Radio format developed by consultants Bill Drake and Gene Chenault, pioneered at station KHJ in
Los Angeles in
1965. Boss Radio, which dominated
Top 40 for the rest of that decade, distinguished itself with a tightly orchestrated sequence of
DJ patter (which was always spoken over the music), musical
jingles, on-air promotions, and a
playlist limited to a little over thirty hits. The result was a fast-paced format where listeners were assured of hearing the top songs no matter when they tuned in, and which provided an exciting context for the music. Boss Radio (the on-air talent were referred to as "Boss Jocks") never provided a moment of silence in which the listener's attention might flag.
By the end of the 1960s, however, the album had come to dominate the music industry rather than the single. This, coupled with the FCC requirement that stations could not duplicate their programming on the AM and FM bands, led to the establishment of progressive radio on FM and shortly thereafter AOR (Album-Oriented Radio). To the young generation, hearing a laid-back hipster spinning tracks by Zeppelin (in stereo!) became infinitely cooler than hearing "Three! Three! Three in a row!" on AM. Boss Radio couldn't compete, and Top 40 itself faded away until the early 1980s.