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Post by pamelajaye on Jul 6, 2012 18:16:12 GMT -5
Forgive my ignorance -- I used to know a lot more AT40 stuff (though not anything you couldn't learn by listening to the show... (brother didn't know Shannon was a dog)
Back in 79 when I was still writing AT40 in a notebook, and thinking of index cards, and wishing I had a computer - a friend told me a computer I would buy would not have enough "memory" (not sure what memory stood for in TRS-80 days - also I recently learned that I wasn't the only one with a notebook. The slogan of the internet: Nerds Like Us)
So even with a statistician - how did they do all those extreme questions* without a computer? Or did they have one?
*which song made it to the top fastest, then dropped out of the top 20, did a triple somersault and landed on one skate at number 6 for the most weeks, Casey?
I'd dive into your current threads, but the sheer numbers scare me: page 352 makes me think I've landed at either a Josh Groban board, or a Trek board!
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Post by michaelcasselman on Jul 6, 2012 18:33:36 GMT -5
They probably did it the old-fashioned way... they visually tracked every chart, scanning for the oddities.
I'd imagine, in order to give some of those trademark 'song stories' in-between songs, they front-loaded a lot of those anticipated questions. That way, even if the questions didn't come in from a listener, they'd still have something to sprinkle into the narratives.
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Post by pamelajaye on Jul 6, 2012 20:36:17 GMT -5
the second part makes sense.
the first -- I can't imagine anyone without an eidetic memory or aspergers' noticing all those patterns.
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Post by michaelcasselman on Jul 6, 2012 20:39:58 GMT -5
Yet, here we all are. {chuckle}
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Post by reachinforthestars on Jul 6, 2012 21:44:16 GMT -5
I can't imagine anyone without an eidetic memory or aspergers' noticing all those patterns. And that's why the shows are filled with mistakes. |
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Post by michaelcasselman on Jul 6, 2012 21:57:08 GMT -5
That said, it's amazing they got as much right (or close to it) as they did, lacking Google, Wikipedia, and an armload of books like the Whitburn, Battistini and Durkee volumes right at hand.
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Post by dukelightning on Jul 7, 2012 6:35:45 GMT -5
I always wondered if they had Whitburn books from the get go. Whitburn's first pop singles book came out right around the time that AT40 started as a matter of fact.
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Post by at40petebattistini on Jul 7, 2012 7:35:41 GMT -5
dukedeb is absolutely correct. If you check out editions of Billboard from the early 70s, nearly every issue had an ad for Whitburn's company Record Research.
Meanwhile, I've been trying to track down the source where Casey once described AT40's first statistician, Ben Marichal, as a walking computer. Or something like that. (Old age setting in...lol) Of course Casey was making reference to Ben's vast knowledge of music in general as well as the Billboard charts.
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Post by tarobe on Jul 7, 2012 21:16:19 GMT -5
I imagine that AT40 always had something from Joel Whitburn. Like it was stated above, Whitburn's first book (called Record Research) came out in 1970, around the same time as when the show started. I first got Whitburn's address in 1979 from my copy of Casey Kasem Presents the American Top 40 Yearbook. I then ordered my first Whitburn book, Top Pop Records, 1954-1954. I wanted Top Pop Records, 1955-1972, but I couldn't afford it ($20). By the time I saved up enough money, it was already out of print.
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Post by pamelajaye on Jul 8, 2012 12:59:46 GMT -5
I wanted Top Pop Records, 1955-1972, but I couldn't afford it ($20). By the time I saved up enough money, it was already out of print. $20! No wonder I had it! Yeah, I'm sure it took a long time to save for, and I don't remember when I got it (it had to be after 74) and I don't have a clue where it is now (as long as my roommate hasn't thrown out anything, it's in a box - but the soft binding... well paperback... is at least split in two.. I wondered what it had cost (and why I had a book that ended in 72 when I didn't start till 74) all interesting answers I really love reachinforthestars avatar - reminds me of all my Beatles 45s. reminds me of how I memorize the label on a song by the Supremes and realizing years later that the reason why I memorized it so well was that I was pre- first grade and couldn't read yet. yeah, the books would help. Now I just have the Whitburn Top 40 book. Still expensive. But fairly up-to-date, along with my Brooks and Marsh (for TV shows) currently reading Durkee about the crisis in which charts to use in the 80s? 90s? with specials for WPLJ... also just fled from Billboard.com where I realized I could look up what was in the Top 10 for the show I'm listening to - weirdly spoilering a 30 year old chart. |
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Post by vince on Jul 10, 2012 14:34:54 GMT -5
In addition to Whitburns books, they may used "The Miles Chart Display". This book had all the songs to make the Hot 100 graphed, so you could get the chart run of any song if you had good eyes or a magnifying glass. It was published around 1971 with updates in 1975 and 1981.
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Post by cybergirl98 on Feb 19, 2015 20:33:21 GMT -5
dukedeb is absolutely correct. If you check out editions of Billboard from the early 70s, nearly every issue had an ad for Whitburn's company Record Research. Meanwhile, I've been trying to track down the source where Casey once described AT40's first statistician, Ben Marichal, as a walking computer. Or something like that. (Old age setting in...lol) Of course Casey was making reference to Ben's vast knowledge of music in general as well as the Billboard charts. |
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Post by cybergirl98 on Feb 19, 2015 20:33:50 GMT -5
I know him, he is my uncle and he is alive. (Ben Marichal)
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Post by matt on Feb 20, 2015 16:51:53 GMT -5
cybergirl98--that's super cool. Do you talk to him much? Any stories about his AT40 days?
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Post by albe on Feb 21, 2015 8:13:46 GMT -5
I know him, he is my uncle and he is alive. (Ben Marichal) Glad he's still alive LOL  |
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