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[IRCA] Heard it on the X
I just finished a most enjoyable new book about Doc Brinkley -- quack
extraordinaire, radio pioneer (KFKB - Kansas First, Kansas Best), father of
the border blasters (XER > XERA > XERF), and de facto serial killer (his
sham surgeries to implant goat gonads & ovaries in gullible hicks &
hickettes killed hundreds). The book is "Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous
Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam" by Pope Brock,
Crown Publishers, FEB 2008, 336 pages.
It's not a book about radio per se, but about Brinkley's whole shameful
career. But that career heavily involved radio, so there is plenty of
interesting radio stuff for us DXers who remember the '60s when Wolfman Jack
howled over the 250 kW on 1570 (muted a bit from 500 kW input / 1 megawatt
ERP in earlier days). He was a true trailblazer in broadcasting country
music & advertising. Some U.S. communication laws were rewritten
specifically b/c of his outrageous behavior. Fittingly, the book ends with
the lyrics to ZZ Top's '70s hit song. The writer has done his research well,
and he is a very funny, entertaining storyteller. I highly recommend
"Charlatan" - tell your other you'd like it for your birthday!
Fred Schroyer
Freelance Science Writer / Editorial Consultant
Waynesburg, PA 15370
(40 air mis S of Pittsburgh - 20 air mis N of Morgantown, WV)
freditor@xxxxxxxxxx
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