Audio Book Club, Inc. Subsidiary Teams With Walter Cronkite to Offer Greatest Old Time Radio Programs of the 20th Century.

MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 1999--

Audio Book Club, Inc. (AMEX: KLB), through its Radio Spirits, Inc. subsidiary, announced today that it has compiled a first-of-its-kind collection of the century's 60 greatest old time radio programs as selected by Walter Cronkite.

"60 Greatest Old Time Radio Programs of the 20th Century as Selected by Walter Cronkite" will be available beginning October 1 through more than 5,000 retail stores, including B. Dalton Books, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Costco, Crown Books, Sam's Club and Walden Books, among numerous others, as well as various online retailers including Radiospirits.com and Amazon.com. Retailing for $59.98 in cassette format and $69.98 in CD, the compilation includes more than 33 hours of radio's most memorable programs, as well as an audio foreword by Mr. Cronkite and a 64 page companion booklet.

Commenting on the collection, Carl Amari, President of Audio Book Club's Radio Group, stated, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Walter Cronkite - by far one of the nation's most revered authorities on the history of broadcasting - who personally has selected these 60 from the list of greatest broadcasts in radio history. With the millennium coming to a close in a few short months, we felt that such a collection would be extremely well received and, in fact, we believe that it has the potential to significantly outsell any of our previous fourth quarter product offerings, translating into additional revenues and gross profits for the Company. We presently are working with more than 5,000 retailers in order to ensure maximum visibility for this collection following its October launch, and will also look to promote it heavily through Audio Book Club's various websites including www.mediabay.com, through numerous mailings to our approximately 2 million customer base, and during our weekly syndicated radio program heard on some 500 stations."

Added Mr. Cronkite, "For more than 30 years, radio was a principle source of entertainment in most American homes and introduced numerous programs, stars and characters which successfully bridged the gap into television and film. From the premieres of "Gunsmoke", "I Love Lucy" and "The Lone Ranger" to the panic inducing "War of the Worlds", I believe that we have selected 60 titles which truly are representative of this era in broadcasting history, allowing individuals an opportunity to revisit the golden age of radio as the century comes to a close."

Audio Book Club, Inc. is the world's largest marketer of audiobooks through its membership club which markets and sells audiobooks and music via the Internet at www.audiobookclub.com and by mail order. MediaBay.com, an affiliate of Audio Book Club, Inc., is the Company's media portal and e-commerce site located at www.mediabay.com. MediaBay.com offers visitors a single location for the entertainment features of leading content-driven websites and the product selection and service of great commerce-driven sites. The MediaBay.com network of websites includes www.audiobookclub.com, www.audiobook.com, www.radiospirits.com, www.videoyesteryear.com, and www.downloadbay.com. Audio Book Club, Inc. is also a publisher of audio and video content including classic radio and video programs and markets and sells that content on audio cassettes, CDs and video cassettes via numerous distribution channels including the Internet at www.radiospirits.com, catalogues, radio shows, retail and other outlets. Since commencing operations in January 1994, Audio Book Club, Inc. has engaged in an aggressive membership recruitment program to establish a core Audio Book Club member base. Following its recent acquisitions of Doubleday's Audiobooks Direct and Columbia House's Audiobook Club, Audio Book Club, Inc. now has a combined membership and customer database of more than 2 million names.

SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Audio Book Club, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Audio Book Club, Inc. to successfully integrate the newly acquired businesses into its operations and the uncertainty regarding the actual effect of the acquisitions on the Audio Book Club, Inc. risks relating to the Company's direct mail campaigns and its ability to retain members to its book club, risks relating to the Company's growth strategy, dependence on third party service providers, uncertainty of the scope of future product returns, collection and risks associated with selling products on credit, competition and other risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The words "believe" and "should" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statement was made.