WMGM's Peter Tripp, "The Curly-Headed Kid In The Third Row," was a competitor of Alan Freed for the NY City teen audience's loyalty.

Peter Tripp was born in Port Chester, New York, on June 11, 1926.

He wowed radio audiences with his mid-1950s Top-40 countdown record shows.

Tripp became one of the nation's best known Top-40 countdown radio personalities beginning in 1954 at Todd Storz' WHB in Kansas City, and at Loew's Theatres' WMGM in New York City from 1955 through 1960 with his "Your Hits Of The Week" program.

Billing himself as "The curly-headed kid in the third row", Tripp is best remembered for the WMGM promotion where he remained awake for 201 hours during a sleep deprivation stunt benefitting the March Of Dimes.

Tripp's no-sleep marathon became a studied event. According to his son, Peter Tripp Jr., "What started out as a stunt has become required reading in the behavioral sciences at colleges and universities from coast-to-coast."

Tripp became entangled in the "payola" (record play for pay) scandals of the late 1950s and early 1960s. According to Richard Fatherley, Tripp said he "never took a dime from anyone" (in the record business).

He was forced to leave WMGM and took assignments at KYA in San Francisco, KGFJ in Los Angeles, and WOHO in Toledo, Ohio. A career change lead him to the physical fitness sales and marketing industry.

Tripp died January 31, 2000, at Northridge California Hospital, following an apparent stroke suffered at his home in West Hills, California. He was 73 years old.

Here's a link to a series of
WMGM Weekly Music Surveys 1956 - 1961.
The first 3 surveys of 1956 are Peter's, the rest are WMGM "station surveys.

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