RCNipper
New Member
Broadcast Engineer/Show Producer - CBS Radio Group, NYC
Posts: 33
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Post by RCNipper on Jul 14, 2015 16:07:38 GMT -5
Good insights on your part. I have heard all the shows from 1970 in their entirety. Casey had many opportunities to expound on his political opinions what with songs like "Ohio" and "War" among others in the first few months of AT40 history. But I think he, Tom Rounds and Don Bustany knew that to gain a foothold in the radio industry, they needed to refrain from editorial comments and such. Instead, Casey went with the trying to be hip angle and most of what he said about the songs and artists was along those lines. BTW, so New York City was one of those markets that dropped AT40 as soon as Casey left. Most stations held on until Casey was back on the air with CT40 several months later. Hello, Duke... I must disagree with you on Casey's commentary when Edwin Starr's "War" hit #1 on 8/29/70. He said (quote): "Now we're ready for big new one (Billboard's #1 jingle - PAUSE). What this song says, in very plain terms, is, simply, that war is lousy. And, there can't be anyone who doesn't agree with that...can there?" (song begins - drum roll - WAR!!!) Casey intro'd "War" just above a whisper with no inflection, no emphasis and no emotion. He just made the above statement by asking a question. In my honest opinion (short of John Lennon's murder), I've never heard a more powerful statement made by Casey on any AT-40 show. He expressed emotion over the death of Elvis & Jim Croce, but in this statement (question) about the Vietnam War - which was still being fiercely fought - Casey said a mouthful, while barely parsing his lips. Now...how powerful is that?
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RCNipper
New Member
Broadcast Engineer/Show Producer - CBS Radio Group, NYC
Posts: 33
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Post by RCNipper on Jul 14, 2015 16:39:48 GMT -5
Good insights on your part. I have heard all the shows from 1970 in their entirety. Casey had many opportunities to expound on his political opinions what with songs like "Ohio" and "War" among others in the first few months of AT40 history. But I think he, Tom Rounds and Don Bustany knew that to gain a foothold in the radio industry, they needed to refrain from editorial comments and such. Instead, Casey went with the trying to be hip angle and most of what he said about the songs and artists was along those lines. BTW, so New York City was one of those markets that dropped AT40 as soon as Casey left. Most stations held on until Casey was back on the air with CT40 several months later. Hi, Duke... There were two issues with both "40" shows after the original Casey AT-40 run ended: WHTZ-FM (Z-100) tried airing Shadoe Stevens on a trial run, but the show sounded too stiff. Z-100 (with PD Scott Shannon) had hoped for a faster-paced & more hip show than what Casey delivered toward the end of the original show's run. Unfortunately for Shadoe, L.A. style doesn't play very well in NYC. This was the same issue with Wolfman Jack, when he tried to dethrone WABC's Cousin Bruce Morrow on WNBC back in 1974. That, too, failed, because Wolfman's "schtick" didn't work in NYC the way it did in Los Angeles, San Diego & Mexico (of all places!). Here's the irony: Wolfman Jack (real name, Bob Smith) was born & raised in Brooklyn, NY!!! Come to think of it, so was I. "Casey's Top-40" was distributed by Westwood One. At that time, the company was about to be acquired by CBS Radio as a distribution service for their network show content - similar to ABC Radio & Premiere Radio Networks, later on. Westwood One distributed content, primarily to CBS Radio affiliates. WCBS-FM was a perfect fit for the show, but at that time, chose to go with live on-air talent as "New York's Oldies Station." Infinity Radio (later purchased by CBS Radio) wasn't interested, and Clear Channel stations in NYC were the competition to CBS Radio. No chance there, either, as CC was airing Premiere Radio content. Sadly, Casey couldn't find a home in NYC that once was a lock for his former show. Having worked freelance for the major music stations in NYC (13 in total), I've spoken to every one of the PD's and asked them why Casey can't be picked up. All gave me the same answer: They were looking for a faster-paced younger sound to compliment their on-air staff. They considered the song stories a drag on the pace of the show - the very thing that made Casey & AT-40 famous! Bottom line: Get in-get out...QUICKLY!!! That's the hard truth, Duke. Even I have trouble accepting it, but I understand why.
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Post by dougbroda on Jul 14, 2015 20:48:11 GMT -5
I'm sure what he meant was "...this is SERIOUS stuff so listen to the words!" And he did it very succinctly and cleverly with just that one simple sentence, which I think was actually "...this is not music to dance TO". Absolutely, Doug! Proof that it's not what you say, but HOW you say it. Sadly, however, I wonder how many people actually understood (or noticed) that "inflection." It's been 45 years since the Kent State Massacre, and time has a way of erasing certain historical milestones. The 1970's began with a tragedy and ended with a party. Then came the 1980's. At least we had one constant for most of that decade: Casey Kasem's AT-40! I certainly want to read Casey's line the same way, and you may well be right from what I've seen re Casey's views. The inappropriateness of the laugh was intuitive, and regretted instantly -- which may have been the intended result; essentially, a political comment on the low. (I'm old enough to have watched the news on Kent State when it happened, too. I think my childhood vanished in 1968-72. Too young for the JFK tragedy to register, but RFK, MLK through Kent State made Watergate believable. (At 8, I stayed up all night only to see Humphrey lose to Nixon. I didn't know a thing about politics, really, at that young age, but looking at that Nixon guy just scared me.) Of course, falling asleep every night to WINS or Newsradio 88 in my bed in Brooklyn likely had an effect, too.
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Post by jmack19 on Jul 14, 2015 23:03:22 GMT -5
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Post by retroguy on Jul 15, 2015 14:28:36 GMT -5
I have had a lot of issues with their stream cutting out and dropping when it used to be VERY reliable. Has anyone else encountered this?
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Post by Mike on Jul 15, 2015 17:01:55 GMT -5
kchkwong gets the Meat Loaf Award this week, for being the only one with 2 out of 3. (Say...that does start Hour 3 this week! ) And it turns out that I was mistaken about any of the 2009 extras possibly repeating; none do. I'm also not sure whether or not to be surprised that the one that nobody guessed was still a future Top 10 (though since the other two are future #1s and there were four of those total below The 40 this week... *shrug*) This week's extras are: "Love Is In The Air" - John Paul Young "You Needed Me" - Anne Murray "Kiss You All Over" - Exile What did surprise me, though, was that while literally everyone guessed Anne Murray (correctly), no one had guessed Exile until kchkwong did! (And it proved to be the tiebreaker!) Boy, I gotta tell you all...you'd have colored me gobsmacked if that had been the one to go un-guessed this week.
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Post by at40fansince1984 on Jul 15, 2015 17:56:52 GMT -5
I have had a lot of issues with their stream cutting out and dropping when it used to be VERY reliable. Has anyone else encountered this? That happened to me so I listen to it on the Streema.com site.
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Post by matt on Jul 15, 2015 19:07:53 GMT -5
Prediction for next week's show:
1st Guess: 7/30/77 2nd Guess: 7/28/73
I'm thinking we'll get a 1977 show either this week or next--Premiere seems to go in streaks on playing certain months and July 1977 has now been played two years in a row after never having been played before, so maybe they'll cross off the last playable weekly countdown from July '77 next week? Another decent possibility may be 7/25/70...
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Post by dukelightning on Jul 16, 2015 7:04:48 GMT -5
A little birdie just told me that the show for the first week of August will be from 1974. So Matt probably has it narrowed down to the three years in play for next week.
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Post by mkarns on Jul 16, 2015 10:56:18 GMT -5
A little birdie just told me that the show for the first week of August will be from 1974. So Matt probably has it narrowed down to the three years in play for next week. If so, then it must be August 3, 1974. That would be its first time played by Premiere.
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Post by darnall42 on Jul 16, 2015 10:59:48 GMT -5
A little birdie just told me that the show for the first week of August will be from 1974. So Matt probably has it narrowed down to the three years in play for next week. If so, then it must be August 3, 1974. That would be its first time played by Premiere. that nice mr lynn was hinting that he was working on that show on facebook
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Post by 80sat40fan on Jul 16, 2015 16:14:21 GMT -5
Prediction for next week's show: 1st Guess: 7/30/77 2nd Guess: 7/28/73 I'm thinking we'll get a 1977 show either this week or next--Premiere seems to go in streaks on playing certain months and July 1977 has now been played two years in a row after never having been played before, so maybe they'll cross off the last playable weekly countdown from July '77 next week? Another decent possibility may be 7/25/70... According to Milwaukee Oldies' website, we're getting a 1979 show the weekend of 7/25 & 7/26: www.milwaukeeoldies.com/articles/casey-kasem-american-top-40-classics-476983/listen-to-casey-kasems-american-top-11572513/Milwaukee Oldies traditionally plays the "A" shows from the 70s but now that they're dabbling into some 80s shows, who knows. 7/21/79 would be a new show while 7/28/79 was featured last year. I don't see 7/28/79 being an "A" show offering while 7/21/79 could.
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Post by mkarns on Jul 16, 2015 16:45:20 GMT -5
Prediction for next week's show: 1st Guess: 7/30/77 2nd Guess: 7/28/73 I'm thinking we'll get a 1977 show either this week or next--Premiere seems to go in streaks on playing certain months and July 1977 has now been played two years in a row after never having been played before, so maybe they'll cross off the last playable weekly countdown from July '77 next week? Another decent possibility may be 7/25/70... According to Milwaukee Oldies' website, we're getting a 1979 show the weekend of 7/25 & 7/26: www.milwaukeeoldies.com/articles/casey-kasem-american-top-40-classics-476983/listen-to-casey-kasems-american-top-11572513/Milwaukee Oldies traditionally plays the "A" shows from the 70s but now that they're dabbling into some 80s shows, who knows. 7/21/79 would be a new show while 7/28/79 was featured last year. I don't see 7/28/79 being an "A" show offering while 7/21/79 could. 7/21/79 makes sense as an A, as there hasn't been a 1979 A show since mid-May, longer than any other year (except 1970, which of course wasn't an option in May or June.) Effectively there would then be three choices: three or four hour 1979, and a B show probably from 1970-73.
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Post by jmack19 on Jul 17, 2015 0:07:35 GMT -5
It looks like they go with which show is closest to 1980. 2 weeks ago - 1982 over 1976. last week - 1980 over 1979. this week - 1978 over 1984. next week - 1979 over 1982.
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Post by matt on Jul 17, 2015 9:26:04 GMT -5
7/21/79 makes sense as an A, as there hasn't been a 1979 A show since mid-May, longer than any other year (except 1970, which of course wasn't an option in May or June.) Effectively there would then be three choices: three or four hour 1979, and a B show probably from 1970-73. Yeah, 7/21/79 would make sense (7/28/79 would not since it just aired a year ago--unless that's the 'B' show). I had wondered if that show might be a possibility, but since they seem to be spacing '79 shows out to one about every three months, I thought they might wait until August. I'm always up for a '79 show. This makes me think that the next 1977 show may be 8/6/77 on the weekend of August 8th? Guess we'll find out soon...
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