Fred Bronson
Fred Bronson is an American journalist, author, and writer born January 10, 1949, in Culver City, California. He’s best known for books about music charts and for his longtime work with Billboard magazine.
His notable books include The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition, 2003) and Billboard’s Hottest Hot 100 Hits (4th edition, 2007). He also co-authored The Billboard Book of Number One R&B Hits (with Adam White), American Bandstand (with Dick Clark), and The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook.
Bronson showed an early interest in popularity and chart success. As a child, he was photographed for Cosmopolitan as Jack Webb, and at age 11 he won a contest that earned him a lunch with Connie Stevens. He published letters in comic books, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man in 1962. He worked as a publicist for NBC from 1971 to 1982, promoting many well-known TV series.
In Billboard, Bronson wrote the weekly Chart Beat column from 1993 to 2005, after which it moved online. He also contributed to Chart Beat Chat (online) from 1996 to 2009 and started This Week In Billboard History on Billboard.biz in 2011. He co-created the Dick Clark’s Rock, Roll & Remember comic strip in 1995.
Bronson has written for numerous award shows and appeared on American Idol as a repertoire expert in seasons 2, 4, 7 and 9. His Number One Hits book often served as source material for the show and for CMT’s Next Superstar, where he also appeared as a guest judge in 2011.
Other work includes hosting radio programs like Pop Goes the World and Radio Fred Bronson, and producing The Billboard Radio Countdown webcast for seven years. He wrote one Star Trek animated episode under the name John Culver and co-wrote two Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. His TV writing covers tributes to country stars and major music events, including Live Aid and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. He was head writer for NBC’s 2005 tsunami relief telethon and wrote The American Music Awards for twenty years.
After leaving Chart Beat in 2009, Bronson returned to Bill board and began writing for Billboard again in 2011, and has contributed to The Hollywood Reporter and Sirius XM interviews. He also served on the international jury for Melodifestivalen in 2009.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:14 (CET).