Below is a book review that I wrote for my local ACB chapter 
newsletter. While there are probably more defenative works out there 
that are exclusively about XERF, and the other border blaster stations, 
this one, which is about its founder, has a good bit of information. 
Plus, even without the radio element, the story of what this crazy dude 
really did and got away with for years is pretty amazing in and of itself.

The Wolf Man Jack autobiography, which is also available from the NLS 
download site, is another good read about XERF in particular.

You can also google "border blaster radio", for more information.

XERF, XEG, and XELO, which was on 800, pounded into Mississippi from 
dusk until well after dawn year round.



BOOK REVIEW
Charlatan: America's Most Dangerous Huckster,
the Man Who Pursued Him,
and the Age of Flimflam
by Pope Brock,
Reviewed by Mike Duke

Category: Medicine and Health
Read by Jim Zeiger
Reading time 11 hours 47 minutes.
db67282

What do country music pioneers such as the Carter Family, Jimmy Rogers, 
Patsy Montana, Gene Autrey, Woody Guthrie, and legendary DJ Wolf Man 
Jack have in common?

They all owed a major part of their success to a powerful "Border 
Blaster" radio station which was established in Del Rio, Texas, by John 
Romulus Brinkley.

Brinkley also invented the "infomercial," the media saturation 
political campaign, and the predecessor to the call in show, the write 
in show. His radio program, "Medical Question mailbox," brought over 5 
thousand dollars per week in contributions to his radio station at the 
peak of the great depression.

But, radio broadcasting was not the primary occupation of J. R. 
Brinkley. As the title suggests, he was a Charlatan; a "quack" medical 
doctor, who scammed thousands of people, and caused the death of 
hundreds  by claiming to cure impotence with goat-testicle transplants. 
Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical 
Association, spent nearly 20 years trying to prosecute and discredit him.

Pope Brock weaves the tale of the quack doctor, the pioneer 
broadcaster, and the man who was determined to silence him, into an 
amazing story which will remind readers that truth, indeed, is stranger 
than fiction, and in this case, much more scary.

2008.