What was the "game changer" in '91?

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

In Memphis, the change took place earlier. WMC FM 100 had been carrying AT40 but, at some point, in 1989 changed to CT40. AT40, meanwhile was picked up by the new Z-98 (which would later become KIM FM). CT40 lasted on FM 100 until some time in 1992, AT40 was dropped by Z-98 in 1990. After CT40 was dropped, FM 100 obtained Rick Dees which it kept through 1992 (they omitted quite a few songs from Rick's year end countdown for that year). From 1993 to some time in the late 1990s, FM 100 didn't have weekly countdowns and compiled their own at year end. By that time FM 100 became HAC. and, by the late 1990s, obtained AT20 HAC which they kept until 2006, when they went to Rick Dees HAC, which they still have. Z-98 changed formats at some point in the 1990s but WHBQ FM 107.5 picked up CT40 in late 1996 until the show was replaced by AT40 with Casey in 1998 and has remained with AT40 ever since.

I was at the University of Kansas in November 1991 when AT40 changed charts. I remember hearing that a new chart was going to debut and made a point to buy a copy of Billboard so I could follow along with the show, which, at that time, was still broadcasting on KBEQ 104 (they dumped AT40 in 1992, I think). When AT40 came on and I heard different songs, I wondered "what's going on here--this is not the Hot 100" and tried to find out what was going on, finally finding that AT40 was now using the Top 40 Radio. By the time I left the University of Kansas in 1992, I was paying little attention to AT40. I eventually forgot that AT40 was not using the Hot 100 and started compiling my own charts, with NO RAP. 10 years later when the Internet made connecting with other fans easier, I started seeking old shows ten years later, one of the first that I got was the Top 100 of 1993. Before doing so, I looked at the charts for 1993 and figured that Dr. Dre's "Nuthin But A G Thing" would rank rather high but neither it, nor most, rap songs were even played on the show. I went back and found that they had changed charts again--to Mainstream Radio, which, if I remember correctly had only two black rap songs on it for the whole year ("Whoomp"and a song from Wreckz N Effect) and neither peaked very high on that chart.

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2011 8:09:37 GMT -5 mstgator said:

I know what you mean, wahoo... one of the stations I listened to at the time switched from mass appeal pre-fragment CHR to rhythmic leaning, then to adult leaning, within a span of a little over a year, before finally dumping Top 40 altogether for Country. Another went from pre-fragment CHR (during most of the '80s), to the short-lived Rock 40 format, back to CHR, then to rhythmic, then adult... all this within about three years (Paul can probably add more details on that one, 99.9 out of Palatka/Daytona Beach). I had to resort to a static-ridden out-of-market station to get some consistency.

Honestly, I didn't listen all that much to 99.9 except when American Top 40 was on (they aired it in 1991), until 1993 when WAPE went to hell with their format. I never really noticed personally a difference in the format in I-100 (91-early 92)/"The New" 99.9 FM (rest of 92-August 93), or 99.9 Kiss FM (Auguet 93-sometime in 95). I noticed a MAJOR change though in 1995 when they went to a far more Adult Contemporary leaning station. I remember hearing their stations year end countdown show and "Said I Loved You (But I Lied)" was on it. Remember, this was 1995! They also figured out a way to make the 80's Backtrax USA last 3-4 hours on Saturday morning by playing other songs in between it. Honestly, the station format began to sound like young radio lovers were experimenting with formats and ideas on air live. Finally in 1999 I think it was it flipped to country when 98 Frog out of Daytona became all-Spanish. I am sure the Daytona locals love that. The Daytona 500 tailgate with spanish music playing loud and proud.

[Deleted]

Jun 11, 2011 13:17:33 GMT -5 Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever said:

In Memphis, the change took place earlier. WMC FM 100 had been carrying AT40 but, at some point, in 1989 changed to CT40. AT40, meanwhile was picked up by the new Z-98 (which would later become KIM FM). CT40 lasted on FM 100 until some time in 1992, AT40 was dropped by Z-98 in 1990. After CT40 was dropped, FM 100 obtained Rick Dees which it kept through 1992 (they omitted quite a few songs from Rick's year end countdown for that year). From 1993 to some time in the late 1990s, FM 100 didn't have weekly countdowns and compiled their own at year end. By that time FM 100 became HAC. and, by the late 1990s, obtained AT20 HAC which they kept until 2006, when they went to Rick Dees HAC, which they still have. Z-98 changed formats at some point in the 1990s but WHBQ FM 107.5 picked up CT40 in late 1996 until the show was replaced by AT40 with Casey in 1998 and has remained with AT40 ever since.

I was at the University of Kansas in November 1991 when AT40 changed charts. I remember hearing that a new chart was going to debut and made a point to buy a copy of Billboard so I could follow along with the show, which, at that time, was still broadcasting on KBEQ 104 (they dumped AT40 in 1992, I think). When AT40 came on and I heard different songs, I wondered "what's going on here--this is not the Hot 100" and tried to find out what was going on, finally finding that AT40 was now using the Top 40 Radio. By the time I left the University of Kansas in 1992, I was paying little attention to AT40. I eventually forgot that AT40 was not using the Hot 100 and started compiling my own charts, with NO RAP. 10 years later when the Internet made connecting with other fans easier, I started seeking old shows ten years later, one of the first that I got was the Top 100 of 1993. Before doing so, I looked at the charts for 1993 and figured that Dr. Dre's "Nuthin But A G Thing" would rank rather high but neither it, nor most, rap songs were even played on the show. I went back and found that they had changed charts again--to Mainstream Radio, which, if I remember correctly had only two black rap songs on it for the whole year ("Whoomp"and a song from Wreckz N Effect) and neither peaked very high on that chart.

Wasn't WMC also a TV station there? I seem to recall that being where Continental Championship Wrestling or the USWA was taped from every week with Lawler, Dundee, Lance Russell, etc.

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

Yes, in Memphis, radio and television stations generally shared the same call letters. WMC Channel 5 did have wrestling on Saturday around lunch time. Ironically, one of the hosts, Dave Brown, is now the Chief Weatherman for Channel 5. FM 100 is WMC's FM station, there is also an AM station WMC AM 79 (it was a top 40 station for some time, now it's talk radio). Another Memphis AM radio station, WMPS, (WMC's chief rival in the 1970s) was famous for introducing the world to Rick Dees (he was fired after he refused to quit promoting his #1 "Disco Duck" in 1976)

[jdelachjr2002]

Jun 11, 2011 15:34:53 GMT -5 Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever said:

Another Memphis AM radio station, WMPS, (WMC's chief rival in the 1970s) was famous for introducing the world to Rick Dees (he was fired after he refused to quit promoting his #1 "Disco Duck" in 1976)

An obvious big loss for WMPS.

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

I remember those days when Rick Dees was DJ at WMPS-He was in RARE form then. A whole lot of voice overs and mocking people-some of which would later be part of the Weekly Top 40 but even more then. One thing that I am happy he did not bring to the Weekly Top 40 was his habit of saying "oh! Ricky Baby, you are ah dynamite" in the middle of the songs he played or insert additional verses (sang by Dees himself) to those songs. He was really crazy and, often, very obnoxious-but fun to listen to!!!

[dukelightning]

Here is an excerpt of an article that should be of interest on this subject regarding WNCI in Columbus, Ohio.

Casey Kasem tried to renegotiate a contract with the shows' distributors but the talks broke down. Without much notice, WNCI listeners heard a new host on August 13, 1988 by the name of Shadow Stevens. It was quite a shocker. A countdown show without Casey? It seemed to be the new reality so we had to try and accept it as fans. Casey was out of teh countdown business. But not for long. He started a new show called Casey's Top 40 in January 1989. Although much was reported about Casey's new show, WNCI stayed loyal to the AT40 brand and stuck with the show.

Around this time WNCI had begun positioning itself as a Hot AC station - meaning they played the most popular songs on the charts - but eliminated country, heavy metal and songs representing the new hip-hop movement. Meanwhile, these songs sold millions. Since AT40 used the Billboard single sales chart, the show was forced to air these problematic songs (such as "One" by Metallica and songs by Slaughter, Guns 'N Roses, AC/DC and many rap artists). Therefore, it was pretty amusing to hear WNCI use their moniker "Not Too Hard - Not Too Lite", then hear Metallica on your way to church when they debuted on AT40.

I didn't catch on that there was a "problem music" scenario concering WNCI until around June 1990. I was reading Billboard when I discovered that "Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground (a catchy but rousing, raunchy dance song) had made it to #11. That meant that I was going to have fun hearing it on WNCI, when they didn't even play that song or anything like it. I was getting ready to leave for church and heard the #12 song. Then a commercial break. I waited and figured I'd have time to hear the Digital Underground song before I left. After that break they were already in the top 10. I assumed it was WNCI that skipped over the #11 song. I had to live with the fact that I was late for church waiting to hear "Humpty Dance" only to have it skipped. WNCI replayed AT40 on Sunday nights. So I listened again and there was my confirmation. Something was up. I learned that stations had the option to delete from the show any song deemed offensive or way out of their format. "Humpty Dance" was both, but I loved the winding bass in that song!

Shortly after that, WNCI rang the bells loudly and said that they were going to drop AT40 and air Casey's Top 40 in its place in early 1991. WNCI listeners had long complained about not having Casey Kasem, especially after hearing that he was on in other cities. Casey's show was less problematic with the music, as he used a non-Billboard chart that played songs stations were PLAYING versus songs that were actually SELLING. It made the show less interesting for the music aficionados who wanted to hear regional hits but we got Casey back on WNCI.


Meanwhile, AT40 was losing popularity nationally and left the air in July 1994 on the few stations that still aired it.

[marv101]

The nineties were an absolute disaster for the top 40 format to begin with; the format lost somewhere between 75 &100 reporters over the course of that decade (I'll get a more precise figure in an day or two).

There were 235 stations on the top 40 panel when 'We Are The World' was released, and every single station added it out of the box (350+ including other formats), and the single sold several hundred thousand copies in its opening week, yet preposterously didn't debut at #1 of the Hot 100, but by the late nineties, 100+ stations had abandoned the format.

That massive exodus from the top 40 format was primarily due to the explosion of rap music at the format starting in the late eighties which drove millions of 'soccer moms' and their highly impressionable kids out of the format and into the 'safety' of the AC, country, Smooth Jazz and the Adult Top 40/Hot AC formats.

The introduction of the BDS monitoring system certainly did result in much different chart activity, including a dramatic rise in the number of multi-week charttoppers, and especially at country radio, which really soared in popularity from the self-inflected wounds which dozens of top 40 PDs tavaged their own stations with.

[johnnywest]

It's also worth noting that "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40" began to change in 1991. That's when he first started deleting songs from the countdown, or sometimes just playing a drop of it. The first song I recall that he skipped over was something by Another Bad Creation ("Iesha" or "Playground"). Later, he'd skip over all kinds of music. And even songs that had been on the chart for months (like "The Sign"). I believe this practice came to an end in 2009.

[Caseyfan4everRyanfanNever]

On the year end shows, Rick would sometimes say only the position and artist of a song that he didn't play. I know he did that for the 1992 and 2000 year end shows-I have them. In 2000 I remember there was a song by Dr. Dre in the first hour of the show and Rick omitted the song---after playing the song that was one notch higher, Rick said "at....was Dr. Dre"

[dukelightning]

Aug 15, 2011 12:46:38 GMT -5 johnnywest said:

It's also worth noting that "Rick Dees Weekly Top 40" began to change in 1991. That's when he first started deleting songs from the countdown, or sometimes just playing a drop of it. The first song I recall that he skipped over was something by Another Bad Creation ("Iesha" or "Playground"). Later, he'd skip over all kinds of music. And even songs that had been on the chart for months (like "The Sign"). I believe this practice came to an end in 2009.

Not surprised. With the new methodology keeping songs on the charts for eons, they had to do that.

[adam31]

I'm from Indiana also and feel the same way you do. Not that it really matters where we're from, but the charts didn't seem consistent anymore. It was like comparing apples and oranges. The particular example I think of most was when Whitney Houston broke the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 with "I Will Always Love You". I think Boys II Men also did it later.

Debbie Boone held the record for so long with 10 weeks, that you wondered how legitimate it was that the record was indeed broken. The splintering of the charts and how the Hot 100 was calcuated threw a lot of doubt to these records being broken that stood for so long.

Another analogy to this is baseball. Hank Aaron was always the all time record holder for HR's. Barry Bonds supposedly broke the record but since he used steroids it can't be looked at the same way.

[franky]

C'mon Adam31, where's the love for Hammerin Hank?

[dukelightning]

adam, the analogy to the steroid era for baseball is an apt one. While Billboard made some adjustments to account for the soundscan era in its 50 year HOT 100 anniversary issue, I am still waiting for someone to really tackle this issue. i.e. what is a 10 week #1 in the pre-soundscan era equivalent to in the soundscan era, 13 weeks at #1, 14, 15, 16, 20 weeks? What? Or are we left to wonder as in the case of home run leaders in baseball?

[matt]

Aug 16, 2011 14:01:28 GMT -5 dukelightning said:

adam, the analogy to the steroid era for baseball is an apt one. While Billboard made some adjustments to account for the soundscan era in its 50 year HOT 100 anniversary issue, I am still waiting for someone to really tackle this issue. i.e. what is a 10 week #1 in the pre-soundscan era equivalent to in the soundscan era, 13 weeks at #1, 14, 15, 16, 20 weeks? What? Or are we left to wonder as in the case of home run leaders in baseball?

Amen brother--that was one of the reasons for starting this thread. What are the equivalents, and what did the Billboard Hot 100 and Soundscan do differently to change the dynamics of the charts in that way? I am waiting with you, dukedeb...no way that songs like "End of the Road" and "One Sweet Day" stay at #1 for 13 and 16 weeks if they had come out pre-Soundscan.