The majority of the film is about CKLW during during the radio station's most popular years from about 1965 through 1978. "The Big 8" refers to the station being on AM 800. Based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, the majority of listeners were in the Detroit metro area. CKLW became THE station in the mid-Sixties after adapting a format created by Bill Drake which emphasised playing more music, with less banter from the disc jockeys. One of the more interesting stories within the film is about Rosalie Trombley, a part-time secretary who rose to become a music director of such acute taste that other radio stations would follow her lead. Ms. Trombley was reportedly immune to payola, unless you want to count being treated to lunch by The Guess Who. As a show of unquestionable integrity, CKLW was the only station not to play Bob Seger's song about Trombley, "Rosalie". The other interesting story is about the news unit, which had an exceptionally large staff of twenty-four, covering Windsor and Detroit. The delivery of the news was formatted into a hyper style to integrate it as a piece with the music and on-air personalities. There was emphasis on alliteration and colloquial verbage, including one reporter's appeal for news tips, be they "birdbaths or bloodbaths".

The station's popularity declined due to a government mandate to play at least 30% Canadian music. Even without the sales of the station to Canadian owners and changes in the playlist, it is still pretty likely that CKLW would have joined other AM stations with the all-talk format. Still, it is entertaining to watch a parade of talking heads that includes Alice Cooper, Wayne Kramer, and Tony Orlando. Most of the extras are padded versions of scenes in the film, though there is one funny deleted scene involving Rufus Thomas and his song and dance, The Funky Chicken.

Based on the clips from their other films, Radio Revolution is one of several idiosyncratic documentaries from Markam Street Films.