ORLAND – The new year is often a time of reflection, of looking back on the year just completed.

Amid this meditation is often a consideration of those who have passed, and the contributions they made during their lifetimes.

Dennis Blackledge, director of production for the National Council for the Traditional Arts based in Washington, D.C., has been undertaking just such a task for the past several years. That has led, indirectly, to “Rock & Roll Heaven,” a two-hour special which will air at 6-8 tonight on community radio station WERU (89.9, 102.9 FM).

“A few years back, I began noticing how many contributors to rock ‘n’ roll history were passing away, and I began cataloging obituaries,” recalled Blackledge, speaking by phone from Richmond, Va., where he is preparing for next year’s National Folk Festival. “Then I thought there’s got to be a way to get this out to a wider audience.”

Through his job, which brought him to Bangor over the last three years, Blackledge had become acquainted with WERU and became friends with Matt Murphy, the station’s general manager. Murphy thought the idea was a natural fit for his station.

“We have a great musical diversity here, especially featuring the unsung heroes who aren’t getting played on commercial radio,” he explained. “Also the great history of rock and its contributing genres are played here at the station. Plus, I was involved with Dennis through the Folk Festival, and I thought his offer to get involved could not be refused.”

This is the second edition of “Rock & Roll Heaven.” The first version took until last fall to complete, airing then and generating a positive response, Murphy said.

The concept is simple: 24 people who have made significant contributions to rock ‘n’ roll are inducted into each year’s class of “Rock & Roll Heaven.” (Appropriately, Bobby Hatfield, one of the Righteous Brothers who recorded the song “Rock & Roll Heaven,” was inducted in last year’s class.)

“We take a very broad approach to what rock ‘n’ roll is,” Blackledge said. “I am drawn to unsung heroes, but I try to select without prejudice, to be evenhanded. I put everyone on equal footing. Like all lists, induction into ‘Rock & Roll Heaven’ is subjective, and no eternal slight is intended.”

So that means this year’s class features such well-known performers as Ray Charles, Rick James and Johnny Ramone. But also on the list are guitar-string inventor Ernie Ball, swing fiddler Claude Williams and Nashville session drummer Kenny Buttrey. Narrator Blackledge gives a short biography on each, followed by a sample of the music with which he or she was involved.

Blackledge serves as arbiter and voice talent, while Murphy provides production and marketing skills for the project. It has been a learning experience for both. “Rock & Roll Heaven” is Blackledge’s first radio program, while Murphy gets to discover some of the contributors to rock ‘n’ roll that have been lost in history.

The pair plans to offer the program for free to other community radio stations, posting it on a pair of Internet list servers that are used by such stations. Eventually, they would like to get some underwriting, to improve the show’s production quality.

“No one is doing this to get rich,” Blackledge said. “We just want to get this out to as many people as possible.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.