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When Queen Owned Rock Around The World
Long before “Bohemian Rhapsody” made Queen a household name in America, the band was already a fixture on Rock Around The World — appearing on the syndicated radio show an astonishing seven times between 1975 and 1977, and even landing their own dedicated issue of the RATW newspaper.
The Rainbow Theatre Concert
Queen’s first appearance on RATW came early, on Show #22, broadcast January 5, 1975, featuring a live concert recording from London’s famous Rainbow Theatre — shared that week with Roxy Music. For American listeners tuning in coast-to-coast, this was a rare chance to hear Queen’s explosive live sound months before the band would break through commercially in the U.S.
A Breakout Year
By the fall of 1975, Queen was everywhere on RATW. Show #56 (August 31, 1975) brought another full live concert, this time paired with Be Bop Deluxe and Sweet — right in the middle of the A Night at the Opera era that would soon make Queen superstars. The band also turned up as part of a mixed lineup on Show #46 that June, sharing airtime with Desmond Dekker, Sweet, and Kevin Coyne.
The Exclusive Interview Era
As Queen’s fame grew, so did RATW’s access. Show #132 (February 13, 1977) was billed simply as “Queen: An Exclusive Interview & Music” — no shared bill, just Queen. Less than a year later, Show #176 (December 18, 1977) went even further, delivering a full interview with Freddie Mercury himself, recorded live from London.
The Queen Issue
Queen’s connection to RATW wasn’t limited to the airwaves. The band was significant enough to earn its own dedicated issue of the RATW newspaper — a full 32-page issue built entirely around Queen, distributed to the show’s readership of tens of thousands across the country. That issue’s scanned pages are preserved today in the RATW Newspaper Archive, part of the ongoing project to digitize and catalog all 19 issues of the original publication.
Queen also turned up in the pages of other issues — a mention in the Hot Happenin’s column alongside The Doors and the Rolling Stones, and advertisements promoting the band’s music in issues built around Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder covers.
Explore the Full Archive
Every Queen appearance referenced here — radio shows, interviews, and newspaper coverage — is fully cataloged and cross-linked in the Rock Around The World Artist Archive, where you can browse the complete list of shows, read newspaper mentions, and see scanned pages from the original 1970s publication.
Shop official Rock Around The World merchandise at the RATW Store, or explore more of the archive at rockaroundtheworld.com.
Rock Around The World aired weekly on more than 160 radio stations coast-to-coast from 1974 to 1980, pairing syndicated radio programming with a companion print newspaper — one of the earliest examples of cross-media rock journalism in America.
