From 1982 to 2017, he was host of a national Saturday night call-in request show — the original version of Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits from 1991 to 2017 — that aired live (until 2009, after which the program was pre-recorded); that program, along with the Classic Countdown, was combined into the new Classic Hits show.
[3] Both Classic Countdown and Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits were syndicated through United Stations, and beforehand Westwood One (1982–1991) and ABC Radio Networks (1991–2009).
Bartley[5] got his start at age 17[6] playing "Bad Moon Rising"[7][8] on radio station WWOD in Lynchburg, Virginia.
[9] WWOD, which hadn't been used for years, was finally razed and is now covered with grass on Mimosa Drive in Lynchburg.
Much in the same way the oldies and classic hits formats in general have done, his previous programs gradually shifted in their focus since their debuts; for instance, Rock & Roll's Greatest Hits, when it debuted in 1982 as "Solid Gold Saturday Night", had a playlist composed of titles almost entirely from the late 1950s through the late 1960s, mirroring the oldies format at the time.