Back to school with Adam Reader, “The Professor of Rock”
Linda Larsen
Blackfoot, ID (KIFI) — The hallways of Snake River High School have seen thousands of students come and go, but few return with a title quite like “Professor.”
Adam Reader isn’t an academic in the traditional sense, but to millions of music fans worldwide, he is the Professor of Rock. Recently, the Professor walked back through the familiar doors of his alma mater to reflect on a journey that didn’t begin in a high-tech recording studio, but in the front seat of his father’s pickup truck.
You can watch our full interview with Adam below:
A Connection Forged in Vinyl
Adam has been passionate about music for as long as he can remember. He reminisced about the times he and his late father Steve Reader would drive around Blackfoot and talk about music.
“We butted heads. We didn’t see eye to eye on many things,” Adam admitted. “But music and baseball, we did. He would quiz me on songs and say, ‘All right, for $100 or for a pop, (or) I’ll buy you a pop if you can name this song, or what year this came out?’ And we started doing these types of things with the oldies stations that were playing these one hit wonders. And I started getting them every time.”
Those drives became a masterclass in storytelling. As the oldies station played one-hit wonders, Adam’s father would share the memories he had attached to the melodies. “What I love most is that he would tell me the stories of his life connected to the song,” Adam said. “That connected me to him.”
The “Useless Information” That Built a Following
Not everyone saw the value in Adam’s obsession early on. He recalls being scolded in class for hiding Rolling Stone magazines inside his textbooks.
“The teacher would call me out in calss and say, ‘This is Adam Reader, the king of useless information. He’ll never use it in his life,’” Adam laughed. Today, he uses that “useless” information every day to fuel a YouTube channel with over 1.5 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views.
As a teen, Adam spent his weeks transcribing Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 countdown, memorizing every chart-topper. He says it became his window to the world. This dedication eventually led him to interview over 800 musical icons, from Journey and Toto to the Beach Boys—the latter of whom actually gave him his “Professor” moniker.
“They said, You know more about us than we do, you’re like a professor of rock, if there were such a thing,” he recalled.
Meeting a Beatle and Staying Grounded
Despite his massive success, Adam remains a “fan first.” His interviews are built around his personal interactions with the songs he loves, remembering all the moments of our lives tied to the tune of each song.
Even after meeting Ringo Starr—an experience he joked could have been his retirement moment—Adam remains focused on the “checkpoints of our personal histories.”
“I met Ringo, and he gave me a pair of drumsticks. When he said, ‘Adam, Professor of Rock,’ I thought, ‘Okay, I’m done. I can retire now. I’ve met a Beatle,” Adam said. But the mission was far from over.
The Hall of Fame
Today, Adam’s portrait hangs in the Snake River High School Library’s Hall of Fame. While he has won numerous prestigious awards, he says this local recognition means the most to him.
“It means so much to me that the community would recognize me,” Adam said while standing in the school library. “No matter where we go, there’s always that same small town in each of us where we came from, our roots.”
Adam’s success proves that people still crave depth. By returning to his roots at Snake River High School, he’s reminded us that you don’t need a Hollywood zip code to change the cultural conversation. You just need a passion for the truth and perhaps a few good records borrowed from your dad.
From the halls of Snake River High School to international fame, the professor’s mission remains clear, making sure the soundtrack of our lives is never forgotten.
“Music is the common denominator,” he concluded. “It’s the great uniter. No matter what hardships we go through, there’s always music to help us through.”
You can follow Adam Reader on his YouTube channel, Professor of Rock.