Friday, March 8, 2019

Blame It On John...!

So many folks found ways to get around the rules and regulations established over the years, I thought we should look at one of them. Mr. John Brinkley. He actually made quite a name for himself as the man responsible for the spread of country music across parts of America.

John Brinkley



Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

John Brinkley was a charlatan, but he had a product to sell. He advertised goat testicle transplants for the scrota of infertile men. Though this treatment was unmedical, he performed more than 16,000 surgeries. Brinkley advertised this procedure on his radio station KFKB, America’s fourth-ever station. To pay for his radio channel, he spoke about the wonders of product for 30 minutes at a time. These spots are now considered the first infomercials. Like the infomercials we know today, they were long, rambling, and usually misleading.

Because he was lying on the airwaves, the US government shut down his practice. Brinkley simply moved his operations to Mexico. He built the largest and most powerful tower in the world to advertise from Mexico into the United States. On the new radio channel, he played entertainment in between his infomercials. Brinkley was the first person to broadcast country music across the United States. His station was the first to play the country music legends the Carter Family. Brinkley’s radio station is credited with popularizing the genre outside of its regional limits.

By moving country out of Appalachia and into Texas, Brinkley created the country-western sound that would dominate the genre from then on. When he died decades later, his seat at the radio station was replaced by Wolfman Jack. Wolfman Jack helped spread rock and roll across the country.

You have to give the man credit. He may have been a snake oil salesman, but having done 16,000 operations involving goat testicles, he was pretty good at it! I came across this article over at Listverse.

Coffee inside once again.

9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. But at least he brought country music to the masses. We have to thank him for that!

    Big hugs, Bubba.

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  3. At least we have one thing to thank him for Country music to the masses. What a snake oils salesman. Have a good weekend.

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  4. An interesting fellow in an interesting time according to wikipedia. Mexican radio I'm familiar with. When we moved to the mainland in 1966 I listened to Wolfman jack on the radio!

    When I think of Wolfman Jack I think of the movie "American Grafiti". If there was a Blockbuster near by I'd go rent it... turns out if you have a good internet connection it's available on-line from several different sources.

    In the 50's this morning, better than the 40's yesterday but still not good enough to go sit outside here in southern Florida.

    I wonder how many screens I'll have to do this morning to convince the robot I'm a real human? I had to do 4 yesterday...

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  5. I remember Wolfman Jack. And, Rob, I had to do the same thing. It's getting old.

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  6. Hey Sis...
    Yeah, there is that!
    Thanks for stopping by today!


    Hey Linda...
    He had good taste in music for a con man.
    Thanks for coming over today!


    Hey Rob...
    As far as the Captcha thing goes, I just ignore it. I never use it, but comment anyway. Works for me.
    Thanks for the visit this morning!


    Hey Momlady...
    Same advice here about the CAPTCHA screen that I gave Rob. Just ignore it!
    Many thanks for stopping by today!

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  7. If he had anything to do with bluegrass music, then he couldn't have been too bad. County western music is my second choice with bluegrass way up there on top.

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  8. Hey Dizzy...
    I knew you were a bluegrass fan. My Mom was a big fan as well!
    Thanks for the visit today!

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  9. Anyone who made country music available to the general public can't be all bad:))

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