Broadcast museum to turn on ‘Stay Tuned: Rock on TV’

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Stay Tuned: Rock on TV

A major multimedia exhibit on the historic connections between rock music and television in America is coming this fall to Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Created in 2018 by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, “Stay Tuned: Rock on TV” will open October 18 for a six-month run at the museum, 360 North State Street. Chicago is the first stop on the exhibit’s nationwide tour.

Featuring archival footage, original artifacts and new interviews, the exhibit shows and tells “how TV launched rock’s iconic stars, brought them into our homes, kept them in the spotlight and connected them to us with music and visual imagery,” according to a museum announcement Tuesday.

Among artifacts displayed are original stage designs from the Beatles’ appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," outfits worn by Sonny and Cher on their TV series, CeeLo Green’s jacket worn on "The Voice," and original animation cels from A-ha’s “Take on Me” music video.

Narrators include Mike Myers, Martha Quinn, Kelly Clarkson, Micky Dolenz, Kevin Eubanks, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Shaffer and Darlene Love.

Museum of Broadcast Communications

"When four young British musicians made their debut on CBS’ ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ in February 1964, it detonated a pop-culture explosion on television that continues to reverberate to this day,” David Plier, chairman of the Museum of Broadcast Communications, said in a statement.

"From the Rockabilly era, to the British Invasion, all the way to the formation of MTV, you cannot overestimate the impact television has had on the evolution of rock and roll. This phenomenal exhibit tells that story and brings it all together.”

The exhibit follows “Louder Than Words: Rock, Power & Politics,” also curated by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which runs through August 25 at the museum.

“As we continue to transform the MBC, we welcome ‘Stay Tuned: Rock on TV,’ another world-class exhibit from our partners at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” said Justin Kulovsek, vice president of innovation and project lead at the museum.