The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio [Hardcover]

Ben Fong-Torres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1998

Buzzing with behind-the-scenes stories, this blast from the past peels back the layers of the Top 40 phenomenon: the DJs, fans, singles, jingles, dedications, contests, requests -- all the music and lightning-fast "platter chatter that matters". Some of Top 40's most colorful personalities tell their crazy tales of pioneering the format: the inimitable Wolfman Jack, "Fifth Beatle" Murray the K, "the Real" Don Steele, Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, the notorious Alan Freed, and many more.

This lively book reads like Top 40 radio itself: it's fast and fun with not a second of dead air. The CD of "airchecks" -- rare recordings from actual Top 40 broadcasts -- brings back to life the voices that helped make the genre so compelling.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A reminder of how good radio used to be, and a heck of a good read." -- Seattle Times, December 6, 1998

"Ben Fong-Torres, of Rolling Stone magazine and Gavin Report fame, has managed to capture the essence of the golden age of Top 40 radio, a phenomenon that, as Ben points out, 'has gone through 45 revolutions per minute for 45 years.' It's a fast-paced book, just like the format, rich in historical detail and anecdotes about how the Top 40 format has managed to 'stay forever young.'...You feel like you're in direct contact with the way many of Top 40's philosophical roots were formed (and why they've spilled over into other formats today.)" -- Programmer's Digest, December 1998

"Perfect for those interested in radio, rock 'n' roll, and good times." -- The Citizens' Voice, December 12, 1998

"Tops the charts as one of the most user-friendly and colorful accounts....Recommended for anyone interested in the history of radio, this is certainly an excellent supplementary volume for courses focusing on broadcast programming and its role in culture." -- Communication Booknotes Quarterly, Spring 1999

"You'll listen to radio with new ears and new appreciation when you're done with this one." -- "Cosmik Debris" webzine, February 1999

About the Author

Ben Fong-Torres, perhaps best-known as a former award-winning reporter and editor at Rolling Stone, was a DJ on the acclaimed rock station KSAN for nine years. He also wrote and narrated a syndicated radio special, "San Francisco: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been," which won a Billboard Award for Broadcast Excellence. Former managing editor of Gavin - the first publication to chart Top 40 hits for radio - Fong-Torres has written for dozens of magazines including Esquire and GQ. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books; 1St Edition edition (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879305479
• ISBN-13: 978-0879305475
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,399,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is still a hit, June 29, 2002

By 

Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio (Paperback)

Ben Fong Torres' love and admiration for the early days of Top 40 radio shows through in this book. He has crafted a wonderful history of how Top 40 began, features on numerous radio personalities (among them Tom Donahue, B Mitch Reed, Robert W Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Alan Freed, Dick Biondi, the list goes on and on). And the CD included with the book featuring airchecks of some of these amazing personalities is wild. Hearing DJ's like Gary Owens, B Mitch Reed, Casey Kasem or Tom Donahue in their early days is a hoot.

If the book has a West Coast slant on personalities, perhaps that's only because Torres grew up in the Bay Area. However, he does not give short shrift to anyone. He also goes into great detail about the people who helped create this format: Chuck Blore of "Color Radio" fame, Bill Drake and Ron Jacobs of "Boss Radio" fame, Gordon McLendon and Tod Storz, among others. It's ironic in a way that Torres' claim to fame came later as first a journalist for Rolling Stone and as a DJ on KSAN in San Francisco (one of those "underground" FM stations that loved to poke fun at the Top 40 stations).

The book traces the beginnings, development, and "growing pains" of this format. How at one time it was hip, then became "square" when the underground FM stations hit the airwaves, and how it now seems to have emerged again. And funny how the underground stations developed as a kind of "antidote" to very restrictive Top 40 formats, just as the Top 40 stations developed as something different to the standard fare of that time.

Amazing stories abound in this book, and being an ex DJ myself I could relate to them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I agree with another reviewer that this book is must reading for any past or present DJ, or any student of the media.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Chronicle Of The Top 40 Era on Radio, November 27, 1999

By 

H. Duane Wadsworth (Atherton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio (Hardcover)

As an alumnus of a McLendon station, KELP, El Paso, Ben's book brought back the memories of decades past. Seriously researched and accurate, this is THE book of what TOP 40 was, who invented it, why it was a huge success and what happened to the stations and people who were involved. A "must read" for anyone who ever worked in radio or has an interest in the media. Also, it's great fun!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, accurate and interesting., April 24, 1999

By 

Lee Abrams (Vienna, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio (Hardcover)

A great look back at the roots of contemporary radio. Well written and very authentic. Fun reading for anyone who loved 50's and 60's radio. Unlike alot of radio books that whine about commerciality or become absorbed in technical data, this book never travels far from the magic of Top 40. I think Ben Fong-Torres under stated a few stations, but that's a characteristic of Top 40.....whatever YOU listened to was the best.