The Hits Just Keep on Coming

This lively book peels back the many layers of the Top 40 phenomenon: the DJs, fans, singles, jingles, dedications, contests, requests - all the lightning-fast "platter chatter," to quote the inimitable Wolfman Jack. Some of Top 40's most colorful DJs (also known as "cooler rulers") rant and rave about pioneering radio history's greatest format. "Fifth Beatle" Murray the K, "the Real" Don Steele, Chuck Blore, Robert W. Morgan, B. Mitch Reed, Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, Joe "Rockin' Bird" Niagara, and many others tell their exciting stories. A special chapter highlights the notorious Alan Freed, who coined the term "rock and roll" but was soon destroyed by practising pay-for-play and the subsequent congressional payola hearings of 1959. The book includes an exclusive CD with "airchecks" - rare recordings from actual Top 40 broadcasts - so that readers can hear the crazed, creative, and compelling voices that made Top 40 so memorable. Airchecks include DJs Gary Owens, Joey Reynolds, Bobby Dale, Casey Kasem, Bobby Ocean, and many more.