Fred Bronson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Fredric M. Bronson is an American journalist, author and writer. He is best known for the weekly "Chart Beat" column in Billboard magazine, and as the author of books related to Billboard charts.

Born on January 10, 1949 to Irving and Mildred Bronson and raised in California, Bronson showed an early aptitude for gauging the popularity of artists and songs. At age eleven, Bronson won a contest in the Los Angeles Mirror-News requiring him to select favorites in several music categories. His prize was a lunch with actress Connie Stevens. As Bronson later wrote, "I realized that keeping track of records and artists wasn't such a bad idea".

By age fifteen, Bronson was a regular weekly reader of Billboard magazine.

He has been called "America's foremost music chart journalist". His regular "Chart Beat" column appeared weekly in Billboard magazine from January 1993, when he took over from Paul Grein who originated the column in March 1981, until April 2005, when it was transferred completely to Billboard.com. The online "Chart Beat Chat" column has appeared at Billboard.com since April 1996. Both deal with notable activity on the Billboard charts including the Hot 100 for songs and Billboard 200 for albums. He is the author of several chart related books, including Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits, and The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. With Dick Clark, he authored Dick Clark's American Bandstand. He also co-created the syndicated comic strip Dick Clark's Rock, Roll and Remember in 1995 with Dick Clark and Don Sherwood.

Bronson has written for numerous award shows including both the World Music Awards and American Music Awards. He has also appeared as a repertoire expert three times on American Idol, most recently on 11 Mar 2008 discussing the oeuvre of Lennon & McCartney. In episodes from seasons two and four, his Number One Hits book was the exclusive basis of repertoire selection.

Bronson's musical tastes are eclectic and his knowledge of pop music encyclopaedic. His preferences can be heard on his own music program Pop Goes The World and the online radio station Radio Fred Bronson link.

Bronson is also the co-writer on two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Game" and "Ménage à Troi". He also wrote one episode of the Star Trek animated series, "The Counter-Clock Incident", under the name John Culver.