Another AT40 question
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Topic: Another AT40 question
Posted By: sriv94
Subject: Another AT40 question
Date Posted: 18 October 2009 at 9:35pm
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Listening to AT40 on XM online, I'm hearing the 10/13/73 week (which also happens to be the week syndicated to radio this weekend). So I'm listening at #35 for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross' "You're A Special Part Of Me," and what I heard was actually the B-side of that song ("I'm Falling In Love With You"). So what I'm wondering is whether the syndicated version also features that restoration error. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Replies:
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 6:08am
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The AT40 shows that Sirius/XM receives are the same as the versions Premiere Radio Networks receives. The shows are restored to the original show airings, errors and all.
However, as some of you have probably noticed, Premiere will edit out extras, theme music, etc in the iterests of fitting the show into three hours for the 70s version and four hours for the 80s version. However, these edits are relatively minor and do not greatly impact the integrity of the show. Sirius/XM, however, really does a hatchet job on the shows, basically editing out everything except Casey talking and the songs. The show lengths are greatly reduced on Sirius/XM. All in all, though, I will even take a highly edited show over no opportunity to hear these shows at all. ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 9:09am
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So what you're saying is that the original broadcast had the wrong record played?
Seems kind of odd. ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 9:30am
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AT 40 had a lot of filler in it like the long-distance dedication (Snuckles the dog anyone?), the #1 song 10 years ago, etc. I'm guessing these features were added when the show was lengthened in the 70s to accomodate the longer songs of the day, and were there to pad out the show when needed.
When the show itself is a 30+ year old flashback, these are a bit superfluous. Ideally, the show should run as originally produced, but if editing needs to be done, I'd guess this stuff would be the first to go. I am surprised that a nationally-distributed, pre-produced show like this would accidentally play the wrong side of a song though. You'd think the production company would be able to get promo copies (which by this point were mostly double-A sided)!! |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 12:11pm
------------- Mike C. from PA |
sriv94 wrote:Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 12:21pm
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Every now and then an AT40 show was produced with errors that slipped through the cracks (such as the wrong record being played, Casey naming the record incorrectly, etc.), and they went out to the radio stations this way afters the LPs were pressed. The errors on the 70s shows are described in the week-by-week summaries contained in the Battistini book.
Today, the shows are remastered as they originally aired. Therefore, the new shows on Premiere and Sirius/XM will have the same errors as the original versions. If the wrong record was originally played, you will hear it this way on the remastered/restored version on a Premiere affiliate or Sirius/XM. ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 12:30pm
I understand why Premiere would cut some of those extra features (In fact, it looks like the shows were reformatted into 8 segments per hour, vs. 6 as originally aired in the '70s -- this seems to allow stations to drop some of the really forgotten songs.) But I've definitely heard long-distance dedications and "flashback" tracks on the satellite reruns. I think the show lengths on Sirius/XM are shortened largely by removing the commercial breaks. Remember, the original shows - with commercial breaks/avails - were only 3 hours until ~1978, so removing the commercials, the 3-hour shows are <2:30, and 4-hour shows are only about 3:00-3:15 long. You can compare the Sirius/XM shows to the original cue sheets at charismusicgroup.com. By the way, Sirius/XM's "80s on 8" channel has dropped AT40 in favor of a countdown produced by their own jocks, the old MTV VJs. The '70s shows are still on "70s on 7." |
Posted By: bwolfe
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 1:32pm
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I'm disappointed that they've dropped the 80's version of AT40.
The original VJ's always sound like their phoning it in. They sound so bored. I hope they keep the 70's countdowns on the 70's channel. That show reminds me of my youth when top 40 in the 70s was like going to a large buffet. I do agree that Sirius does a hack job on the show. I wish one time they would let the original jingle music run to the end. Talk about errors, back in December during a 1972 show they played the wrong Rod Stewart song. Instead of "Angel" they played what I believe was the flip side. A small amount of radio stations play the shows on weekends. I'm not sure I would air it when some weeks there are some extremely obscure songs on the show. This past week's 1973 show had a ton of them. The average listener would tune out. For a short time they had Rick Dees on the 90's channel. ------------- the way it was heard on the radio |
Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 2:03pm
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To 'bwolfe':
While I won't argue your estimation that the "average listener would tune out", I am under the impression that people tune IN to the reruns of Casey to hear a snapshot of the way it really was. Keep in mind that the "extremely obscure songs on the show" are only obscure because highly formatted terrestrial retro-radio ("Oldies", Jammin' Oldies, Classic Rock et al.) has forgotton them on purpose, therefore the average (younger) listener won't know them irrespective of their impact at the time or their sales. Citing this past weekends AT-40 rerun, "Jesse" (Roberta Flack) is an incredible Janis Ian song, "Jimmy Loves Mary Anne (Looking Glass) was played heavily on TM's 'Stereo Rock' format, "Ecstacy" (Ohio Players) sold a ton of singles. The classic American Top-40 shows keep some of these songs from being totally obliterated to the average oldies radio listener, and that's a good thing. Andy |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 2:44pm
It amazes me that the "masses" opt to hear the same tired songs over and over. I enjoy listening to the radio, but there is not one station in Dallas that can hold my attention for more than 15 minutes. A song always comes on that I'm totally burned out on. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 4:57pm
You've gotta admit that we aren't exactly "typical" listeners. Many/most of us have music collections full of songs that most people (other than fellow music collectors) wouldn't know know or even like. Most people couldn't care less about the different mixes/edits/versions of hit songs that we debate here on a daily basis. Those of us who've worked in radio are very aware that the songs we're really sick of are the same ones that our listeners can't get enough of. Music isn't a priority in their lives. |
Posted By: bwolfe
Date Posted: 19 October 2009 at 5:29pm
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I totally understand everyone's opinion.
We're all correct in many ways. The 70's AT40 shows air early Sunday morning and late Sunday nights in Cleveland. Those timeslots were always used for specialty programming back in the day. (Dr. Demento, Comedy Hour, etc). Looking Glass was played heavily in my local market so to me it was a bigger hit than its Billboard ranking. Being in a business that continues to narrowcast as opposed to broadcast. Thanks to Andrew for some honest food for thought. Can't wait to hear what Casey's counting down this weekend. ------------- the way it was heard on the radio |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 6:26am
| Same here. I always look forward to the 4 AT40 shows every weekend - the XM ones and the syndicated ones (although sometimes there's overlap). Now that XM-Sirius has cancelled the AT40-80s, I'm toying with the idea of dropping the service. If they ever cancel the '70s show, I will do so in a heartbeat. XM has gone downhill so much since being taken over by Sirius. No more IT countdowns. No UPop International Pop channel anymore. It keeps getting worse and worse. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 9:22am
Gordon, a few posters over on the xmfan decades board have begun to derisively refer to the service as "Sirius-FM," which - aside from the lack of commercials - is exactly what the music channels on satellite radio have become. As a result, I cancelled both of my XM accounts a week ago. The good news is that I can now reacquaint myself with my own music collection, which pretty much took a back seat when I became an XM subscriber. As far as the pruning that Sirius is doing with AT40, it's like the DVDs of WKRP In Cincinnati: yes, the shows are available again, but they're definitely not what you saw when they first aired on CBS. Part of what made AT40 so compelling was the anticipation generated by Casey's "coming up" teases. Those are being trimmed now. Sirius' decision to drop XM's IT countdowns is perhaps the best illustration of the differences between the programming philosophies of the two former rivals. For the benefit of those here who weren't familiar with IT, picture every top-40 hit from the 1940s to today being played in one big 24/7 marathon session, lasting for weeks. Add to that the ability to have a real-time, running commentary with fellow subscribers on xmfan, and the experience was addicting, fun, educational and sleep-deprivational for everyone. IT was a reminder of how radio once used to excel at connecting with its audience. And it would be an absolute blast to be able to do something similar with the members of this community someday. |
Posted By: torcan
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 2:13pm
Hmmm...that's too bad about dropping the '80s version. I heard this weekend's 10/13/1973 show (a local station has picked it up) and would love to hear some '80s shows. A couple of "coming ups" were included this past weekend. I also found it surprising that Casey stated what the No. 25 song would be while they were still in the 30s - I don't recall that happening in the shows I listened to originally. As for the editing...is it too much to ask to leave things the way they were originally broadcast? :) |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 2:47pm
------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 2:58pm
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Gordon,
I tried to grab your previous post, but I think I hit the button incorrectly. I am totally with you on your opinions about "IT" and SIRIUS/XM, and you bridged a couple of this thread's topics here. "IT" was awesome. I was glued to my XM radio for a month or two when it aired. When SIRIUS dropped it, listening to satellite radio was never the same for me - except for the old AT40 shows. And this is where you bridged both of these topics: "IT" claimed to have every hit that ever charted, but of course, they didn't. They did not have some of the rare charting singles that collectors on this website may have in their collections and may be extremely difficult to obtain. Some of these include Bob Dylan's "George Jackson", Cliff DeYoung's "My Sweet Lady", Neighborhood's "Big Yellow Taxi", Wilton Place Street Band's "Disco Lucy", and Wing and a Prayer Fife & Drum Corp's "Baby Face". However, this is one of the neat things about having the old AT40 countdowns on satellite radio. Even if SIRIUS/XM doesn't have these songs in their archives, and even if I don't have some of these songs in my collection, I can still hear them on the old AT40 shows. SIRIUS/XM is on thin ice with me. If they drop the AT40 70s shows, I am dropping them. ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 20 October 2009 at 3:01pm
Wow, that does sound interesting! Since the first Billboard chart in July 1940, there have been a total of 13,606 Top 40 pop hits. According to the iTunes playlist in which I have every single one of them stored (all but five purchased lawfully), it would take 32 days to play them all. As I usually listen for about an hour or two a day, it takes about two years for me to go through them all. |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 21 October 2009 at 8:20am
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<a few posters over on the xmfan decades board>
Can you provide a link for both the '70s and '80s channels chat boards? <Sirius' decision to drop XM's IT countdowns is perhaps the best illustration of the differences between the programming philosophies of the two former rivals. For the benefit of those here who weren't familiar with IT, picture every top-40 hit from the 1940s to today being played in one big 24/7 marathon session, lasting for weeks.> Since the Sirius buyout of XM and their decision to NOT re-air IT this past fall, I decided to make my own mini-IT. For all the songs in my mp3 player, I created a playlist that contained all the charted hits in chronological order by debut date from the oldest song in my player (1958) on through to the end of the '90s. Because it's my own mp3 player, this is obviously a subset of the IT countdown because it eliminates all the charted hits I don't ever want to hear. But (and this won't surprise Jim A.) I expanded my version to include not just the top 40 hits but all the top 100 hits in my player! Of course, the majority of the charted songs I like (probably 95%) turned out to be top 40 hits. It would take over a week to hear this playlist, if I listened for every waking minute of every day (which I usually don't have the time to do!) Right now, I've been listening and I'm up to 1978. I used the actual IT countdown to discover some lower top 40 charting singles I never knew. Now that I know what I do and don't like of all top 40 hits, I've created my own personal ultimate IT marathon. Imagine if you could hear the IT marathon that deleted all the songs you don't like and only played the ones you do. That's what I created. At some point, I'd like to take a 4-day weekend and play a portion of this playlist for all waking hours (maybe I could hear a whole decade) but for now I'm playing it back in sections, as I have time to hear it. <Add to that the ability to have a real-time, running commentary with fellow subscribers on xmfan, and the experience was addicting, fun, educational and sleep-deprivational for everyone.> Yes, the real IT countdown was sleep-deprivational. (For 1970 to the mid 90s) I recorded all hours that I was sleeping through - and played them back after the IT countdown was over. This definitely took up a good month of my life - but how often does someone provide you with the opportunity to hear every top 40 hit EVER, in order? <And it would be an absolute blast to be able to do something similar with the members of this community someday.> Or at least we can create our own IT marathons! :) |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 21 October 2009 at 8:27am
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Torcan writes:
<I also found it surprising that Casey stated what the No. 25 song would be while they were still in the 30s - I don't recall that happening in the shows I listened to originally. > Yes, I found that odd as well and had never heard him do that during my original AT40 listening years (1977 onward). It was "Touch Me in the Morning". He was grouping some songs together (maybe making a statement like "There are 4 female solo songs on the chart this week" and then he listed them off including the #25 hit (while still in the mid 30s). You'd think he'd say "coming up later" about the Diana Ross song but he actually said "at #25..." |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 21 October 2009 at 8:31am
If they drop AT40-70s, I will drop them, too. But as for your other comment, I believe the final IT marathon (the one they aired in the fall 2007) DID have every top 40 hit of the '70s. The '80s channel deleted MANY MANY top 40 hits, especially ballads, and especially songs from the pre-MTV '80s. I was told that even the 2006 IT missed quite a few '70s top 40 hits, but I thought the 2007 one aired them all, including "My Sweet Lady", "Disco Lucy", etc. Are you sure these didn't air in the 2007 marathon? |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 21 October 2009 at 8:34am
I assume you mean for the vinyl-only charters you have the original 45s/LPs. Certainly iTunes has never sold any of the non-CD top 40 hits! |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 21 October 2009 at 12:41pm
Xmfan doesn't have separate chat boards for each of the decades channels, but rather one http://xmfan.com/viewforum.php?f=22 - decades discussion which covers them all. You'll find that you are far from alone in your displeasure with the direction that the former XM music channels have taken. Gordon, when can we expect to hear your own customized version of IT? ;) Let me know when you get to 1976, so I can hear which version of "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)" you've decided to include. On second thought, I think I already know the answer to that. ;)
That's the fun part of being both the Program Director and the audience! The final IT, which aired nearly two years ago, encompassed many songs outside of the top 40, particularly during the '50s, '60s and '70s segments. During the '60s decade, many of the songs that peaked between #49 and #41 were also included.
Mike, I never heard XM claim that they were including every top 40 hit; instead, IT was billed as "The History of Pop Music," beginning with the pre-IT rundown of the biggest hits of the 1920s, with IT itself starting with 1930. All five of the records you cited were aired on the final 2007 IT (here's a link to the complete http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/2007_IT_Song_List.pdf - 2007 IT song list . Knowing that it was likely going to be their last hurrah, most of the XM staff poured their souls into going out in style, and the 2007 IT included many songs which had not previously been included. Bob Moke, the '40s channel guru, oversaw the 1930-1979 portion of IT, and made it shine. Unfortunately, it was almost immediately apparent with the beginning of the 1980 portion that the folks responsible for the latter part of IT really dropped the ball, with repeated and missing songs occuring frequently. All the same, it was an incredibly memorable radio show. In a parting http://xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=97063 - "thank you" letter to XM listeners, Kurt Gilchrist, the former XM Senior Program Director of the Decades Channels mentioned how such a massive undertaking had been hatched:
The sad part is that IT is still in the can, and could be aired if Sirius wanted to run it again. But the very notion of IT scares off every radio consultant incapable of thinking outside the box, including those who advise Sirius. And so it goes. The 94 pages of xmfan's running commentary during the course of the 2007 IT can be found http://xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=85737 - here . |
Posted By: Paul C
Date Posted: 22 October 2009 at 6:22am
Yes, I started collecting Top 40 hits in 1984, years before I bought my first CD. About 25% of the songs are dubbed from vinyl (and some even from cassettes). It took about twenty years to bring my collection completely up to date. For about a year the last song I needed was "The Wise Old Owl" by Al Donahue. After twenty years of looking, a copy finally appeared in a Record Finders' auction. I bid about $50 - because I really, really wanted it....A few months later it was issued on a Collectables CD. (Update: After the release of the new Hot 100 this morning, there have now been 13,611 Top 40 hits.) And there actually are a small number of non-CD Top 40 hits available on iTunes (there was a thread on the topic a year or two ago). A recent pleasant find on iTunes Canada was Randy Starr's "After School". |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 22 October 2009 at 9:40am
Yeah, I was SO happy about that one. I bought the big Japanese "Capitol Vocal Classics" boxed set on Ebay a few months ago for the Paul Weston version of "Ole Buttermilk Sky" and the Clark Denis version of "Peg 'O My Heart." I sure wish SOMEONE would release Savannah Churchill's "(It's No) Sin" on CD (in decent sound). It's on an import, but the quality is AWFUL. It was recorded for RCA in 1951, so I'm sure it was done on tape. But very few companies seem to be interested in pre-rock-era music. I believe the recent release of the David Carroll "Melody of Love" was the final top ten single of the rock era that was missing from CD. It sounds pretty good, but I think they used too much noise reduction on it... there's no high end left. It's so hard to believe that's never been issued on CD from a tape source anywhere, some Reader's Digest compilation or something. With the pre-1950 stuff, it doesn't matter so much, because almost all of it was recorded direct to disc anyway. The Jasmine label is a mixed bag. They've got a gorgeous "Old Soldiers Never Die" on their Vaughn Monroe comp, but their recent Helen Carroll & The Satisfiers" CD sounds dreadful... No-Noised to DEATH. |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 27 October 2009 at 4:33pm
------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: maciav
Date Posted: 27 October 2009 at 4:38pm
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If they played these songs during 2007, my apologies. It does seem however, that rarities like these are not played as part of the regular rotation on SIRIUS/XM. If they were played during "IT", they should be played now. I really miss "IT", and thank you for the message board links. I didn't know these existed.
By the way, the AT40 countdown this past weekend was 10/20/79. I would mention the AT40 countdown from the 80s that played, but.....oh yeah, how could I forget.....They run their own countdowns now with the former MTV Video Jocks. What a joke! I am one subscriber increase away from cancelling! ------------- Mike C. from PA |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 27 October 2009 at 7:03pm
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The funny thing about the 80s ones is they're the same AT40 countdowns, just with the MTV personalities introing and outroing (probably no Long Distance Dedications though--granted I didn't listen to the entire thing long enough to find out). The countdown played this past weekend matches the 10/25/80 list (never thought I'd ever hear Nina Blackwood utter the names "Robbie Dupree" and "Stacy Lattisaw"). ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 7:42am
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Yah Shure wrote:
<Gordon, when can we expect to hear your own customized version of IT? ;) Let me know when you get to 1976, so I can hear which version of "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)" you've decided to include. On second thought, I think I already know the answer to that. > Yes, I used your 45 version (gotten from the old napster days), which for the rest of you is the rare non-Wolfman Jack STEREO version - but with my version I removed any remaining evidence of vinyl (really got it to be CD quality), and I even extended it a little bit so it's as long as the other versions of the song (and maybe even longer). |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 7:46am
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Maciav wrote: "If they played these songs during 2007, my apologies. It does seem however, that rarities like these are not played as part of the regular rotation on SIRIUS/XM."
That's absolutely true, but typical since the Sirius merger with XM. What's weird is even in 2007, after IT ended, and before the merger, XM 70s STILL didn't play a lot of the lower charting top 40 '70s hits that they now had! And I complained to John Clay about it, but he said they didn't want to expand beyond the songs that were in the regular rotation. Basically, they mostly just wanted to play songs that could be heard on terrestial radio. (I guess the mentality was... pay $13 a month so you can hear the same songs you'd hear for free on the radio!) |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 7:52am
And no other extras, no artist stories like Casey used to have, no repeat of the previous week's top 3, no playing 3 #1 hits from the '60s or '70s in chronological order, no AT40 theme music, no teasers. But other than that, exactly the same show ... except without any personality, excitement or life. The fact that they're even counting down Billboard top 40 shows reveals this was all done for one purpose only ... to prevent paying Premiere Radio for their AT40 shows, saving the fee (which I guess is like $25 or 40 per week - but hey, they lose many many subscribers as a result. That's a good business decision, right?) Seems like it ought to be illegal for them to NOT pay to use the AT40/Billboard countdown but then to count down the Billboard top 40 hits anyway (without paying.) Maybe someone should report this suspicious activity to Premiere Networks. |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 2:01pm
I'm not sure Premiere has any claim to the raw charts, which belong to Billboard/Nielsen. I've heard many other stations count down old Billboard charts, although these tend to be local stations, not national services like SiriusXM. In any case, Billboard doesn't seem to block stations from using their charts, if indeed they have the legal right at this point. In fact, I'm sure radio is the main market for the more expensive Whitburn books. Also, I suspect SiriusXM's contract with Casey was far more than $40 a week. All this said, like you, I'm disappointed with the loss of AT40 on 80s on 8. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 4:56pm
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I can no longer find then-'80s channel PD Bruce Kelly's original post on xmfan, but do recall him writing six years ago that the reason XM dropped AT40 in 2003 was because of a large increase in the licensing fee they'd have to pay Billboard for the use of the Hot 100 chart info upon which AT40 was based. This was in addition to the licensing fees for the actual show itself from Premiere.
When Bruce announced the impending return of AT40 in 2005 on xmfan, his first statement was http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=43572&highlight= - License probs worked out with BB Mag. He also stated at the time that he would not be airing any Shadoe Stevens AT40 shows. I'm strictly speculating here, but might it be that because Casey's AT40 reign did not encompass the entire '80s decade, Sirius believed it could save the licensing fees for the show itself and do an in-house countdown with their existing talent? |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 29 October 2009 at 4:47am
| When did Casey leave AT40? I want to say some time in 1988. I do recall his new show "Casey's Top 40" (which was based on R&R's chart, not BB) debuting in 1989. |
Posted By: eric_a
Date Posted: 29 October 2009 at 6:42am
That's right. According to Wikipedia, his last show was 8/6/88. |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 3:55am
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iHeartradio now has a playback channel with the AT40 70's countdown and the 80's countdown from the previous weekend that radio stations played. It updates every Monday for listeners that may have missed some of the countdown. Just search "Classic American Top 40" at iHeartradio.com. Sometimes the countdowns have remastered music, sometimes they don't.
|
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 6:54am
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I'm not sure I understand, are you saying this channel plays nothing but the AT40 '70s and '80s countdowns continually?
And I assume they don't also air the previous weekend AT40 70s show that SXM plays, but just the ones that Premiere plays on syndicated radio stations. Is that the case? |
Posted By: NightAire
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 9:08pm
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http://www.iheart.com/live/Classic-American-Top-40-6545/ - Right here , Edison... really enjoying this! ------------- Gene Savage http://www.BlackLightRadio.com - http://www.BlackLightRadio.com http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage - http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage Tulsa, Oklahoma USA |
Posted By: JMD1961
Date Posted: 14 June 2014 at 7:00pm
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Just wanted to point out that the iHeart Radio "Classic
American Top 40" channel is not just playing the previous week's editions of the syndicated shows. Instead, they are now playing random countdowns (alternating between a '70s and an '80s show). So now you can turn in several times during the week and not have to listen to the same two countdowns over and over. |
Posted By: JMD1961
Date Posted: 15 June 2014 at 9:31am
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And just as I posted that, comes news that Casey Kasem has
passed away. As I type this, iHeart is playing the very first American Top 40 program from 1970. |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 15 June 2014 at 10:12am
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RIP Casey. He made many of us fans of the music thanks to
AT40. As he would say "keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars." ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: musicmanatl
Date Posted: 15 June 2014 at 1:40pm
| I'm probably speaking for a number of us when I say that my interest in pop music was created by American Top 40. It was so difficult to find out information about the new singers and bands back in the late 1970s, and I eagerly listened to Casey each week to hear both the newest hits and the chart moves but to also hear information about my favorite records. He was one of a kind. I'm so glad that his shows will live on via Sirius XM and iHeart Radio. |
Posted By: Jody Thornton
Date Posted: 15 June 2014 at 5:36pm
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Yeah I'm having a very hard time with this news today. I feared this day coming for quite awhile. I already missed him on the radio, but now that he's gone; it's quite sad.
------------- Cheers, Jody Thornton (Richmond Hill, Ontario) |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 15 June 2014 at 8:22pm
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I just happened to have the I Heart Radio site Gene posted about earlier in
this thread (thanks for that) this morning (Sunday, 6/15). They were just finishing up Feb 1980, and I wanted to see what 70's countdown would follow. It was the very first one: 7/4/70. Yes! So I kept it on. Suddenly, about an hour in, the channel's spoken inserts switched to "a tribute to Casey Kasem." It was a very subtle word change, and not definitive, but I thought "Oh no. Did he just die?" I'd already checked the news first thing Sunday morning - nothing. It was weird that I was likely listening to AT40 just as he was passing. I spent many a Sunday listening to AT40 in the 70s, and I somehow retained/repeated on-air countless song/artist info tidbits he'd provided over the years, while giving him frequent credit. Musicmanatl is SO right - factoids were very far and few between back then. Mr. Whitburn started his books in the early 70's, but most of the background artist info didn't start appearing there in earnest until Mr. Whitburn made, by far, the best hire in RR history: our own Paul Haney!!!!! (whose latest RR masterpiece I pre-ordered just last week.) I also want to echo Jody's heartfelt sentiments. T4MOC almost never has threads about losing our old beloved hitmakers, which I love, as both BSN and the 'Net already cover the topic like a blanket. Whereas we're basically a nuts-and-bolts song forum. But to many of us, Casey was special. He belonged to us - Top 40 hit song enthusiasts. I took great comfort in reading Kerri Kasem's Sunday statement. Reading her words about "a body about to die neither wants nor requires food and water, and providing either does nothing except further increase Dad's discomfort level." Her knowledge level on the subject is impressive. I don't know what to make of wife Jean, and I will not judge her. But I am grateful that Kerri went to both the time and trouble to personally ensure that her Dad's suffering was kept to a minimum. It was surely less than at that private location in Washington state. The last place anyone with a dying loved one wants to be is inside a courtroom. Kerri kept a level head while her own heart was clearly breaking, and that trait is usually in very short supply during such moments. |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 4:03am
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Here's what I posted on the BSN board earlier this morning:
I first discovered AT40 in 1974 when I was just 8 years-old. Me and my older brother would faithfully write down the Top 40 each week. After my brother lost interest, I kept on listening, never once missing a week. I even started keeping stats on peak position, weeks charted, etc. Even after I discovered that our local library carried Billboard and I could photo-copy the entire Hot 100 chart, I still listened to Casey each week. Casey helped fuel my passion for music, charts and radio. Without him, it's highly unlikely that I'd be working at Record Research today. Casey was one of Joel's very first customers and he bought nearly every book Record Research ever published. It's a shame that all of this melodrama had to play-out in public the past year. RIP to my childhood hero and thanks for all the great memories. |
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 4:39am
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When Casey's passing was announced Sunday morning, the person in charge of the iheartradio channel purposely loaded the very first show, as it seemed fitting.
Personal note: When Casey turned 75, I was programming his AC show in Richmond VA, and I decided to just send his AOL email account a "Happy 75th Birthday" message. He actually called my cell phone to thank me for the message. What a class act. |
Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 16 June 2014 at 7:29am
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Unsurprisingly, Casey was my idol when I was growing up. I'd guess that if you're around my age and you're in radio, Casey and AT40 are probably responsible in some way.
When I started "Crap From The Past" in 1992 (!), I unintentionally swiped the show structure from AT40. Right from the start, I used two-song sets with a pre-produced ID between the songs. The talk breaks always focus on the song about to be played, rather than on the previous one. This gives a forward momentum to the show, which is crucial for pacing the show properly. It turns out that the forward momentum is just good radio technique, and AT40 didn't invent it, but that's where I heard it first, and in my head, that's what I've been trying to emulate all these years. I use Casey clips extensively on the show every week. I turned about 300 out-of-context Casey sound bites into CFTP IDs. Examples: "I'd like to take everyone who's doing evil in the world and turn them on to the positive energy of disco dancing... on Crap From The Past". "He did a pretty good job for a guy who stands about 5'7" and weighs maybe 130 pounds... on Crap From The Past". And so on - there are about 298 others, all gems. Over the years, I've tried to keep a professional distance from Casey and the AT40 staffers. I didn't want to come across as overenthusiastic fanboy; I know from being on the air every week how such enthusiasm can be perceived. More importantly, I really didn't want to upset them with my 300 CFTP IDs, since those are such an integral part of what I do every week. I've gotten to contribute to some of the books about AT40. I'm in Rob Durkee's book (in the acknowledgements, right before Debbie Gibson!) and Pete Battistini's '80s-era AT40 book. The only time I reached out to Casey was a http://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5024 - letter that I sent to him in 2009, when he stepped down from hosting the countdown shows. An AT40 staffer got in touch with me afterward. He said that Casey read it, appreciated it, and put in a folder of personal memorabilia. The call from the staffer was a very gracious way to acknowledge my letter, and I feel satisfied knowing that I got to tell him how much he and his show meant to me and so many other DJs out there. For my show this Friday, the radio industry is expecting me to put together the Casey tribute-to-end-all-tributes. I have a whole lotta Casey material to sift through between now and Friday. If you think you have some AT40 oddity that I don't, and you'd like to share, please contact me offline - I can use all the help I can get. ------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past . |
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 17 June 2014 at 10:54pm
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Some of my life's fondest memories include my family trips to visit my grandparents as a child. During those long road trips (well, the travel time was somewhere between five and six hours long, which felt like an ETERNITY to a restless, hyperactive kid like myself cooped up in the back seat next to his annoying little brother!), I always remember hearing Casey Kasem's American Top 40 countdown show come through the car radio at some point and I would always settle down and listen. I not only loved the music, but found Casey's stories captivating. His distinct delivery no doubt influenced me in my very young age to take an interest in music and dream about someday becoming a disc jockey.
Even though I would eventually become a huge fan of the Shadoe Stevens era of AT40, I always regarded Casey Kasem as the true godfather of the modern-day pop music countdown format. And no matter if I was doing a radio show in college or (in my brief stint) as a professional broadcaster, I always found myself enthusiastically relaying chart-related information and fascinating trivia about the music I was playing... just like Casey. Sadly, the world lost one of its last remaining true radio legends this past weekend. |
Posted By: mainrhythm
Date Posted: 18 June 2014 at 6:27am
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Here are some liners/drops and a legal ID Casey did for a station I was at in 2001. These were dubbed from two carts. I think I dubbed these off to CD initially because our CD players were pitched up 2% and when playing these off of cart going back into the show they didn't sound right with pitched up Casey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op84sL4TBCk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op84sL4TBCk |
Posted By: Santi Paradoa
Date Posted: 03 October 2020 at 10:27am
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I recently heard the Sept. 1971 show where Casey played
a song I had never ever heard before. He played "The First Time" by the Glass Bottle which is the b-side of the #36 song in that week's countdown "I Ain't Got Time Anymore." First time I heard that blunder. ------------- Santi Paradoa Miami, Florida |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 03 October 2020 at 8:32pm
There was talk about this on the AT40 group on Facebook. If I recall, they played the B side 2 weeks in a row then finally played the correct A-side and then the song disappeared from the countdown. ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA https://www.johngallagher.com" rel="nofollow - John Gallagher Wedding & Special Event Entertainment / Snapblast Photo Booth |
Posted By: Chartman
Date Posted: 04 October 2020 at 7:08am
Funny when I listen to AT40 on SiriusXM I always have the Hot 100 in front of me so as to make sure I don’t miss a good song. This song was one of my favorites on this countdown and of course they played the wrong side! So I waited until two less desirable songs came up and then went to YouTube to listen to the correct Glass Bottle song. I always thought the the fact that AT40 and Record Research used the billboard charts was a significant factor in increasing billboard’s dominance in charts. What if they used Cashbox’s charts instead? Every listener would have sought out the magazine and tremendously increased its popularity. PS most SiriusXM listeners (including myself) who listen to 60s on 6 thought Lou Simon’s weekly countdowns were even better than Casey. They don’t have the nostalgia of being an actual countdown from the time but Lou’s style and the great songs were hard to beat. |