a market with a competing station, there was The Lloyd Thaxton Show.
Lloyd Thaxton passed away on Sunday at his home in Studio City, California at the age of 81. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma.
Thaxton's broadcast career started in 1950 at WSPD in Toledo, Ohio and, in 1957, he made the move to the west coast to KHJ-TV in Los Angeles. In 1958 he moved to KCOP where he did comercials and announced for The June Levant Show (wife of Oscar Levant).
In 1959, Thaxton became the host of Lloyd Thaxton's Record Shop, a daily chatfest that attracted big names from the area but tended towards more middle-of-the-road music. It wasn't until two years later, when The Lloyd Thaxton Show debuted on KCOP, that he started to bring in the young crowds. Much like American Bandstand, the show featured the latest records with area teens dancing and occassional guests.
Thaxton also tried to inject something more into his shows, often donning different outfits while lipsyncing to the songs, playing various instruments or cutting out the mouths and album covers and "singing" the record through the cover.
The show became so popular locally that it regularly beat the competing newscasts and, in 1964, it went national via syndication and became one of the highest rated music programs in the country for the next eight years. It also drew some of the biggest names of the day, including breaking the color barrier with an appearance by James Brown. When channels pulled the episode, Thaxton didn't back down, instead cancelling their syndication agreement.
Thaxton also was the co-founder of Tiger Beat magazine, which was originally called Lloyd Thaxton's Tiger Beat.
After the show left the air, Thaxton went on to not only host a number of network game shows, but to work behind the scenes as a producer and director. He received five Emmys for the program Fight Back! With David Horowitz and produced over 200 segments for the Today show.
SOURCE: http://winkscollectibles.blogspot.com
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