3 Hours vs 4 Hours

[brownjb81]

As almost all of you know that American Top 40 was originally a 3 hour show during its first 8 years and it has been a 4 hour show since October 1978. I am sure that some of you listen to the classic AT40 shows from your AT40 collections to Sirius XM Radio to radio stations in your city. I would like to know do you prefer the 3 hours version of AT40 or the 4 hour version? It's kind of interesting that I am asking this since AT40 has been a 4 hour show since 1978. But I am sure that a few of you liked the show when it air for 3 hours. For me, I probably would go for 4 hours.

[dukelightning]

This should be a landslide but I prefer the 4 hour version. Now in the early 70s, the 3 hour version is ok since the 45 version of songs were so short. But from 1975 on, anything done in 3 hours did or would have have involved way too much editing of songs.

[at40petebattistini]

Oct 26, 2011 16:22:08 GMT -5 brownjb81 said:

I would like to know do you prefer the 3 hours version of AT40 or the 4 hour version?

Are those my only choices? I may have noted this before on a different thread, but my first choice would be the 8-hour version. Not familar with that one? Hypothetically speaking of course, that's the version Casey counts down Billboard's Hot 100. Every weekend.

However, realistically, my preference has always been with the 3-hour version. That fourth hour of radio listening seemed just too much of a stretch.

"...what the hells going on here? Isn't it the last hour? We got another hour to do? I thought we're almost finished. Good golly Miss Molly..."

Even NFL games never lasted that long. With the 3-hour format, I recall hearing songs -- sometimes edited -- that I really liked. That's all I needed to decide to purchase the 45 or LP. One example, and one that disappointed me, was ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. With its short chart ride, Casey never gave it its full play. But I lived with it. Give me the songs, slightly edited if needed, and same me a little time.

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2011 17:40:47 GMT -5 at40petebattistini said:

Oct 26, 2011 16:22:08 GMT -5 brownjb81 said:

I would like to know do you prefer the 3 hours version of AT40 or the 4 hour version?

Are those my only choices? I may have noted this before on a different thread, but my first choice would be the 8-hour version. Not familar with that one? Hypothetically speaking of course, that's the version Casey counts down Billboard's Hot 100. Every weekend.

However, realistically, my preference has always been with the 3-hour version. That fourth hour of radio listening seemed just too much of a stretch.

"...what the hells going on here? Isn't it the last hour? We got another hour to do? I thought we're almost finished. Good golly Miss Molly..."

Even NFL games never lasted that long. With the 3-hour format, I recall hearing songs -- sometimes edited -- that I really liked. That's all I needed to decide to purchase the 45 or LP. One example, and one that disappointed me, was ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. With its short chart ride, Casey never gave it its full play. But I lived with it. Give me the songs, slightly edited if needed, and same me a little time.

Pete, I'm of the opinion 3 hours could work again now. When AT40 went to 4 hours they weren't editing 1 or 2 songs over the 3 hours they were editing 6 or 7 to squeeze it all in. At the time it needed to be 4 hours. I don't get the feeling it needs to be now. In fact, I'd prefer 3 hours now as we'd have to endure less interviews about things I care nothing about.

[Deleted]

To answer the question I prefer the show in the appropriate time flow. Most of the early years, 3 hours was fine. Then it began to go downhill IMO with all the edits. When the show became 4 hours it was fine, same with CT40. However in the last few years or so I think the show could have gone back to 3 and everything flow just fine.

[chrislc]

I like hearing 4 hours of Casey, but I would rather listen to 3 hours of hits from 1970-78 than 4 hours of hits from 1978-1988.

[curiousg]

Oct 26, 2011 18:29:32 GMT -5 chrislc said:

I like hearing 4 hours of Casey, but I would rather listen to 3 hours of hits from 1970-78 than 4 hours of hits from 1978-1988.

I agree. I prefer the music of the early to mid 70's.

[mkarns]

I prefer the 3 hour versions in the early years and the 4 hour versions later (80s and after.) The later 3 hour shows often feel chopped up to me, with too much shortening of songs (especially when extras were included), and a lot of the early 4 hour shows feel padded, with lots of extras that tend to interrupt the flow of the countdown. Still, Casey always makes them worth hearing.

I think 4 hours worked well with the Casey and Shadoe format. Regarding the "last few years or so", if that's a reference to the Ryan Seacrest era, I think three hours would probably be enough to get in the 40 biggest hits (with some judicious editing) and some info about them without all the extra interview/gossip/promotional stuff and optional Premiere extras.

[franky]

I see both sides. I would have said 4 hours, but many shows do lag a lot. The only thing I didn't like about AT40 were the long distance dedications. Why at least 2 a show? I can't stand them. The 3 hour shows run way more smoothly and not as stretched out. But like dukedeb said, many of the songs were cut. Like everything in life, there's pros and cons to both.

Unlike congress, they should have compromised. They should have made it a 3 1/2 hour show.

[matt]

Well, the 3-hour versions were before my time since I started listening to AT40 in 1980. So I grew up on the show being a 4-hour version and that's what I've always been used to.

I will offer another point of view: to me it all depends on the shows themselves and how much they are to my liking. For instance, as I've said on other posts, the early 70's shows are more laborious for me to get through since I only know the classics that are still in heavy rotation on oldies stations, etc. For shows from 1970-73, really the top 20 or so is usually a much more interesting listen than the bottom 20, and therefore a 3-hour version is more than sufficient. I like how much more quickly those shows go, and would get bored with 4-hour versions.

However, sometime in the late 70's, all of the editing down of songs became very noticeable, and in many cases produced a rather awkward version of a song (this was very obvious on shows like the 8/26/78 show), which began to detract from the quality of the shows IMHO. Also, one of the things I love about AT40 is all of the stories, questions, and trivial tidbits that Casey provides during the shows. These of course, became much more in abundance when the shows went to 4 hours, and Casey seemed more at ease in telling these instead of having to push through them quickly.

[franky]

What were songs in the 70s that seemed to be always cut by AT40 that ticked you off? For me, it was Reminiscing and Love is Thicker Than Water.

[mkarns]

Oct 27, 2011 11:40:02 GMT -5 franky said:

The only thing I didn't like about AT40 were the long distance dedications. Why at least 2 a show? I can't stand them.

During Shadoe's tenure, there was usually only 1 LDD extra per show. Sometimes he'd read a second letter if time permitted, usually if the requested song was charting that week.

[OldSchoolAT40Fan]

4 hours, hands down!

I got into AT40 as early as June 1982, though as a casual listener. I didn't become a dedicated listener until late August or early September 1986, and I have enjoyed the show greatly until it met its untimely death in January 1995.

I do have to agree, a lot of songs were shorter in length during much of the 1970s. When disco was at its peak, many disco songs, and other classic rock songs, were at least 3 minutes long. Around 1978, many songs ended up being 4 minutes long, sometimes 5 minutes in length. If I recall, many Beatles songs back in the day were less than 3 minutes long. Unless it's Hey Jude.

During Shadoe's era in 1992, on one episode, Shadoe did promise to play the full album version of November Rain by Guns N' Roses, which was nearly 10 minutes long! They must have had to do some editing of songs in that hour to accommodate that full album version.

[jgve1952]

I agree that AT40 the 70s was due for a four hour format, but I believe it should have been in 1972. It seems like the songs started getting longer at that time. Examples are: Carpenters, Elton John, and Chicago and specific songs like The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face, My Ding A Ling, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Taxi, etc. and continued from that point. Jeff

[statenislandfan]

3 hour format is perfect.....4 hours is too long to sit and listen to a countdown...and I did this from 1978 till the shadoe years..and the CT40 years until Z100 decided to go with Dees in 1994.......on the other hand back then if you missed the show in your area , you were out of luck now there is streaming from stations across the country and around the world....