by Neumann Sennheiser » Sun Apr 25, 2010 10:10 am
Another fascinating publication (and extremely hard to find) is Starship Radio 73 put out in that year by the people behind the Bob Hamilton radio report.
In 1972, they sent out a questionnaire to hundreds of radio stations in nearly every market size in the United States asking for as much detailed information as possible from each broadcaster polled including station talent lineups (along with each individual's bio), format and technical information, market facts, pictures, etc.
Hamilton received a lot of response and the next year published it in a soft-cover book format. Also included were weekly top 20 lists and industry/world news synopses, features on the recording and music distribution business of the time, lists of promotions, contests and other bits that stations were doing across the country, informational articles on things like the FCC and Arbitron, and feature pieces on individual stations.
It was planned (hoped) to release the guide every year and even develop a second publication for Canada.
This never happened of course, for two main reasons; the work put into the first was so herculean that no one could imagine keeping it up for even a second edition, never mind year after year, and secondly; due to the very transient nature of the business, the information was already largely out of date by the time of publication.
I do have a copy of the 1973 book, very beat up, broken, duct taped and with a few pages missing but it's historical value makes for absolutely fascinating reading.
I've never seen a copy of the book for sale anywhere and I've only ever seen one other in existence, however, as free copies were sent out to many stations in both the US and Canada (those subscribing to the weekly Hamilton Radio Report) I'm betting there must be a few copies still out there, likely stored away in a box in some dark cabinet in the basement of some radio station behind a locked door with a sign reading "Caution, Beware of the Leopard!"
"You don't know man! I was in radio man! I've seen things you wouldn't believe!"