Hi Mike,

I read that     book and it was a riveting read for any broadcaster or 
broadcast enthusiast.  Being a radio history nut as well it was an 
interesting historic trip at all counts.


Dave


On 2/6/2015 10:11 PM, Mike Duke, K5XU wrote:
> 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.
>

-- 
Dave Marthouse
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