Aircheck: The Story of Top 40 Radio in San Diego [Paperback]

David Leonard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2004

The story of radio stations KCBQ, KGB, KDEO, and XEAK as the Top 40 format prevailed over AM radio from 1955-1982. Aircheck offers a general history of San Diego radio stations, detailed histories of the four key Top 40 stations, short biographies and photos of each DJ, images of studios, weekly surveys, memorabilia, coverage charts, a glossary of terms, and a full name index. Aircheck deftly covers the degree of competition that occured between stations and among staff to retain top ratings.Limited to 1000 copies

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...the whole story; beginning, middle, and end of Top 40's radio heyday in America's finest city..." --Rich Brother Robbin, 2004

I don't believe the history of San Diego radio has been chronicled before like this...it's absolutely fascinating." --Gene Knight, 2004

"It has taken years to track down some of these personalities... My hat's off to David Leonard..." --'Shotgun Tom' Kelly

From the Author

This is a story as told to the author by the participants, who were asked to recall events that had occurred 30 to 50 years prior. Most did with amazing clarity and conviction. The San Diego radio market was an extremely competitive environment during the AM Top 40 era and some of that competitive spirit lives on today.

This began as a personal interest project by an industry 'outsider'. As my notes grew in volume, personal stories began to emerge that would challenge the imaginations of the best Holywood script writers. Only this was not fiction.

It was the imaginations of local radio people who sped up the music to make the competition sound slow and 'draggy'; or one station planting complaint letters with their competition then verifying with the FCC that they were on the public record; or using fake ratings diaries in a contest (and actually getting real ones); or late night trash bin troving for programming information to keep an upper hand. Ahh, the good ole days of radio. But in front of it all was the music.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: David Leonard (March 25, 2004)
• ISBN-10: 0971025150
• ISBN-13: 978-0971025158
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,524,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)