 Matt Pinfield with the Flashback logo | |
| Genre | Classic rock, Retrospective |
|---|---|
| Running time | Approx. 4 hrs. (including commercials) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Syndicates | Westwood One |
| Hosted by | Matt Pinfield (2012-present) Bill St. James (1986-2012) |
| Created by | Dan Formento and Bill St. James |
| Produced by | Kevin Horton |
| Original release | 1986 – present |
| Website | www.benztown.com/flashback/ |
Flashback is an American radio show syndicated by Westwood One. Flashback plays a diverse mix of classic rock from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Other show elements include newscasts, classic TV and movie clips, commercials and comedy bits to create thematic segments from the 1960s into the 1990s. The four-hour program is syndicated to over 200 radio affiliates in the United States and Canada.
Flashback was originally hosted by voiceover artist Bill St. James. In early January 2012 it was announced that St. James had "stepped aside" and would be replaced by then-120 Minutes host Matt Pinfield.[1] St. James hosted his final edition of Flashback the weekend of January 14 & 15, 2012 and a week later on January 21 & 22, 2012, Pinfield assumed hosting duties. During the St. James tenure the show did not utilize guest hosts. In the Pinfield tenure, the year 2017 saw six shows guest hosted by San Francisco radio personality Steven Seaweed.
Two months after departing Flashback, original host Bill St. James began hosting a similar show for the United Stations Radio Networks called Time Warp with Bill St. James. The show follows a near identical format to Flashback, presenting four hours of classic rock music mixed with other sound clips from the time period. There are a few differences in the shows. The Flashback News segment that kicks off the last hour of the show is referred to as What Happened This Week on Time Warp. Additionally, whereas the Pinfield era of Flashback has begun to introduce early '90s music and themes, Time Warp with Bill St. James has not.
As of 2023, Pinfield's Flashback continued to produce new material for each week's first and fourth hours while utilizing reruns for the second and third. As of March 2017, Time Warp with Bill St. James stopped producing new shows and follows a four-year cycle, re-airing programs aired four (and eight) years earlier, albeit with three or four song substitutions per playlist. (example: the show airing the first weekend of November 2023 was the show that aired the first weekend of November 2019 and the first weekend of November 2015)