Radio's Morning Show Personalities: Early Hour Broadcasters and Deejays from the 1920s to the 1990s [Paperback]

Philip A. Lieberman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0786440600 | ISBN-13: 978-0786440603

Lengthy biographies are provided for 28 of the most prominent trendsetting morning men, including Gene Rayburn, "Buffalo" Bob Smith, Wolfman Jack, Don Imus, and Howard Stern. The focus is on their careers and their contributions to radio. These are followed by brief concise biographies of over 200 lesser known morning personalities.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This compilation by a city planner provides information on more than 30 early-morning broadcasters and deejays from the 1920s to the 1990s who contributed significantly to this uniquely American radio phenomenon. The arrangement for this portion of the volume is chronological: the early period, with stars like Bob and Ray (Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding) and Arthur Godfrey; the golden era, when both recorded music and the personality playing it were important (e.g., Jack Sterling of WCBS, New York; "Buffalo" Bob Smith, creator of the Howdy Doody Show); the "Top 40" era when stations played the leading hit records (Wolfman Jack; Wally Phillips, with a Chicago audience of more than one million), and the "Post-Top 40" era (Don Imus and Howard Stern). The profiles of most stars in these sections of the book include a photo.

A final section provides in alphabetical order very concise information (often only two or three lines) on approximately 1,000 additional morning broadcasters from early radio days to the present, usually indicating the station, city, hours, years, and the broadcaster's role (e.g., "Santella, Jim: Could be found in Buffalo during the late 1970s playing album rock from 6:00 to 10:00 AM on WGRQ." ). A brief bibliography cites newspaper and periodical articles as well as commercially and privately published monographs. The index, with a few see references, includes show titles, names of broadcasters, cities, call letters, program features ("Dear Abby," "Arnold Palmer Golf Tips" ), and recording artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Nat "King" Cole, Sinatra, and Streisand.

Radio's Morning Show Personalities will be useful in public and academic libraries for both reference and browsing. Radio buffs will surely welcome this compilation. --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Review

Phillip A. Lieberman is the senior planner with the City Planning and Development Department, Sarasota, Florida. --Booklist/RBB.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: McFarland (May 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786440600
• ISBN-13: 978-0786440603
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,810,028 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For Radio History Buffs Only!, April 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Radio's Morning Show Personalities: Early Hour Broadcasters and Deejays from the 1920s to the 1990s (Library Binding)

Having spent more than 25 years in radio, a good portion of it behind the microphone, I was sorely disappointed by Mr. Lieberman's book. An Englishman, Mr. Lieberman has no experience in radio, other than as a listener. That hardly provides the qualities needed to provide indepth, insightful observation to the mania in the mornings practiced by radio stations all across the country.

The taut one line to short paragraph descriptions fail to do justice to the men and women who "cranked up the sun and kicked the rooster" for radio listeners each morning.

Perhaps the most grievious of errors is the fact that West Coast personalities get the short shrift in Mr. Lieberman's book.

Unless you're a die hard radio history book collector or someone who doesn't mind throwing away $30 on this book, I'd recommend that your money is better spend on other books covering the subject.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference, November 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Radio's Morning Show Personalities: Early Hour Broadcasters and Deejays from the 1920s to the 1990s (Library Binding)

I disagree with the other previous review. This book does a great job of covering the wealth of radio air personalities from the 1920's to the 1990's. More well known broadcasters get more in-depth analysis. Overall, this is a wonderful reference work and a must have for any serious radio history enthusiast.