This is the inside story of network radio's greatest program -- Monitor. Born in 1955 out of inspiration and desperation, "Monitor" became a smash hit with audiences and advertisers. The NBC weekend extravaganza -- which started as a 40-hour long program -- featured big-name hosts such as Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs, Frank Blair, Frank McGee, Gene Rayburn, David Wayne, Ed McMahon, Henry Morgan, Mel Allen, Monty Hall, David Brinkley, Hal March, Barry Nelson, Jim Lowe, Joe Garagiola, Murray the K, Bill Cullen and many others. Broadcasting from mammoth NBC studios called "Radio Central," Monitor featured a continuous flow of news, sports, comedy, variety and live remotes from around the country and around the world. It also featured "Miss Monitor," who gave weather forecasts in a way no one had ever heard before.Monitor was the first network radio show designed for a mobile audience -- listeners could tune in wherever they were, at any time during the weekend, and hear something "new and different" every few minutes. For nearly 20 years, Monitor kept listeners in instantaneous touch with anything of interest or importance happening in the world. This is the fascinating Monitor story -- from its creation by legendary NBC programmer Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver Jr., to never-before told anecdotes about Monitor's hosts and featured players. New interviews with Monitor hosts and staff members provide an engrossing and entertaining look at The Last Great Radio Show.

The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio is an essential single-volume reference guide to this vital and evolving medium. Comprised of more than 300 entries spanning the invention of radio to the Internet, this refernce work addresses personalities, music genres, regulations, technology, programming and stations, the "golden age" of radio and other topics relating to radio broadcasting throughout its history. The entries are updated throughout and the volume includes nine new entries on topics ranging from podcasting to the decline of radio.

"Top 40" was the preeminent American radio format of the 1950s and 1960s. Although several radio station group owners offered their own versions of the format, the AM stations owned by Todd Storz and his father were acknowledged as the principal developers of Top 40 radio, and the prime movers in making it a nationwide ratings and revenue success. The Storz Stations in St. Louis, Omaha, New Orleans, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Miami are profiled in this book, as are various Storz air personalities and executives. A detailed chapter examines the unique "Storz Station sound," revealing the complexity of what detractors portrayed as a simplistic format. Another covers Storz advertising in radio trade magazines, which cemented the company's image as the format's most successful station group and Top 40 as the dominant programming of the day. There are extensive quotations from the memoirs of several of the founders of the format.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

For two decades starting in 1955, millions of Americans spent their weekends listening to an extraordinary radio program-NBC's Monitor. Running continuously from Saturday morning through Sunday night, Monitor featured big-name hosts like Dave Garroway, Hugh Downs, Gene Rayburn, Ed McMahon, Henry Morgan, Barry Nelson, Joe Garagiola, Bill Cullen, Jim Lowe and Murray the K-all broadcasting from mammoth studios called "Radio Central." Monitor spotlighted a galaxy of feature reporters such as Arlene Francis, Gene Shalit, Bob Considine and Mel Allen. Comedy came from Bob and Ray, Nichols and May and Ernie Kovacs-and "Miss Monitor" gave her unforgettable weather forecasts. This is the vastly expanded, revised edition of Dennis Hart's inside look at Monitor. Included are dozens of new, never-before-told stories about the men and women of Monitor. Readers will discover-or remember-what made Monitor such a "must-listen" experience in the mid-20th century-and learn, for the first time, the real story about the death of America's last great radio show. Monitor (Take 2) is the "last word" about a true broadcasting institution.